Grant Us Peace: Music of Vasks – Sydney Philharmonia Choirs 2022

JUBILATION HANDEL & GRANT US PEACE MUSIC OF VASKS HAYDN

CONTENTS Tap on an item in the list to jump to that section Tap lower right corner to return to this page Acknowledgement of Country

4

Welcome

5

About the Music

6

About the Creators

12

Texts and Translations

14

About the Artists

18

Chamber Singers

19

Sydney Philharmonia String Ensemble

19

Our Supporters and Partners

20

About Us

22

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 2

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS PRESENTS

GRANT US PEACE MUSIC OF VASKS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

DEBORAH CHEETHAM and MATTHEW DOYLE Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here† PĒTERIS VASKS Pater noster (Our Father) MARIA LOPES My Life Flows On†* STUART GREENBAUM The Night that the Museum Burned‡* Text by Ross Baglin VASKS Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace) INTERVAL VASKS Missa (Mass) For mixed choir and strings (2005) Brett Weymark conductor Chamber Singers with members of VOX Sydney Philharmonia String Ensemble Fiona Ziegler concertmaster Saturday 9 July 2022 at 2pm St Andrew’s Cathedral † Commissioned for 100 Minutes of New Australian Music 2020 ‡ Commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs * Premiere The performance will run for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes including a 20-minute interval.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY We acknowledge and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country we rehearse, sing and work, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Our voices bring to life the songs of many cultures and countries, from across the ages, in a spirit of sharing, learning and understanding. The ancient customs and cultures of this land inspire us to create harmony – in music and our society.

PHOTO: KRISTINA KINGSTON

TARIMI NULAY – LONG TIME LIVING HERE Deborah Cheetham and Matthew Doyle Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here was commissioned for our centenary year (2020) as a choral Acknowledgement of Country to commence our concerts.

With Tarimi Nulay, Deborah Cheetham (music and words) and Matthew Doyle (the translation into Gadigal) have created a work that explores a profound cultural and spiritual reflection of the land on which we sing.

Tarimi Nulay was premiered in the Dawn Chorus performance on the steps of the Sydney Opera House at the beginning of 2020 and has been heard in performances we have given since then. It has been programmed to begin each concert in our 2022 season and we hope this special piece will be part of Sydney Philharmonia performances for many years to come.

Deborah Cheetham AO – Yorta Yorta, soprano, composer and educator – has been a leader in the Australian arts landscape for more than 25 years. In 2009 she established Short Black Opera, devoted to the development of Indigenous singers.

In 2010 she produced Pecan Summer, Australia’s first Indigenous opera. In 2014 she was named an Officer of the Order of Australia, for ‘distinguished service to the performing arts as an opera singer, composer and artistic director, to the development of Indigenous artists, and to innovation in performance’. Her commissions include the major choral-orchestral work Eumeralla – A War Requiem for Peace (2019).

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 4

WELCOME PHOTO: KEITH SAUNDERS

Although it’s always wonderful to perform large works with a full symphony orchestra and chorus, many of us find the intimacy and connection of performing chamber music really nourishes the soul and stimulates the spirit. This is one of those programs that invites us to go within ourselves through three very slow-moving, thought-provoking works by Latvian Pēteris Vasks, performed alongside two new Australian works.

I vividly remember the first time I heard the music of Vasks. I was driving up north to visit my family when ABC radio played his Musica Dolorosa for string orchestra, and I was so moved that I had to pull over to the side of the road between Armidale and Tamworth and just close my eyes to listen to this gently unfolding music that rose to such a cathartic climax. It made me keen to explore his music more and that brings us to the three works you’ll hear today.

Vasks’ music has a distinct voice in the tradition of the spiritual minimalists such as Arvo Pärt and Henryk Gorecki. But it’s blended with a national sentiment as heard sometimes in his Missa, where he invokes the folksong of his homeland Latvia – a country where singing is central to the national psyche. When I began rehearsing this program with the Chamber Singers, I read them a quote by Vasks that I share with you now: Most people today no longer possess beliefs, love and ideas. The spiritual dimension has been lost. My intention is to provide food for the soul and that is what I preach in my works.

