The Ukastle Ukestra and Ukestral Voices do public performances a few times every year. Mostly these are at local events in our home town of Newcastle, Australia. But we sometimes travel away to festivals in Australia and even, in the past, overseas, notably New Zealand and Hawai’i. Mostly these performances are at community focussed events where an act is obliged to be on and off the stage all within a half an hour before the next act follows swiftly.
In 2026 we were invited by the Newcastle Fringe Festival to put on a more professional show in a professional venue. This was a wonderful accolade for us and provided us with an opportunity to showcase the best of our talents to our home crowd.
Both groups are a rotating roster of members who can or cannot make it, though always lead by the inimitable Mark and Jane from The Sum of the Parts.
This is a few video snippets of our combined performance at the Newcastle Fringe Festival.
Common People – Pulp
This is a rare instance of one of our leaders (Mark) being out the front on lead vocals, along with Ruth McCrae.
Heroes by David Bowie – performed by the Ukastle Ukestra
No. Really. The lead singer is a maths professor by day, and an accomplished lead singer by night. We give you Professor Jeff.
Hine e Hine performed by Ukestral Voices
A Maori lullaby, written by Te Rangi Pai around 1906. It was taught to us by friends from Taranaki.
Time after Time by Cindy Lauper – performed by the Ukastle Ukestra
We are blessed to have a myriad of semi-professional singers grace our performances. In this instance it is Paula Machin with harmonies from Ruth McCrae and Jacqui Stuart.