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2002 (4th Quarter)Articles this quarter:
(2002/12/11) SIV2002/1995 CD ReleasedExcerpt from email to choral-announce. The Sydney IVCF (1995 and 2002) CD has been released. International distribution - Economy Air - Thursday 12/12/2002 Interstate distribution:
(*) CD will hopefully arrive to these people on Wednesday 11/12/2002, for distribution after that date. Please don't heavy them too much :-) If you have ordered a CD, and are down for receiving it via mail above, you will receive an email soon with your current mailing address. If this is incorrect or you have moved since SIV2002 please reply to that email ASAP. Non-distributed CDs will be returned to Sydney after christmas, at which time they will be mailed out to the last known address. There are spare CDs, so if you want to order them, then go to www.siv.aicsa.org.au and download the order form provided. (2002/12/04) MonUCS "O Magnum Mysterium"From MonUCS concert handbill. The Monash University Choral Society is proud to present O Magnum Mysterium Featuring: Conductor Trevor Jones Saturday 7th December 8pm Adults $15 Concession $12 (2002/12/01) SUMS "CarolfestExcerpt from email to choral-announce 44th annual SUMS Carolfest Thursday 5 December 2002 (2002/11/30) SCUNA ConcertExcerpt from email to choral-announce The ANU Choral Society's upcoming concert combines protest and prayer, including the premiere of a new work composed especially for SCUNA by the choir's musical director, Jonathan Powles. Inspired by the story of "Peggy" from the Bringing Them Home report on the stolen generation, Prayer combines a soaring soprano solo over the haunting voices of an all-female choir. Described by Dr Powles as "a tribute and an apology", Prayer will be performed with Kurt Weill's Das Berliner Requiem. A setting of poems by Bertold Brecht and composed to mark the tenth anniversary of the end of the First World War, its message of the futility of war is as powerful now as it has ever been. The choir will also perform Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Anton Bruckner's Mass in E minor. Conducted by Jonathan Powles and Matthew Stuckings. The program: When: Sat 30 Nov, 8pm Tickets: STOP PRESS - SPECIAL DISCOUNTED TICKETS FOR ANU STAFF MEMBERS (2002/11/29) ROCS "Schubert's Mass in G and Purcell's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day"Excerpt from email to choral-announce RMIT Occasional Choral Society (ROCS) presents: Schubert's Mass in G and Purcell's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day Conductor: Sarah Chan Friday 29th November, 7:30pm Venue information: (2002/11/07) AUCS Concert Review - JoshuaFrom review in the November issue of the newspaper "Opera, Opera" Bouyessis takes on Joshua One of my rare interstate sallyings forth from Sydney not coinciding with an interstate staged opera season, to Adelaide at the juncture of September and October, placed me in unexpected confluence with a positive feast of Handel in concert mode. On consecutive days, two of his major oratorios - Joshua and Judas Maccabaeus - were being performed, neither of which I had encountered previously in the flesh. I was unable to take in the latter, but thoroughly relished the experience of leaving the confines of the hallowed square mile to visit the eastern suburb of Norwood for a satisfying performance of Joshua under the baton of Graham Abbott on Saturday, September 28. The so-called Norwood Concert Hall betrayed its parentage at a glance, being a particularly beguiling and picturesque specimen of Victorian-era municipal architecture - with stairways going every which way, excruciatingly uncomfortable seating and an acoustic more or less to die for provided only that one could manage to position oneself free of the generous dread overhangs in the teeth of an unreserved seating plan. I did - just. Before so much as a note had been played, I was marvelling at the near-capacity crowd of music-lovers who had turned out to hear a performance I had suspected might draw only the proverbial dog and cat. Apart from the work itself, the major advance interest had been generated by my first opportunity to meet the Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus and the Adelaide University Choral Society. Despite a few worrying flaws in his performance, tenor Tasso Bouyessis in the title role displayed more than enough traces of rapidly developing tenor artistry and quality of sound to confirm that he is an up-and-coming talent to watch with keen interest. As the aging warrior Caleb, father of the love interest in the piece, veteran bass Robert Dawe made a few concessions to age here and there, but also produced plenty of satisfyingly sonorous sound. Soprano Jennifer Kneale, who sang the role of Caleb's daughter Achsah, made some splendid sounds and displayed exemplary nimbleness in negotiating her sometimes tortuous vocal lines. In the pants role of the young warrior Othniel - also, needless to say, in love with Achsah, Sally-Anne Russell combined with her to produce some particularly pleasing duetting in Our limpid streams with freedom flow - and again, at the 11th