We are very excited to bring to you this concert in which the new works by Maria Lopes and Stuart Greenbaum invite further connection with the Latin words of the Pater noster and Dona nobis pacem as well as the Missa itself, commencing with Deborah Cheetham’s important Acknowledgement of Country.

In the words of E.M. Forster – ‘only connect’.

Brett Weymark OAM Artistic and Music Director

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 5

GRANT US PEACE Today’s program begins with a prayer: Pēteris VASKS’ setting of the Pater noster, written in memory of his father, who’d been a Baptist pastor. The elder Vasks had often asked: ‘Son, when will you compose “The Lord’s Prayer”? One that the congregation could sing in faith – simple but convincing.’ Vasks kept postponing the idea, claiming he hadn’t matured enough; eventually his father died, and he finally set the Pater noster. ‘That’s why for me,’ he says, ‘the piece has a kind of duality – it is for my own father, and for our common Father.’ Musically, Vasks heeds the request for something a congregation could sing: the setting is short and scored in four parts, with unashamedly tonal harmonies.

Vasks brings a strong personal faith to his composing. ‘For me,’ he says, ‘music exists only if it has a spiritual content. . . . Whether it has a spiritual text or is instrumental music is irrelevant. Music must carry a message, with an ideal form, with spiritual concentration.’ An idealist, he doesn’t seek to communicate the awfulness of the world but its beauty. ‘I’m a bit different from Arvo Pä rt,’ he continues, referring to his Estonian contemporary, ‘he’s already living in Paradise, and his music comes from there! There’s no emotion, no drama. My ideal is there, but I am living here, and my compositions deal with the contradiction between the ideal and reality.’

PHOTO: MÉLANIE GOMEZ © SCHOTT MUSIC

DONATE NOW There’s excitement in the air as we reconnect with each other, our audiences, our fellow choristers and instrumentalists. As concert halls open once again, we can fill our lives with the restorative power of music.

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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 8

PHOTO: KEITH SAUNDERS

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LOPES My Life Flows On The composer writes…

My Life Flows On is a musical journey capturing the uncertainty of our times and an intimate expression of hope, as well as the intrinsically musical nature of life.

The text is a composite, interleaving the writing of disparate voices throughout history – 19th-century hymn writer Robert Lowry, England’s first Poet Laureate John Dryden and Heraclitus of Ephesus – with my own contribution, to explore the way meaning can coincide and deepen new understanding. In this way, I allow the music to emerge from the text in an intuitive way and am led in unexpected directions. Some key textual themes have inspired the music: the idea of ‘flow’ in life, points of creation, and the musical nature of life, from primal beginnings to the end of time as we know it.

The work begins with Lowry, describing the flow of life as a song. The text then develops the concept of creation in diverse forms, interleaving Dryden’s poetic use of music as a creative force in shaping the universe. From here, Lowry’s rhetorical question (‘How can I keep from singing?’) ushers in new sections examining the sound world of neonatal life and the role sound shapes our entire lives (using a nautilus shell simile). Sound resonates within us and we attune ourselves to it as in Heraclitus’ flow of life.

The second half draws on Baroque influences, featuring the final grand anthem of Dryden’s Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day from 1687 as it celebrates emerging from a time of uncertainty to a dance of joy. The musical effect is kaleidoscopic: sometimes modal, Baroque inspired, with parallel harmonies and a nod to orthodox church music and contemporary influences.

GREENBAUM The Night that the Museum Burned The composer writes…

The Night that the Museum Burned sets a new text by poet Ross Baglin, written specifically for this Sydney Philharmonia commission. It contrasts the removed opulence of a high-rise penthouse arts function simultaneously with the museum burning below at street level. The poem alludes to rioting on the streets, but doesn’t directly say whether the museum is a deliberate target or incidental collateral damage. The inference, however, is hard to escape: the preservation of culture and history can’t be taken for granted.

