Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Glorious Puccini Messa di Gloria & Opera Highlights

Choral Singing / Classical Music

 

Glorious Puccini: Messa di Gloria & Opera Highlights

Date: Saturday 29 October | 8pm
Venue: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

Experience the passion and power of Puccini's music sung by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' 300-voice Festival Chorus choristers, four of Australia's star soloists and the talented musicians of The Sydney Youth Orchestra .

 

Image credit: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
 

How do we love Puccini? Let us count the ways…

There’s his sense of drama and his concern for human stories and real emotion but, above all, we love the glorious, flowing melodies that stay in your ears long after the curtain comes down. We love the sensuousness of Manon Lescaut, the grand tragedy of Tosca, the heart-rending pathos of Madama Butterfly – guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes – and the mystery of Turandot. This is the Puccini we know and love, and for this gala concert, Brett Weymark has assembled highlights to showcase the 400 voices of the Festival Chorus and our soloists – stars of the operatic stage. We’ll be joined by the Sydney Youth Orchestra in full force – performing Puccini’s colourful orchestrations without compromise.            

But first we’ll be revealing a little-known side of Puccini. He might have decided upon a career as an opera composer at the age of 18 – inspired by Verdi’s Aida – but he came from a long line of church musicians and the culmination of his musical studies was the ambitious Messa di Gloria. This rarely heard mass setting hints at the opera composer to come, with generous melodies and the way he brings drama to the ritual. But, above all, it’s 40 minutes of high-octane choral singing – joyous, dancing and, yes, fun!

 

 Credit: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

PROGRAM

Deborah CHEETHAM & Matthew DOYLE Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here*
Giacomo PUCCINI Messa di Gloria
Highlights from Puccini operas…
Manon Lescaut: Intermezzo
Tosca: Te Deum (Tre sbirri, una carrozza)
Madama Butterfly: Humming Chorus and other highlights from Act II
Turandot: Nessun dorma and other highlights
* Commissioned for our 100 Minutes of New Australian Music project

A digital program book will be available on this page a week prior to the concert. A limited number of printed program books will be available for $5 each at the concert.

ARTISTS

Brett Weymark conductor
Cheryl Barker soprano
Antoinette Halloran soprano
Bradley Daley tenor
Peter Coleman-Wright baritone
Festival Chorus
Sydney Youth Orchestra

TICKETS

Premium $124 | A $101 | B $79 | C $58 | D $45
Concessions $112 | A $90| B $71 | C $52 | D $41
A booking fee of $8.50 per transaction applies.

Review: 

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: Glorious Puccini. Sydney Arts Guide, written by Annabelle Drumm, 31 October 2022. Accessed 10 Nov 2022.

Interesting Articles:  

Glorious Puccini: Messa di Gloria and Opera Highlights, Sydney Opera House.  AussieTheatre.com.  20 September 2022. Accessed  9 October 2022.

Puccini's Musical Mastery Glows in a Forgotten Mass. The New York Times / Art. By Raymond Ericson, dated April 8, 1984.

Resources:

2022 Season Together Again. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Artistic & Music Director Brett Weymark, OAM

Glorious Puccini: Messa di Gloria & Opera Highlights. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.  (Available on access, 9 October 2022.)

 

COVID-19 SAFETY

• All SPC singers, musicians and staff are double vaccinated.
• Audiences will be required to wear masks throughout the performance. If this changes we will inform patrons as soon as possible.
• Hand sanitiser will be available.
• A digital program book will be available on this page a week prior to the concert. A limited number of printed program books will be available for $5 each at the concert.

DETAILS ABOUT SPC COVID SAFE PLAN

(c) 9 October 2022.  Tel.  Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Jubilation: Handel & Haydn

Choral Singing / Classical Music

 

Jubilation: Handel & Haydn

Date:  Sunday 22 May 2022, 3pm
Venue:  Sydney Town Hall

 

 

Image credit: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
 

The last time Sydney Philharmonia's Festival Chorus performed was in September 2019. Now, as they come together for the first time in nearly two years, they're putting the “festive” back into Festival with a magnificent and uplifting program guaranteed to put a smile on every face.

