Life + with Fiona Della Sale: From drive-ins to concert halls Ron Siemiginowski has always entertained

Sitting in the foyer of Orana Cinemas with the odd, background thundering rumble of an action-packed film screening, one is struck by the contrast that would be to the plush front seats of a West End concert hall Ron Siemiginowski recently graced while viewing the musical concert he co-created. Local businessman, musician and composer, Ron is often the man collecting your movie ticket before entering a cinema theatre. Little would you know this artistic, creative and skilled man, has now showcased WA’s arts scene internationally. Born in Perth but raised in the small Wheatbelt town of Merredin, Ron began playing piano at nine years old, thanks to the tuition of the nuns at his local Catholic primary school. His parents were migrants, his father from Germany and mother from Poland, both settling in Australia post-war time. Music and language became natural strengths for Ron. He spent some time explaining how both are similar — that there are families of instruments and learning one like the piano, facilitates the mastery of another like the organ or accordion, which he also plays. Similarly, with languages, like the Latin-based Romance ones of Italian, French and Spanish, Ron has progressed to learn. Research suggests that similar neural pathways are shared between language and music which might also explain Ron’s natural aptitude for both. Whatever the case, they have played significantly and richly into his and life and work. Like many migrants settling in Australia post-war time, speaking a foreign language outside of the home was discouraged, as assimilation into local culture was considered paramount. Ron, nevertheless, began with learning German at home, and further with French at his school. Coincidentally, his teacher was a mother of a local lady he crosses paths with here in Geraldton, and who featured recently in this newspaper for her multilingual skills. Impressively, Ron fluently speaks five languages these days which he says you never fully master, that there’s always more to learn. Leaving school, Ron became a music teacher of piano for a few years. The family moved to Albany in 1982 where they bought the local drive-in theatre in the suburb of Orana. Ron was soon lured to Europe and music performance, playing in piano bars, jazz bars and restaurants around Germany and Spain for a couple of years. As fun as it was, “I was a poor musician and needed a real job”, he reminisces. Returning to Albany, Ron noted the advent of home video movies and the demise of drive-ins. He saw the flashy new, multiplex cinemas opening in big cities and it gave rise to launching himself into the small business world of building a twin-screen cinema. Later, this expanded to four screens and then in launching the same in other regional areas such as Geraldton. In 1999, Orana Cinemas opened with its well-known Rubik’s cube patterned wall and art deco inspiration from the old radio theatre building opposite. During this time and the heady days of travelling in the United States and Mexico, he met and married his wife Letitia, in her home city of La Paz. Life became busy after this with three young sons and then three nephews from Mexico joining the family. In recent years, Ron sits at his grand piano near to the sounds of the Beresford foreshore and composes classical pieces. The piano, of polished wood and acoustic beauty, was more recently acquired from the Sydney Opera House. In 2015, while at his other home in Albany, he discovered a soul mate in music, who shared ambition in writing musical theatre. Listening to Ron play, characters and a plot began forming in the mind of Giles Watson, teacher, composer and librettist. He had special interest through a doctoral study of British culture in war time Britain of the 1940s. It hit a note, literally, with Ron’s background of having parents who lived through war, and so a musical production, ‘Mimma’ evolved. He describes it as ‘a blend of musical genres, it is an opera come musical’, the story of war and friendship. Ron explained how initially the music scores seemingly ‘arose out of nowhere’ but then took another couple of years to compose the full suite, with lots of reworking. Through various connections in the musical world in Perth a musical began to unfold. Composing for piano is one thing, but then an orchestrator, who Ron managed to find, has the significant task of transposing the score to other instruments and bringing them all together. The mammoth production itself involved 80 people and a set design with a large-scale Italianate villa with a sweeping staircase that transforms to a Soho nightclub. Ron as composer and then producer, proudly brought Mimma to the stage for two weeks at the Regal Theatre in Perth in 2019, with a cast of national and international musicians. A highlight was having the lead role performed by Australian/Dutch soprano Mirusia Louwerse, who had toured with Andre Rieu. Its success inspired even bigger dreams of taking the musical even further, to London, the setting of the Mimma story. And with the re-emergence of theatre after the Covid pandemic, it became a reality in February last year. This time, it was to be even grander, for it was in concert form featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra in the grand Cadogan Hall with an international cast headlined by multi-award winner actor Sir David Suchet, otherwise known as popular TV detective Hercule Poirot. The gala charity concert was dedicated to The Prince’s (Charles) Trust who acknowledged its contribution to young British people. The Honourable Kim Beazley, AC, Governor of WA, who was special guest at the world premiere of it in Perth, wrote in the concert program booklet for UK audiences: ‘As a Western Australian I am so proud to see such a high-quality, home-grown arts production make its debut in Cadogan Hall this evening’. For a man who calls Geraldton home, so far from international concert halls, we also can feel immensely proud of Ron! Standing in his living room, I was mesmerised and felt privileged watching Ron play his piano, his fingers fluttering over the keys with finesse, tunes filling an autumnal, sunlit room. It’s with further excitement, Ron has an upcoming business trip to the cultural echelons of Italy next month. There is strong interest in a concert being performed there too because of Mimma’s part Italian story setting and plot. In the meantime, I ask about current movies showing at Orana and ironically Ron answers: “I was a bit of a film buff once but don’t have time to watch movies now!” Between producing international concerts, managing businesses, composing, family life and attending weekly French classes, you may be just lucky to catch him at the cinema too.