“People’s Choice” Reviews, November 2024
Reviews
Limelight
People’s Choice (Sydney Chamber Choir): A consistently engaging, perfectly blended concert of changing moods, from Bach to the Beatles.
Dr Nicholas Kennedy | 4 stars | 25 November 2024
“Sydney Chamber Choir’s People’s Choice concert was a celebration of the rich choral repertoire, featuring a diverse selection of popular favourites as voted by the choir’s loyal audience.
The choral sound under artistic director Sam Allchurch was perfectly blended yet texturally clear, elucidating the details of each score. The ensemble was unified and the intonation pure, notwithstanding one or two exposed moments.”
Sydney Arts Guide
Sydney Chamber Choir: People’s Choice Concert @ Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Paul Nolan | 25 November 2024
“Sydney Chamber Choir’s final programme for 2024 was one truly for the people – chosen by the people, attended by the people and given a warm reception by the people. People’s Choice was a cracker of a concept and expertly balanced programme with which to round off a vibrant year. …
Pleasing and not surprising from this virtuoso choir was its ability to shift styles, language and centuries between works, and shift gears within each composition also with knife edge agility. …
Bookending the total selection was the final utterance from the choir ahead of their busy 2024, with another non-surprise re: popularity, as Zadok the Priest rang out with Antipodean joy and shifting colours post-Royal visit to Sydney. Thomas Wilson’s organ accompaniment set once again a formidable feel and narrative in the work’s introduction and throughout over which the vocal wall of sound truly rejoiced.”
Artists
Sydney Chamber Choir
Sam Allchurch
Conductor
Jem Harding
Piano
Thomas Wilson
Organ
Program
Bach
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Jonathan Dove
Ring out, wild bells from The Passing of the Year
Maurice Duruflé
Ubi caritas et amor
Gabriel Fauré
Cantique de Jean Racine
Handel
Zadok the Priest
Lennon/McCartney, arr Whitwell
Yesterday
Clare Maclean
Christ the King
Monteverdi
Ecco mormorar l’onde
Henry Purcell/Sven-David Sandström
Hear my prayer, O Lord
Rachmaninoff
Bogoroditse Devo (Ave Maria) from All-Night Vigil
Joe Twist
’Magpie’ and ‘Lorikeets’ from Timeless Land: An Australian Song Cycle
Victoria
O magnum mysterium
Vivaldi
’Gloria in excelsis Deo’ and ‘Cum sancto spiritu’ from Gloria