 

Organist David Drury. Image Credit: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

                 

There’s nothing restrained about this program. Handel’s four Coronation Anthems, commissioned personally by George II, are in the grand ceremonial style – majestic music capturing all the pomp and splendour of the occasion. Haydn’s Nelson Mass is remarkable for its boldness and rich dramatic power. And Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Festival Chorus bring the celebratory spirit into the present with three new orchestral interludes commissioned from emerging Sydney composers. Sublime!

PROGRAM

George Frideric HANDEL The King Shall Rejoice
Tomas PARRISH-CHYNOWETH The Fractured Crown*
HANDEL Zadok the Priest
Aidan Charles ROSA Ineffable*
HANDEL Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened
Aija DRAGUNS Lavender Paper Cranes*
HANDEL My Heart is Inditing
Joseph HAYDN Missa in angustiis, Hob.XXII:11 (Nelson Mass)
* Premiere

This performance will run for approximately 2 hours, including one 20-minute interval.

 

Top: Penelope Mills, soprano; Russell Harcourt, countertenor
Below: Louis Hurley, tenor; Christopher Richardson, bass-baritone.
Image Credit: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

 

ARTISTS

Brett Weymark conductor
Penelope Mills soprano
Russell Harcourt countertenor
Louis Hurley tenor
Christopher Richardson bass-baritone
Festival Chorus
Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra

 

TICKETS

Premium $112 | A $101 | B $79 | C $58
Concessions: Premium $101 | A $90| B $71 | C $52
A booking fee of $8.50 per transaction applies.

 

Reviews: 

Will be provided as available. 

Resources:

2022 Season Together Again. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Artistic & Music Director Brett Weymark, OAM

Jubilation: Handel & Bach. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.  (Available on access, 8 May 2022.)

 

BOOK TICKETS HERE

COVID-19 SAFETY

• All SPC singers, musicians and staff are double vaccinated.
• Audiences will be required to wear masks throughout the performance. If this changes we will inform patrons as soon as possible.
• Hand sanitiser will be available.
• A digital program book will be available on this page a week prior to the concert. A limited number of printed program books will be available for $5 each at the concert.

DETAILS ABOUT OUR COVID SAFE PLAN

(c) 8 May 2022.  Tel.  Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Dvorak Requiem

CHORAL MUSIC / Sydney Philharmonia Choirs


Sydney Philharmonia Choirs presents:
DVORAK REQUIEM
Saturday,  21 September 2019, 8PM
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House 

Free pre-concert talk in the Northern Foyer 45 minutes prior to the concert.
Sponsored by Fine Music FM.

(Note: This is the last concert of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Festival Chorus at the Sydney Opera House due to the major renovation of the Concert Hall, for completion 2022.)

Experience the moving drama of Antonin Dvorak's finest choral creation. In this concert, 350-voice Festival Chorus – the philosophical heart of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs organisation – joins forces with the talented young musicians of the Sydney Youth Orchestra and some of Australia’s finest vocal soloists under the baton of Maestro Brett Weymark, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Artistic and Music Director. Don’t miss this rare opportunity!

Dvořák’s Requiem hasn’t appeared in Sydney Philharmonia Choirs programming since the 1980s. This ‘Mass for the Dead’ is generally regarded as his finest creation for voices and orchestra and over the course of an hour-and-a-half it takes musicians and listeners on a deeply moving journey of drama and reflection.

This requiem was commissioned by the Birmingham Festival in 1891, when Dvořák was already an established composer of international repute, although the New World Symphony and the Cello Concerto were still a few years away. The premiere was a huge success, prompting George Bernard Shaw to mock the English fondness for requiems: ‘the public loves everything connected with a funeral.’ But behind the sneer is a truth. Choirs and audiences really do love requiems – the catharsis, the drama and the beauty of contemplation. It’s as if through the shared experience of music, we can come to terms with the prospect of our own mortality.