hour, in O peerless maid, with beauty blest/O gen'rous youth, who virtue fires. The choral work was good if not as stunningly articulated and meticulously synchronised as the perfectionist would have wished. Inevitably, however, at least as much interest arose from the first chance to hear an unfamiliar work performed live as from the actual performance mix. There'sn not, of course, a lot of snappy action in the tale of Joshua's assault on the walls of Jericho, but Handel makes a good deal of what there is. The solemn march early in Act II, when the Ark of the Covenant is being carried round and round Jericho in the expectation the walls will come tumbling down, is impressive. A positive rash of brass flourishes - these performances featured flourishes composed by conductor Abbott in the absence of more than sketches from the pen of Handel himself - punctuates the climactic moments in this particular dram, to exemplary martial effect. The moment at the end of Act II, when the sun stands still, was effectively realised here, as was the well-known chorus of youths, See the conqu'ring hero comes!, which Handel himself liked so much he recycled it in Judas Maccabaeus. The almost equally well known final solo for Achsah, Oh! Had I Jubal's lyre, was very well sung by Kneale, who took its challenging floridities impressively in stride, before having that final duet with Othniel on the way to the rousing final chorus of the oratorio, where the population sings its stentorian praises to great Jehovah with the aid of a satisfying input from trumpets and drums. David Gyger (2002/11/07) CIV NYEP 2002Excerpt from email to choral-announce. THE 54th AIVCF COMMITTEE PRESENTS: NYEP 2002!! Still thinking about where to go for your Christmas/New Years holidays? Let us decide for you... COME TO CANBERRA! Or if you already live in Canberra... COME TO WATSON! To celebrate the New Year, and to get rrrreeeealllly excited about the Canberra Intervarsity Choral Festival, July 2003 (and possibly just slightly innebriated), the Canberra IV committee have organised a NYEP (New Years Eve Party) to be held on... you guessed it - Tuesday the 31st of December 2002! Cath and Rob have kindly volunteered their trendy house for the party which you can find at: 81 A'Beckett Street Watson The partying will start from 8pm. BYO drinks, nibblies, vocal chords, song books, pool-playing arms, and swimmers (or not ;-)to run under the sprinkler in! On Wednesday January 1 2003, from 12 noon, we will have a recovery picnic/BBQ (depending on fire-ban status) at Kambah Pool - a great place to relax, swim, and chill out after the previous evening's excitement. (Kambah Pool is actually part of the Murrumbidgee river, not a man-made pool, in case you were wondering). If you would like to come to our NYEP, Eric TF Bat, Transport & Billetting Officer for CIV, will help you organise accommodation and transport. You can contact him on transport@civ.aicsa.org.au. You can contact Jenny, your friendly CIV Soc Sex, on socsec@civ.aicsa.org.au, and she will answer any general queries that you may have about the NYEP. Look forward to seeing you all there! (2002/11/06) CIV/SCUNA Concert "SONGLINES"Excerpt from email to choral-announce Sunday November 10, 5pm, $10/$8 The program includes vocal and instrumental works by Bach, Palestrina, Handel, Gluck, Brahms, Vaughan Williams, Lassus, and des Prez. All performers are members or friends of SCUNA. Funds raised go towards the Canberra Intervarsity Choral Festival 2003 and the ANU Choral Society. Everyone is invited to All Bar Nun afterwards for drinks and nibblies. (2002/10/27) Gurre-Lieder 2003 - Chorister ResourcesDuring January 2003 AICSA choristers will be participating in a performance of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with the Australian Youth Orchestra and Maestro Diego Masson at the Perth International Festival. When finalised, the full details of this event will appear here: http://www.aicsa.org.au/resource/index.html#gurrelieder The choral-score, notes and midi practice tracks have been prepared for the event by Philip Legge - these are available here: http://www.aicsa.org.au/resource/gurrelieder2003/ (2002/10/23) Erato 87 - Deadline for Submissions reminderExcerpt from Erato Editor's email to the membership. Greeting Zall! The deadline for submissions to Erato 87 looms large: Friday November 1, or about ten daze. Very little has arrived yet, although a few societies have contacted me acknowledging recepit of these messages. This is a hasty deadline, so the emphasis is upon reports and the like. However, if you are able to complete and submit a feature in that time, it would be welcomed. Material for submission
