Exciting 2008 Season Launched
An exciting program for Sydney Chamber Choir’s 2008 Season was launched at the Choir’s final 2007 performance at Verbrugghen Hall on 17 November.
Musical Director Paul Stanhope outlined plans for a rich and varied year ahead, featuring collaborations with several leading artists and ensembles.
Opening the season, on 16 March (Palm Sunday), Richard Gill will guest-conduct a performance of Mozart’s Requiem in the new version by Gordon Kerry. This version of one of the most popular of all sacred choral works includes a number of new movements written by Kerry for children’s chorus. These will be sung by Sydney Children’s Choir. The soloists for the performance will be Penelope Mills, Sally-Anne Russell, Chistopher Saunders and Stephen Bennett.
On 6 September, the choir is joined by the award-winning Newcastle University Chamber Choir in a performance that includes not one but two 40-part pieces: Tallis’s Spem in alium and a recent work for similar vocal forces by British composer Gabriel Jackson. This will be a repeat performance of a concert the two choirs will give one week earlier in Newcastle as part of Musica Viva’s Newcastle Concert Series 2008. Both performances will be conducted by the Newcastle choir’s Musical Director, Philip Matthias.
Rounding off the season on 8 November will be a collaboration between Sydney Chamber Choir and Match Percussion, in a program ranging from Hildegard of Bingen to the minimalism of Steve Reich, the joyous energy of Ross Edwards, and a new piece by Dan Walker.
The choir will also be kept busy in 2008 with a number of other engagements, including a lecture-recital for Musica Viva as part of Australian Music Day in May, and recording sessions mid-year to record music by Paul Stanhope for ABC Classics, and music by Clare Maclean.