Soloists:

Taryn Fiebig, Soprano
Fiona Campbell, Mezzo soprano
Andrew Goodwin, Tenor
Michael Honeyman, Baritone

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Music from the Movies

Choral Singing / Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Saturday 11 May at 8pm
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall


Presented by TEDX Sydney Curator and host of The Movie Show on SBS Fenella Kernebone and conducted by Elizabeth Scott with the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, this promises to be the most spectacular concert of the year.


Free pre-concert talk in the Northern Foyer 45 minutes prior to the concert.
Sponsored by Fine Music 2FM.

Sydney Philharmonia's Music from the Movies, 11 May 2019.

Behind nearly every great movie scene is an equally memorable musical moment. Pay closer attention and you’ll notice just how many of those are powered by the human voice. From the crystal purity of the opening to Frozen to the primal sounds of Hans Zimmer’s score for Gladiator, there’s really nothing the voice can’t express, and for the first Festival Chorus concert of 2019 we’re assembling a blockbuster program of the highlights.

Representing the classic soundtracks of John Williams, there’s ‘Dry Your Tears, Afrika’ (Amistad) ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ (Saving Private Ryan) and the terrifying ‘Duel of the Fates’ (Star Wars). We’ve got Australian film-making covered with the ingenious, eclectic score from Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and the aural vista of Nigel Westlake’s Solarmax and Babe soundtracks. And the concert wouldn’t be complete without some of the great classical choral works that have been ‘borrowed’ for the movies: Handel’s Zadok the Priest (The Madness of King George), Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ (A Clockwork Orange) and, of course, Mozart’s Requiem (Amadeus).


PROGRAM

Choral highlights from the movies including:

Alice in Wonderland, Amadeus, Babe, Frozen, Gladiator, Hymn of the Fallen, Star Wars, The Lion King, The Mission, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Saving Private Ryan, and more ...


ARTISTS

Elizabeth Scott Conductor
Fenella Kernebone, Presenter
Festival Chorus
VOX
Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra

(The performance will be recorded by Fine Music 102.5FM for future broadcast. Recording engineer Peter Bell)


Below are videos related to our repertoire:

Alice in Wonderland (Score) 2010 - Alice's Theme. Uploaded by Sakura Jurai.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Amadeus.  Mozart Requiem "Dies Irae" (Claudio Abbado, conducting). Uploaded by medici.tv.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Amadeus.  Mozart Requiem "Confutatis/Lacrimosa.  Uploaded by agustigula4.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Australia: Music from the Movie / "Fire from the Sky".  Uploaded by David Hirschfelder - Topic.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Symphony No. 9 "Choral". Beethoven. Uploaded by BMinhauzen.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Babe Soundtrack. "If I Had Words", one sung by Farmer Hoggett, and Babe End Music. YouTube, uploaded by balletic.  Accessed 15 April 2019.  Babe, the 1995 Oscar-winning movie, was adapted from Dick King-Smith's children's book 'The Sheep-Pig', features an adorable piglet who is rescued from a brutally realistic-looking agribusiness breeding shed as his mum and siblings are taken off to be slaughtered; it finds a home in an old-fashioned farm with many other animals. 

 

Lyrics:  

Songwriters: Jonathan Hodge / Camille Saint-Saens

"If I had words to make a day for you
I'd sing you a morning golden and new
I would make this day last for all time
Give you a night deep in moon shine."

 

Camille Saint-Saëns - Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (Adapted for Babe). YouTube, uploaded by Dart Vader The Invisible Art of Film Music. Accessed 15 April 2019. 
 

Dry Your Tears Africa - Amistad.  Uploaded by ChuckRazor. Accessed 15 April 2019.

Duel of the Fates - Cinema in Concert - 01. John Williams.  Uploaded by crsOrchester.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Gladiator Movie Trailer. Hans Zimmer (Official Clip Movie Trailer - HD. Uploaded by movietrailer938. Accessed 15 April 2019. 