VASKS Dona nobis pacem The first sacred work of Pēteris Vasks’ mature years, his setting of the Pater noster, fired something in him. When the request came for a new work from Latvia’s pre-eminent choral group (and there are plenty vying for that title in this song-rich country), Vasks again turned to sacred text to fulfill the commission for the Latvian Radio Choir. Dona nobis pacem. ‘Only three words – “Grant us peace”,’ says Vasks, ‘but do we even need more?’ It’s arguably one of the shortest, most concentrated prayers, and yet, ‘these words are so all encompassing.’

Where some of Vasks’ choral works have explored modernistic, experimental techniques, in his sacred music he returns to more traditional methods. ‘With simple, honest sounds, I want to express that which is simplest and most essential.’ And besides, all that experimentation was a process he had to go through as a younger man. Its time had passed.

The Dona nobis pacem emerges slowly from the simplest of sounds – absolute

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 9

CHRISTMAS CHOIR 2022 SING WITH US THIS CHRISTMAS! Christmas is a time for singing and celebration, and we do it in style at Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. This year we’ll perform Handel’s Messiah in the newly refurbished Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House.

As a member of our Christmas Choir, you’ll be joined on stage by our auditioned choirs, guest soloists and a professional orchestra, led by conductor Brett Weymark.

Make this Christmas unforgettable with your live performances in the Sydney Opera House!

Scan the QR code to register your interest Concert information: sydneyphilharmonia.com.au/messiah SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 10

unison. Gradually the melody departs from its home tone of ‘A’, but only by a single step, and always returning to the safety of unison. Complexity and tension build to a climax which sees the voices drop out and the strings continue. When the voices rejoin, it is once again with a singular harmony.

Vasks meditates here on ‘the absolute void of harmony in our lives, [and] our world.’ It’s his plea that the music serve to remind us of stability, something that the past few years have shown us to be a precious commodity indeed.

VASKS Missa Music comes slowly to Pēteris Vasks. Far from a prolific composer, he works deliberately, taking pains with every separate sound that’s committed to the page. Which makes his Missa rather an outlier in his oeuvre. It began as an a cappella work in 2000; a year later he created a version for choir and organ, which he viewed as an improvement, but one which resulted in a new problem. ‘The distanced sound of the organ,’ explains Vasks, ‘and the open emotionalism of my music, and its “direct message” seemed almost at odds with one another.’ Vasks finally arrived at a place of personal peace with the work when he returned to his beloved strings for the accompaniment. ‘They sound so beautifully together… because both sing – the choir sings, the strings sing – so the effect is twofold.’ And happily, it is this third version from 2005 you enjoy today.

If you’re familiar with some of Vasks’ other works, you’ll recognise the string writing in the Missa – at times epic, almost filmic in quality (the Benedictus), elsewhere leaning in hard towards pain and plight (Gloria), and sometimes even playful (Sanctus).

Raised in a Protestant family with a Baptist minister father, Vasks was never exposed to the Latin language. When working with words, he says, ‘you’re no longer alone with your musical material.

You live together with the text.’ What a delight then to find he was so strongly drawn to the Latin liturgy. ‘This text has such contrasts!’ Rolling the words around in his mouth, he says ‘First “Qui tollis peccata mundi”... and then – “Dona nobis pacem” ... in Latin it sounds so beautiful.’ Similarly, the music of language appeals to Vasks elsewhere in the liturgy: ‘On the [one] hand – “Kyrie eleison”. That is a moment of desperation, when no one else can help you. But then the “Christe eleison” which follows, breathes life into this faith.’ In essence, for Vasks the humanity of Christ is relatable, whereas the unyielding awe of the Lord is harder to approach, and he hears this contrast in the liturgical text.

Latvian culture is steeped in paganism, with a deep love and understanding of the natural world. Vasks often chooses evocative titles for his instrumental works – Landscapes of a burnt-out earth and Music for flying birds are just two examples. His vocal music is more a mix of the sacred and the profane. For Vasks, the true mission of music is: ‘to talk about eternal spiritual values that rise above the secular. Until my last breath I will remind others that a human being is more than just a creature ruled by passion to buy and sell.’ By composing a Mass, Vasks says, ‘it was necessary and important to convey [this message] in such a traditional form with sacred texts [with the] hope that it will ignite some light, some fire within in the listener.’