Would all societies contact me notifying me they have received this request. There have been difficulties with calls for submissions reaching some Presidents and Secretaries. Please forward this message to your Pres/Sec’s personal account if you know it. Ask them to check that their AICSA links are working. Please forward this message to choir members who may not be subscribed to choral-net or choral-announce. Please contact me at the above address for further info or to satisfy any queries. You can also call me on (03) 9817 3797 or 0409015143. Regards, Winston (2002/10/24) SUMS 2002 EGM ResultsExcerpt from email to choral-announce. The 2002 SUMS EGM was held last night. The 2002 Committee (which, by the end, comprised of 6 sopranos, 1 alto, 3 basses and one token tenor - with transitory appearances from one more each of SAT&B) will be handing over to the 2003 Committee, (which so far consists of 4 basses, 5 sopranos, 2 altos, and 1 not-quite-yet-token tenor) including an all all-bass executive! All positions were uncontested and nominees were elected unanimously. exec: events: external: internal: ex officio: (2002/10/16) MUCS Concert Review - Carmina BuranaExcerpt from "The Age" Culture - October 16, 2002 (starts with a review of another concert) Later, at the Melbourne Town Hall, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir presented Orff's take on mediaeval Latin verses, Carmina Burana, the opening strophes of which have been appropriated by the advertising and feature-film inudstries with a cheerful lack of concern for relevance. The work's monumental power of sound and simplicity of expression have a strong appeal, but what an apostrophe to the Goddess of Fortune has to do with Maxwell House instant coffee or King Arthur's sword remains incomprehensible outside Madison Avenue. At the opening to these verses, the sheer volume of sound hurled out into the Town Hall by the choirsters was immensely satisfying. The Philharmonic was reinforced for the occasion by several other bodies: Melbourne University's Choral Society, VoxSynergy, the West Gippsland Chorale and the Australian Children's Choir singing from the balcony for the Cour d'armour segment. Conductor Peter Bandy controlled these forces, keeping a leash on male voices anxious to jump the gun, and encouraging the Melbourne Youth Orchestra to match the singing in aggressiveness and stamina. The outcome was a reading of great appeal, waves of sound rolling around the hall's large airspace, balanced by precise articulation from the tenors and an unexpected piquant vitality from the combined female forces, particularly in the higher reaches that Orff occasionally explores. For soloists, these forces were fronted by soprano Helena Dix, tenor Andrew Wailes and baritone Jose Garbo. While Dix had little trouble with Amor volat undique or the taxing tessitura of Dulcissime!, both male soloists faced wrenching difficulties, Wailes making brave work of his high-to-falsetto solo, Olim lacus colueram. Garbo faced a more difficult set of obstacles, having to sing at either extreme of his range - and beyond. His is an attractive, low, male voice, consistently rich and shapely, the singer showing an exemplary responsiveness to the texts. Bandy conducted his young players in a first half comprising Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. 3, with an outstanding offstage trumpet solo; and one of Dvorak's last orchestral works, The Wood Dove, the story of which was explained and illustrated before the performance. Clive O'Connell. (2002/10/16) FUCS 2002 AGM ResultsExcerpt from email to Choral-Announce FUCS had an AGM last night. Just thought I'd share the results (as I recall them) For starters.. we elected Louise Tunbridge as a life member. YAY!! President - Craig Turner And just in case you didn't know: Conductor - Tom Farnan (2002/10/14) FUCS "Requiem"FUCS Media Release (14 October 2002) Flinders University Choral Society and Hills Choral Society perform the Faure Requiem, Faure Cantique de Jean Racine and Gorecki Totus Tuus. 3pm Sunday 27 October at Malvern Uniting Church, Marlborough st, Malvern. Entitled "Requiem", the concert comprises Faure's Requiem, Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine plus Gorecki Totus Tuus. The concert is to be conducted by the Musical Director for both choirs, Tom Farnan. The performance is to be held at Malvern Uniting Church, Marlborough St, Malvern on the 27th of October at 3pm. Ticket prices are $15 full price and $10 concession. Bookings can be made through BASS on 131246 or can be purchased at the door. Tom Farnan follows a reputable list of previous conductors for the Flinders University Choral Society including Carl Crossin, Peter Deane, Timothy Sexton, Deb Hepworth, Peter Leech, Russel Larkin and the young star Kynan Johns. Performing a vast range of musical styles, the choir always picks interesting works to perform. This repertoire is no exception. "No external effect detracts from its sober and somewhat severe expression of grief: no disquiet or agitation disturbs its profound meditation, no doubt tarnishes its unassailable faith, its quiet confidence, its tender and peaceful expectation" - Pupil to Gabriel Faure, Nadia Boulanger, who conducted the first English performances of the Requiem. The Flinders University Choral Society proudly co-hosted the Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival in 2001. The festival choir performed two superb concerts which were followed by top reviews. Requiem Flinders University Choral Society and Hills Choral Society For more information and to arrange interviews call: Angela