Gladiator - Now we are free.  Uploaded by NoName.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

The Lion King - I Just Can't Wait to be King. Uploaded by TLKEmmet.  Accessed 15 April 2019. 

The Lion King - The Circle of Life. Uploaded by Austin B.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Romeo + Juliet (Prologue) 1996.  Uploaded by Marnieee.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Romeo + Juliet OST - 15 - Mercurio's Death. Uploaded by xosoundtrackloverxo.  Accessed 15 April 2019.

Symphony No. 9 "Choral". Beethoven.  Uploaded by BMinhauzen.  Accessed 15 April 2019. 

Zadok the Priest - Westminster Abbey Choir and Choristers of the Chapel Royal. Uploaded by DrWestbury.  Accessed 15 April 2019.


Reviews of Performance

Music from the Movies: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Sydney Arts Guide.  Accessed 12 May 2019.  

Music from the Movies: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. May 11, 2019. Stage Whispers. Accessed 12 May 2019.

Music from the Movies (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs). Limelight Magazine. Accessed May 14, 2019. 


Video Credit:

Choristers Unite. Life: get amongst it. Accessed April 1, 2019. (This video was produced during one of our rehearsals for Music for the Movies concert.) 


Resources: 

Broadway World.  Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Presents Music from the Movies. Broadway World. Accessed 27 April 2019.

FILMINK.  Sydney Philharmonia Choirs presents Music from the Movies, Saturday May 11, Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. April 15, 2019.

Sydney Opera House. Music from the Movies. April 15, 2019.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Program. 11May 2019.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs / Music from the Movies  (available at this time of Posting).  Accessed April 1, 2019.

Time Out.  Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: Music from the Movies. Accessed 27 April 2019


YouTube.  www.youtube.com.





(c) April 15, 2019.  Updated, May 14, 2019. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Bernstein's Candide

Choral Singing / Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
Co-presented by Sydney Opera House 

A semi-staged bravura romp in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

Dates and Venue:
Saturday 29 September 2018, at 8pm
Sunday 30 September 2018, at 1pm
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

Book by Hugh Wheeler
Based on the satire by Voltaire
Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, with additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John LaTouche, Dorothy Parker, Lilliam Hellman and Leonard Bernstein
Orchestration by Leonard Bernstein and Hershy Kay
Musical continuity and additional orchestration by John Mauceri

Our gormless hero Candide and his fiancée Cunegonde are raised by the philosophical windbag Professor Pangloss to believe that all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. Disaster, separation, disease, unpleasant journeys and attempted burning at the stake soon follow, until, thoroughly disillusioned, all the characters reunite at home and resolve to make some sense of life. Think of it as the fun-house mirror version of Handel’s Saul, one where tragedy is played as farce – with a happy ending, of course.

Below, in discussion on Candide's SPC production: Music & Artistic Director Brett Weymark with Director Mitchell Butel.



From its rollicking overture to its string of affectionate parodies of opera, Gilbert and Sullivan, tango and Broadway glitz, Candide is a delight from start to finish – one that might just make you think. While the overture and showpieces like the bravura ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ have become concert-hall fixtures, the complete Candide is rarely mounted.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

Choral Singing / Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Op.38

 

 

Based on the Victorian poem by Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman, Sir Edward Elgar's oratorio Dream of Gerontius (1900), has a dramatic framework within which the music expanded orderly, a massive piece for chorus and orchestra. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory.