Program notes © 2022 by Yvonne Frindle (Pater noster), Genevieve Lang (Dona nobis pacem and Missa) and the composers.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 11

ABOUT THE CREATORS PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER PETER © SCHOTT PROMOTION

PĒTERIS VASKS was born in 1946 in Soviet-occupied Latvia. The son of a Baptist pastor in an atheist state, he was stigmatised and pre-cluded from studying double bass at the Latvian Academy of Music. Instead, he enrolled at the Academy in Vilnius, Lithuania.

He performed with the Latvia’s national opera and symphony orchestras before turning to composition. Early influences included Polish composers Lutosławski and Penderecki as well as Latvian folk traditions. By the 1980s he’d forged a unique musical vocabulary and become known in the West through violinist Gidon Kremer’s championing of his music. He was contracted by the German publisher Schott in 1990, the year before Latvian independence.

His style is characterised by a radiant simplicity, but you’ll also hear drama, brilliance and, especially in his orchestral works, sumptuous romantic lines. As a Latvian, he belongs to a geographical group of composers whose work emerged from an atmosphere of oppression and the struggle for independence in the shadow of the former USSR: Pärt in Estonia, Rautavaara in Finland, Kancheli in Georgia and Gorecki in Poland. Vasks’ music responds to the culture and environment of his homeland and its turbulent history, and the spiritual element of his music taps into our desire for beauty, and for hope.

PHOTO: MEAGAN FITZPATRICK

MARIA LOPES is a Sydney-based composer, singer and musician, and music has been a part of her life since she was a small child.

Growing up with music-making in the family home, she began singing in church settings as a choir member and cantor, conducting and directing church music in her late teens. The Sydney folk music scene also provided an outlet for her songwriting skills to emerge. After completing a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she went on to perform in recital with pianist Beryl Potter on the Sydney music club circuit. Composition and singing reemerged in her life during postgraduate study working as a clinical music therapist.

She has performed as a vocal soloist with jazz pianist Kevin Hunt for the Whitlam Institute, Music at Manly and SALT Festival in Port Lincoln, and at the Hub Springwood and Eastwood Ryde Leagues Club. She has sung with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs since 2013 and is a member of the Chamber Singers.

For Maria, composition is a natural extension of improvisation.

Her writing process is intuitive and lyrical in style, drawing heavily on background research from which her ideas take shape.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 12

PHOTO: PIA JOHNSON

The STUART GREENBAUM sound has overt connections to jazz, pop and minimalism but is equally grounded in the Western art music tradition. He studied composition with Brenton Broadstock and Barry Conyngham at the University of Melbourne and is now Professor and Head of Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He has composed more than 230 works, including 24 sonatas, seven string quartets, five piano trios, seven concertos, five symphonies and two operas. He was a featured composer at the 2006 Aurora Festival, resident composer at the 2009 Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, and Composer in Focus at the 2009 Bangalow Music Festival.

In 2009 he was Australia’s representative for the Trans-Tasman Composer Exchange, working in Auckland with NZTrio on a new piano trio, The Year Without a Summer, which toured nationally for Chamber Music New Zealand, and was performed for the ISCM World New Music Days (Sydney, 2010) and at the City of London Festival (2011).

In 2019 he was featured composer with the Flinders Quartet, resident composer with Melbourne Youth Orchestra and resident fellow at the Akiyoshidai International Art Village in Japan; and in 2020 he was a composer in residence at the Visby International Centre for Composers in Sweden.

ROSS BAGLIN was born in Melbourne in 1961 and graduated in English literature and psychology at the University of Melbourne 23 years later. Amidst a career as a senior business executive with several large companies, he has sustained a 40-year artistic collaboration with composer Stuart Greenbaum, resulting in two operas, several large choral works, song cycles and art songs. He has also published poetry in Poetry Review. Today, he lives in London and manages a start-up company, but visits Australia whenever it’s allowed.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 13

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

CHEETHAM & DOYLE Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here Tarimi nulay ngalawa yura garrabarra baraya yagu barrabugu ngyiningi ngara ngyiningi berong

Long time here live the people dancing and singing today and tomorrow, your way of knowing your way of belonging Translated into Gadigal by Matthew Doyle

VASKS Pater noster Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum.

