Watch & Listen
Joe Twist
Wonga Vine
Wonga Vine is Song 3 from Joe’s An Australian Song Cycle commissioned by Sydney Chamber Choir and premiered in 2021 setting a poem by Judith Wright.
The piece is mysterious in its description of flowers, leading to bursts of colour and driving rhythms from rapid piano flourishes.
Brenda Gifford
Minga Bagan
Commissioned by Sydney Chamber Choir in 2021 as a musical Acknowledgement of Country, Minga Bagan/Mother Earth is a celebration of Earth. We only have one Earth. The idea is that all of us have a role in looking after her: from the ranger who looks after country as part of his cultural practice, to everyone who recycles.
Ross Edwards
Flower Songs 1st Movement (Ecstatico)
Commissioned by Sydney Chamber Choir in 1987 and one of our signature works, this choral maninya (dance/chant) consists of the scientific names (in Latin and ancient Greek) of a selection of central eastern Australian wild flowers.
Heather Percy
Three Night Songs
Ella Macens
When The World Closes Its Eyes
When the World Closes Its Eyes reflects on the vulnerability of the world as both human beings and nature strive to be heard in their suffering and call for help and compassion.
James MacMillan
Benedicimus Deum caeli
In this radiant motet, MacMillan takes the traditional plainsong tune of this text from the book of Tobias, and filled it with bright, joyous harmonies.
Nigel Butterley
Morning Fanfare
An exuberant celebration of the arrival of light into a world of darkness. From the beginnings of his career, Butterley’s writing displays the brilliant and colourful harmonic writing that would come to characterise his later work.
Ross Edwards
Hymnus Ante Somnum (Hymn Before Sleep)
From Ab Estatis Foribus: Five Medieval Latin Songs, specially commissioned for Sydney Chamber Choir in 1979. A meditation on the healing power of sleep.
Jonathan Dove
The Narrow Bud
Setting text by William Blake, the second movement from Dove’s song cycle The Passing of the Year gently unfolds from softer choral lines into vibrant and luscious summer harmonies.
Jonathan Dove
Ah! Sun-flower
The warm and languorous fifth movement from The Passing of the Year, setting more poetry by William Blake.
Claudio Monteverdi
Zefiro Torna
Monteverdi's choral writing mimics the contrasts of mood in Petrarch's sonnet, with a bold and achingly beautiful use of chromaticism.
Judith Weir
Love Bade Me Welcome
British composer Judith Weir's evocative setting of George Herbert's 17th Century poem.
Healey Willan
Rise Up, My Love
A beautiful setting of the Song of Solomon as a liturgical motet by this Anglo-Canadian organist and composer.
Iain Grandage
Why do we exist?
Commissioned by Sydney Chamber Choir in 2016, Why do we exist? is a prayer yet to be discovered.
George Frideric Handel
Dixit Dominus
A dazzling psalm of joy and praise, blending the virtuoso choral writing of Handel’s native Germany with the passion and drama of Italian opera.