Dates:
   Thursday 19 October, 8pm
   Saturday 21 October, 2pm

Venue:
   Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
 

 

                                                      Image credit: Eric Hansen

 

Artists: 

Brett Weymark conductor

Jacqueline "Jacqui" Dark mezzo soprano

Andrew Goodwin tenor
Jose Carbo baritone
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
The Sydney Youth Orchestra

 

 

At the end of the music score of Sir Edward's The Dream of Gerontius, the composer wrote: “This is the best of me.” This monumental work embodies Elgar’s spiritual and artistic ideals – it is as stirringly Romantic and grand as you’d expect, but it is also Elgar’s most personal utterance. Elgar poured his “heart’s blood” into Gerontius, responding to the words with evocative, sincere and imaginative music – imposing marches full of pomp and circumstance, choirs of demons and angels, and celestial harmonies – that takes us from earth to heaven. Elgar’s masterful choral writing celebrates the beauty and power of the voice in partnership with the orchestra.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Italian Opera Arias and Rossini Stabat Mater

Choral Singing / Music from Italian Masters

Rossini Stabat Mater and Opera Highlights from Italian Masters

Dates:
   Saturday, 6 May 2017, 8 pm
   Sunday, 7 May 2017, 2 pm
   Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House




Reviews:

Rossini Stabat Mater (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs), by Clive Paget. LimelightMagazine.Com. May 7, 2017.

The Passion and Powers of Italian Prayers. www.garjones.com. May 7, 2017. 

Experience the celestial power of the voice. Soloists and choir perform highlights from the operas of the Italian masters which find characters addressing heaven, from Moses leading his people in prayer to a glorious Easter Hymn in an Italian village.

When masters of the stage compose sacred music, they create work as powerfully dramatic as any opera.  Gioachino Rossini, best known as a composer of brilliant comedy and moving tragedy, also wrote a handful of choral masterpieces after his early retirement from the theatre.  Like his operas, they celebrate the beauty of the human voice, none more so than his Stabat Mater.

This medieval poem describing Mary’s contemplation of her son on the cross is a vividly drawn drama in its own right and it has elicited profound musical responses from composers for centuries. Rossini sets the words with exquisite sensitivity to emotion and mood in the manner of his grandest operas, including virtuoso solos and ensembles and overwhelming choruses, sweeping listeners up in a gripping, living narrative.

Unfortunately, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs don't have a video recording of Stabat Mater that I can share; in place, I've included this performance of  Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater performed by hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) ∙ Solisten ∙ MDR Rundfunkchor ∙ Andrés Orozco-Estrada. With soloists Marina Rebeka, Sopran ∙ Marina Comparato, Mezzosopran ∙ Michele Angelini, Tenor ∙ Marco Spotti, Bass ∙ MDR Rundfunkchor ∙ Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Dirigent ∙ Rheingau Musik Festival 2015∙ YouTube, uploaded by FRankfurt Radio Symphony. Accessed April 30, 2021. 

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Bernstein's Wonderful Town

Choral Singing / Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

LEONARD BERNSTEIN'S WONDERFUL TOWN presented by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in collaboration of SquabbaLogic Independent Music Theatre

The trials of youth, the pains of being a dame and the thrills and spills of the Big Apple- that’s the comedy and pathos of Wonderful Town.

Briefly, about WT: Wonderful Town is a 1953 musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters Ruth and Eileen, who aspire to be a writer and actress respectively, seeking success from their basement apartment in New York City's Greenwich Village. It is based on Fields and Chodorov's 1940 play My Sister Eileen, which in turn originated from autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney first published in The New Yorker in the late 1930s and later published in book form as My Sister Eileen. Only the last two stories in McKenney's book were used, and were modified.

Sydney Philharmonia's 350-strong Festival Chorus. Full concert staging a luscious score. Brings to life the all too rarely heard classic from the golden era of Broadway musicals - Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town. With a stunning mix of classical, jazz, popular music styles, all performed in an absolute feast for the ears.


The cast includes Beth Daly (Grey Gardens), Virginia Gay (Winners & Losers), Scott Irwin (High Society), Scott Morris (Hairspray), Nicholas Starte (Great Island), Dean Vince (Sondheim on Sondheim), Georgina Walker (The Doctor Blake Mysteries), and Megan Wilding (Tonsils & Tweezers).  300 Sydney Philharmonic Choirs' Festival Chorus will help to transform the 1950s jazz-inspired score, conducted by SPC's music and artistic director Brett Weymark (Happy Feet). Brendan Hay (Man of La Mancha) will design the presentation.


