The show must go on

St Peters Chorale performs John Rutter’s Gloria despite the pandemic.

CHRISTINE TAYLOR

CO-DIRECTOR OF COCURRICULAR MUSIC AND HEAD OF CHOIRS

John Rutter is a highly successful and widely admired contemporary English choral composer and conductor. His extended, seventeen-minute Gloria, composed for choir, brass ensemble, percussion and pipe organ, is one of Rutter’s most ambitious works. Using text from the Gloria of the Latin Mass, it was composed in three movements which Rutter describes as respectively, 'exalted, devotional and jubilant.' St Peters Chorale performance of Rutter’s Gloria was originally planned to be a collaborative project with the Queensland Conservatorium Brass Ensemble. In March 2020, however, like many educational institutions, St Peters and the Conservatorium entered At Home Learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chorale continued to rehearse using Zoom with students joining in from many locations including the Northern Territory, Cairns and China.

Kathryn Morton, Director of St Peters Chorale, describes the rehearsal process:

"Rehearsing on Zoom is not easy – students hear a passage, then sing it themselves while muted. Staff are not able to assist with immediate feedback, nor can students hear other singers, they must be entirely self-reliant. On two occasions in the learning cycle, students submitted videos and feedback was given remotely.

"The Chorale came together for the first time to sing this work on Tuesday 14 July – 12 weeks after they started learning it via Zoom. They had just four short weeks to put together a performance of the Gloria with the added challenge of being socially distanced from the next singer. The Conservatorium Brass could no longer take part in the performance due to their own COVID-19 restrictions and so a professional Brass and Percussion Ensemble was assembled.

"As their Director, I am very proud of what these students achieved during the period of online learning. They persisted in selfpreparation despite the significant challenges. Working via Zoom without the context of the other parts around you, and when you are not used to solo work, is an added element of complication. Add in the missed social aspect of the choir and what that means to the students and it would have been very easy for them to lose heart. They persisted and have created a recording project of which they should be proud. History will attest that this is a very significant achievement in difficult circumstances."

St Peters Chorale’s socially distanced performance of the Rutter Gloria is available on YouTube and Facebook.