Spanish-Australian theme for 2009 season

The music of Spain and Australia feature prominently in the 2009 Concert Season of Sydney Chamber Choir, which was launched on Saturday 8 November during the interval of Dance|Chant, the Choir’s final performance of 2008.

An invitation for the Choir to appear at the prestigious Tolosa International Choral Festival in Spain in October 2009 was the catalyst for the Spanish-Australian theme of next year’s program.

The 2009 Season opens with “At the Foot of the Cross”, on Easter Saturday, 11 April, in Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Guest-conducted by the Choir’s founding musical director and Renaissance choral specialist Nicholas Routley, this suitably contemplative Easter program includes the glorious Stabat Mater by Domenico Scarlatti, who spent much of his life in Spain and Portugal. The Choir will be joined in this work by three of Australia’s leading continuo players, Neal Peres Da Costa (organ), Daniel Yeadon (Baroque cello) and Tommie Andersson (theorbo).

Also representing Spain is the sombre but extraordinary Requiem by Spanish Renaissance master Tomás Luis de Victoria, while a new work by Anne Boyd highlights the rich traditions of Western sacred choral music as well as her interest in Eastern musical traditions.

Altogether more upbeat is the Choir’s winter concert, “Sacred Songs and Lullabies”, on 27 June in City Recital Hall Angel Place. Featuring guitar superstar Slava Grigoryan and soprano soloist Belinda Montgomery, this program brings voices and guitar together to explore a rich emotional spectrum, from whispering lullabies to wild flamenco and sensuous gypsy moods.

Alongside works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Guerrero, Lobo and Falla, the program also presents two Australian works in new arrangements for choir and guitar, by composers Peter Sculthorpe and Gerard Brophy.

Completing the Choir’s three main performances of 2009 is another performance of joyous and uplifting music: “Magnificat”, on Sunday 6 September in City Recital Hall Angel Place.

Under the baton of renowned Australian Baroque choral expert Graham Abbott, this program juxtaposes two choral masterpieces of the Baroque – JS Bach’s Magnificat and Vivaldi’s Gloria – with a new Magnificat setting by Australian composer Andrew Schultz.

The concert also brings together some of Australia’s leading vocal soloists – soprano Taryn Fiebig, alto Sally-Anne Russell and tenor Paul McMahon – with some of the country’s finest emerging talent, including up-and-coming young bass soloist David Greco and the Sydney Conservatorium’s Early Music Ensemble.

The new works and arrangements by Boyd and Brophy have been commissioned for the Choir by Fr Arthur Bridge AM on behalf of Ars Musica Australis, while Schultz’s Magnificat setting has been commissioned by the Choir with the generous financial assistance of an anonymous private donor.

Further information:

  • Full details of Sydney Chamber Choir’s concerts in 2009 are available on this website (www.sydneychamberchoir.org).
  • Concert tickets, as well as subscriptions for Sydney Chamber Choir’s 2009 Concert Season, are on sale through the box office at City Recital Hall Angel Place (phone 02 8256 2222 or 1300 797 118).
  • To be kept in touch with the Choir’s activities during the year, please join our mailing list.
  • To request a copy of the Choir’s 2009 season brochure, or for media enquiries, please contact info@sydneychamberchoir.org or call 1300 661 738.