Dates and Venue: 
Saturday7th May 2016, 8pm
Sunday 8th May 2016, 2pm
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

Georgina Walker and Virginia Gay playing sisters Eileen and Ruth.

 Maestro Brett Weymark

In May 2016, Jason Langley (Loving Repeating) will direct Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

Wonderful Town  is a five-time Tony Award winner (including Best Musical and Best Actress) about two sisters from Ohio who descend upon New York, finding romance along the way. Rosalind Russell headlined the original Broadway production in the role of Ruth Sherwood, Edie Adams as Eileen Sherwood, and George Gaynes as Robert Baker.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man: Concert for Peace

Choral Singing / Sydney Philharmonia - Festival Chorus &  VOX


"If war is defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than one thousand lives, of the past three thousand four hundred years, humans have been entirely at peace for only two hundred and sixty-eight of them, or just eight percent of recorded history." - Quoted from SPC program's Conductor's Note page.

Karl Jenkins' A Concert for Peace: The Armed Man

Dates:
Saturday 16 May 2015, 1:00pm

Sunday 17 May 2015, 7:30pm

Venue:

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

The Armed Man is a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The piece was dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. It was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations, to mark the museum's move from London to Leeds. It is essentially an anti-war piece based on the Catholic Mass, but which Jenkins combines with other sources, principally the 15th-century folk song "L'homme armé" in the first and last movements. Other religious and historical sources include the Islamic call to prayer, the Bible (e.g. the Psalms and Revelation), and the Mahabharata. Writers whose words appear in the work include Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Sankichi Toge, who survived the Hiroshima bombing but died some years later of leukaemia. It was written for SATB chorus with soloists (soprano and muezzin) and a symphonic orchestra. 

 

Composer Karl Jenkins was born and grew up on the Gower Peninsula, the son of a local organist and choirmaster. He studied music at Cardiff University and then at the Royal Academy of Music. Originally an oboist, he took to the saxophone and established himself early on as a jazz musician. He then introduced the oboe as a jazz instrument. As a composer, Jenkins manages to combine very different styles of music from classical to pop and to draw on different cultures from around the globe. His Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary (1994) topped the classical album charts. His Requiem, which we sang in 2006, is enjoyed by choristers and audiences alike. 

The Armed Man charts the growing menace of a descent into war, interspersed with moments of reflection; shows the horrors that war brings; and ends with the hope for peace in a new millennium, when "sorrow, pain and death can be overcome".

Below photo:  Prior to our Saturday performance, a release of doves will take place on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House while our Sydney Philharmonia choirs perform Festival Alleluia, by Australian composer Lyn Williams.

The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in association with the United Nations Association of Australia, present 'The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.'  This very special concert reflects on the passing of 'the most war-torn and destructive century in human history' and looks forward in hope to a more peaceful future.

In Concert for Peace,  Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man. 

 

  
 

 

The distinctive texts are drawn from many parts of the world and from diverse religions and cultures. The captivating music takes the audience on a journey to the battlefields and beyond with stirring brass movements, haunting cello, and heavenly choral accompaniments. 

Australia's Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Choral Singing / Choral Music

The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (SPC), Australia's oldest and most prestigious iconic choir, continue to share the joy of choral music to both audience and singers. At the helm is its charismatic and dynamic Music Director Brett Weymark.

Passionate choristers. Fun. Demanding. Exciting. Therapeutic. Fulfilling.

As the largest choral group of Australia, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs mainly comprises the following: Chamber Singers, Symphony Chorus, Festival Chorus, and VOX youth group led by Liz Scott, Music Director.

The Chamber Singers. The dynamic Chamber Singers are renowned for their exceptional performances and professionalism. It comprises of 32-voice choir, auditioned annually to ensure the highest standard is maintained. As a flexible ensemble, they are also be engaged for commercial performances and corporate functions, Royalty and foreign dignitaries. It also performs annually in events such as the City of Sydney.