Adveniat regnum tuum.

Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut, et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.

Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo.

Quia tuum est regnum, et potestas, et Gloria, in saecula.

Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen.

ST PETER’S, RIGA. (PHOTO: KRISTAPS UNGURS ON UNSPLASH)

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 14

LOPES My Life Flows On My life flows on in endless song Above earth’s lamentation.

I hear the real yet far off sound That hails a new creation. Robert Lowry ‘How can I keep from Singing’ (1868) From harmony, Heavenly harmony, The universal frame began.

From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran The diapason falling full on Man. after John Dryden ‘A Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day’ (1687) No storm can shake that inward calm Whilst to that Rock I’m clinging Since Christ is Lord of heav’n and earth How can I keep from singing? Robert Lowry From inception of consciousness We are cradled in sound In a universe of continuous resonance. Maria Lopes (2019) Panta Rhei [everything flows] Heraclitus of Ephesus Resonance, attunement.

How can I keep from singing?

O Spira mirabilis, The chambers of life are like a nautilus shell, Expanded and renewed By the gift of sound. Maria Lopes Panta Rhei Resonance, attunement.

But O, what art can teach What human voice can reach Notes inspiring holy love, Notes that wing their way heavenward.

The trumpet shall be heard on high The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky. John Dryden My life flows on.

My life flows in endless song.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 15

GREENBAUM The Night that the Museum Burned The night that the museum burned There was a party for the cast Of a curated image, soon to screen Across a million paying lives, Forty storeys in a shaft of light: His dental porcelain enclosing All the opinions that a suit supposed, A chromium magnate man arose And scanning stockings like a barcode Said all the room was priced to hear: In washed silk, under swaying trays Caryatids offered canapes And in champagne flutes with graceful limbs The bubbles rose and raced from base to brim.

Flung from a hieroglyphic bridge, A bottled comet tailed its flame Into the ragged membrane Of a window. Soon, the sirened, red Torrential engines tore the glass, And on the windows of the passing trains The tattooed fires instagrammed Their blitzkrieg for the second page.

No silver tower knew what embers whirled In sparks on graphite skies, or mourned For things it deemed too old to learn Or caryatids overturned The night that the museum burned Ross Baglin

VASKS Dona nobis pacem Dona nobis pacem.

Grant us peace.

INTERVAL

VASKS Missa Kyrie Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us; Christ, have mercy upon us; Lord, have mercy upon us.

Gloria Gloria in excelsis Deo; et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Laudamus te, benedicimus te; adoramus te, glorificamus te.

Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, to men of goodwill.

We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for thy great glory.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 16

Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.

Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.

Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus: tu solus Dominus: tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.

Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris.

Amen.

O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.

O Lord the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.

Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.

For Thou only art holy.

Thou only art the Lord.

Thou only art the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

Sanctus Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Agnus Dei Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis.

Dona nobis pacem.

O Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Grant us peace.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 17

ABOUT THE ARTISTS PHOTO: KEITH SAUNDERS

Brett Weymark conductor Brett Weymark OAM is one of Australia’s foremost choral conductors. Appointed Artistic and Music Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in 2003, he has conducted the Choirs throughout Australia as well as internationally.

He has also conducted the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland, West Australian and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Sydney Youth Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as productions for WAAPA, Pacific Opera and OzOpera, and he has performed with Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera, Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Song Company and Musica Viva.

He studied singing and conducting at the University of Sydney and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, continuing his conducting studies with Simon Halsey, Vance George, Daniel Barenboim and John Eliot Gardiner, amongst others.

His repertoire at SPC has included Bach’s Passions and Christmas Oratorio, the Mozart, Verdi, Duruflé and Fauré requiems, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He champions Australian composers, and has premiered works by Matthew Hindson, Elena Kats-Chernin, John Peterson, Daniel Walker, Rosalind Page, Peter Sculthorpe, Andrew Schultz and Ross Edwards. In 2011 he premiered his own work Brighton to Bondi with the Festival Chorus.