Randall, Publicity Officer (2002/10/09) Melbourne: Call for singersFrom post to MonMUCS-Announce Trevor Jones asked me to post this to the monmucs lists, but as I'm not on them (nor can I find any subscription details about it), this will have to do (if someone could forward it on or let me know how to subscribe that would be great) This is really only a message for people in Melbourne, sorry (unless interstaters feel like a quick jaunt here for the weekend or something :) The Monash University Music Department will be performing Brahms' German Requiem this Saturday in the Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash University, Clayton. They are desperate for singers who have previously sung the work or are already familiar with it. The rehearsal schedule is as follows:
As the mid-week rehearsals start at 5:00pm, workers will still be encouraged to attend, even if they can't make the 5:00pm start. I know that MUCS will be performing on the same day, so that might make things a little difficult ... :) (2002/10/09) SUMS Ball - Friday 18 October 2002Excerpt from email to Choral-Announce B & S Ball (Bachelor and Spinster) Prices are $50/$55/$60 for union members and full time USyd students/other concessions/workers (2002/10/03) AUCS Concert Review - JoshuaFrom the Arts section of the Adelaide Advertiser on Wednesday October 2nd by Stephen Wittington. "Misgivings overridden" George Frederick Handel was the Cecil B. DeMille of the 18th Century. That at least is the conclusion I reached after hearing Joshua, a Biblical epic that follows the Hollywood formula of bloody violence alleviated with dollops of saccharine romance. I confess that I found repugnant the gleeful celebration of the slaughtering of the inhabitants of an entire city. These qualms aside, it contains much superb music, including two celebrated items that are rarely heard in their original context - See the Conqu'ring Hero Comes, and Had I Jubal's Lyre'. Tasso Bouyessis took the title role, playing him more in the manner of Victor Mature than Charlton Heston. He was egged on by the hawkish old Caleb, sung with sombre menace by the admirable Robert Dawe. The chorus by the Adelaide University Choral Society and the Philharmonia Chorus was superb. The Adelaide Art Orchestra was equally impressive, responding well to conductor Graham Abbott's taut rhythmic control. (2002/10/03) AICSA News! OnlineExcerpt from AICSA Secretary's email to the membership. The AICSA website has a new section called "News!" - this section of the site will be regularly updated with news relevant to the average chorister/choir (for instance I have posted Lukey 'CIV Convenor' Murtagh's CIV Update and Winston's call for Erato 87 articles so far). This being a team effort - I am asking anyone who has news they feel should be up on the AICSA News list to send it through to me and (pending my judgement of course) I will endeavour to put the news up on the web as soon as possible. News that I would want to see:
This news site is for all of the transient information - notlong winded articles/reviews (Good material for Erato, hey - get's those Eraticles in!) but the shorter, snappier, well - news-type announcements. I will endeavour to extract interesting posts from Choral-(Announce|Net) and post them up, and of course if the posting is of a vaguely personal nature or reveals personal details not already readily available on the web I'll check with the poster before publishing. And finally, if I publish something that you're not happy with (for whatever reason) please let me know and I'll deal with it. Once this is one the road we'll be able to use AICSA New's as the central repopsitory of all current choral events and happeneings, which is something a lot of use have been wanting for quite some time. (2002/10/01) Erato 87 - Call for SubmissionsExcerpt from Erato Editor's email to the membership. Erato 87 Call for submissions and change to schedule for Erato 87. Erato 87 is on its way. By now your society should have received Erato 86, so ask your Pres or Sec for a copy. Erato 86 advises that the publication date for Erato 87 is December 2002. We are bringing that date forward slightly to ensure Erato 87 arrives before the end of the academic year. Publication will now occur mid-November. The deadline for submissions has been set for two weeks before that, at November 1. Although these deadlines have not been met recently, this one will be strictly adhered to: whatever we have will go out by that date. This is a hasty deadline, so the emphasis is upon reports and the like. However, if you are able to complete and submit a feature in that time, it would be welcomed. Material for submission
There have been difficulties with calls for submissions reaching some Presidents and Secretaries. Please forward this message to your Pres/Sec's personal account if you know it. Ask them to check that their AICSA links are working. Please forward this message to choir members who may not be subscribed to choral-net or choral-announce. Please contact me at the above address for further info or to satisfy any queries. You can also call me on (03) 9817 3797 or 0409015143. Regards, |