The Symphony Chorus.  The Symphony Chorus, with up to 150 members,  performs in concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra headed by David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director. It performs alongside the world's best conductors and soloists at the highest standard of excellence.

VOX.  SPC's young adult ensemble led by Music Director, Liz Scott. It comprises of singers aged 18-30 (orig. 16-26) performing programs of classical, popular and contemporary works. Recent highlights have included a recording with Aria award-winning composer and pianist, Sally Whitwell, appearances at the World Netball Championships, and in the Video Games concerts at the Enmore Theatre. In 2015 they performed in A Concert for Peace with the Festival Chorus. They also performed in Holst:The Planets for Earth Hour and Danny Elfman Music from the Films of Tim Burton with Sydney Symphony Orchestra.




Festival Chorus.  The Festival Chorus is the largest of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, with 350 to 400 members who come together twice a year to perform works from a diverse musical range. Singers are selected during Festival Chorus Open Days, which are held twice each year. To join Festival Chorus all singers must attend a voice placement workshop in early February. Each session will take around an hour and a half. At the workshop, the Music Director, possibly with other vocal associates, will conduct voice placements in order for him to assess singing ability and to determine vocal range. It also comprise warm-up exercises, simple melodies, scales and easy harmony pieces to give one the feel of being part of a wonderful sea of sound.  Its performances are often in collaboration with other organizations such as musical theatre company.

Recent  previous Festival Chorus programs include Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Leonard Bernstein’s hit musical Wonderful Town, Rossini Stabat Mater and Elgar Dream of Gerontius. The choir has premiered compositions by Matthew Hindson and Carl Vine, and collaborates with organisations such as the Sydney Youth Orchestra. In 2018 Festival Chorus will present Haydn's The Creation and Bernstein's Candide.

Joining will give you the opportunity to perform not only with hundreds of other passionate singers but also with professional orchestral players and some of Australia’s best soloists. In 2018 you will perform in the iconic Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House and the stunning Centennial Hall at Sydney Town Hall.

Here's a sneak peek of our rehearsals for George and Ira Gershwin's  Of Thee I Sing  performed Sept 26 and 27, 2015, timely too, for the composer's (George Gershwin) birthday.  In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 





Three other major events include: ChorusOz, Carols at the House & Handel's Messiah.


More recently, other initiatives have transpired, including: Singing at the House collaborated with the Sydney Opera House, commissioning and presenting Australian composers' works, and the Discover Series workshop.





How to Audition at Sydney Philharmonia


Sydney Philharmonia Festival Chorus Open Day Audition. In keeping with the times, there have been new developments in the FC audition process.





Here's Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Ode to Joy" Excerpt 2, performed during SSO's Season Opening Gala 2012.  Sydney Symphony Orchestra with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Symphony Chorus, Chamber Singers and VOX. Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor,  Lorina Gore soprano,  Sally-Anne Russell mezzo-soprano,  James Egglestone tenor,  Michael Nagy baritone.





Sharing a Favourite Quote: 

"Sing, then. Sing, indeed, with shoulders back, and head up so that song might go to the roof and beyond to the sky. Mass on mass of tone, with a hard edge, and rich with quality, every single note a carpet of colour woven from basso profundo, and basso, and baritone, and alto, and tenor, and soprano, and also mezzo, and contralto, singing and singing, until life and all things living are become a song..." ~ Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley


Resources:

Beethoven Symphony No. 9: Ode to Joy Excerpt.  Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs / Ashkenazy.  YouTube, uploaded by Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Accessed November 12, 2016.   

Facebook.com/SydneyPhilharmoniaChoirs.  Accessed December 6, 2014.

Highlights of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Accessed December 6, 2014. 

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: Festival Chorus (Audition 2011).  Accessed December 6, 2014. 

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. YouTube uploaded by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Accessed, November 12, 2016 

The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Twitter.com/SydPhil

Note:  Originally published Dec 6, 2014.   Latest update, November 12, 2016. 



(c) December 2014.  Tel Asiado.  Latest update November 12, 2016. Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.