He has also conducted musical theatre programs including Bernstein’s Candide, which won multiple BroadwayWorld Sydney awards. Under his direction, SPC received a Helpmann Award for Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms, directed by Peter Sellars, and was nominated for a Limelight Award for Purcell’s King Arthur.

He was chorus master for the Adelaide Festival productions of Saul (2017), Hamlet (2018) and Requiem (2020), and he has prepared choirs for Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Edo de Waart, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Simon Rattle. He has recorded for the ABC and conducted film scores for Happy Feet, Mad Max Fury Road and Australia.

Recent conducting highlights include Sweeney Todd (West Australian Opera), Jandamarra by Paul Stanhope and Steve Hawke (SSO), Michael Tippett’s A Child Of Our Time (Adelaide Festival) and Carousel (State Opera South Australia).

In 2001 he was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal and in 2021 the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Brett Weymark is passionate about singing and the role music plays in both the wellbeing of individuals and the health and vitality of a community’s culture. He believes music can transform lives and should be accessible to all.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 18

CHAMBER SINGERS Brett Weymark Artistic and Music Director Elizabeth Scott Associate Music Director Tim Cunniffe Assistant Chorus Master and Principal Rehearsal Pianist Alan Hicks Rehearsal Conductor and Pianist SOPRANOS Nikki Bogard Josephine Brereton* Maria Lopes Raphaela Mazzone Charlotte Moore* Jayne Oishi Mia Myers Maya Schwenke* Katherine Thompson Dorothy Wu*

ALTOS Jasmin Borsovsky* Kate Clowes Claire Duffy Jessica Farrell Vesna Hatezic Georgia Luikens Rachel Maiden Judith Pickering Beverley Price Megan Solomon Tara Narayan* Louise Underwood*

TENORS Joshua Borja* Bryce Gonlin* Michael Gray Steven Hankey Bennett Haskew* Tom Hazell Emanuel Kunick Alex McEwan* Rajah Selvarajah Robert Thomson Alex Walter Andy Wang*

BASSES Edwin Carter Andy Clare Ian Davies Simon Harris Selwyn Lemos Chris Masson* Philippe Mayoraz Robert Mitchell Finnian Murphy Michael Nolan* Isaias Sirur Flores Bruce Watson * Member of VOX

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA STRING ENSEMBLE FIRST VIOLINS Fiona Ziegler Concertmaster Belinda Jezek Michele O’Young

SECOND VIOLINS Léone Ziegler* Emma Hayes Alexander Norton

VIOLAS James Eccles* Andrew Jezek

DOUBLE BASSES David Cooper* Nicole Murray-Prior

CELLOS Anthea Cottee* Ruben Palma

* = Principal

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 19

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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 20

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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 21

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS Sydney Philharmonia Choirs presents the art of choral singing at the highest standard, and develops the talents of those with a passion for singing, in Sydney and beyond. Founded in 1920, it has become Australia’s finest choral organisation and is a Resident Company of the Sydney Opera House.

Led by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark OAM since 2003, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs comprises three auditioned and three community choirs that perform repertoire from choral classics to musical theatre and commissions by Australian composers. SPC presents its own annual concert season and collaborates with leading conductors, soloists and orchestras in Australia and overseas. In 2002, SPC was the first Australian choir to sing at the BBC Proms (Mahler’s Symphony No.8 under Simon Rattle), returning again in 2010 to celebrate its 90th anniversary. The choirs VICE-REGAL PATRONS The Hon. Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales and Mr Dennis Wilson VICE PATRONS Prof. the Hon. Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO Lauris Elms AM OBE DMus (Syd) AMBASSADOR FOR SINGING Yvonne Kenny AM BOARD Jacqui Wilkins Chair Tracey Jordan President Andrea Hoole Treasurer Ian Bennett, Katie Blake Tracey Jordan, John Moore Bill Napier, Georgia Rivers, Ben Yi

perform in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s season every year as they have done for more than 80 years. SPC also presents a series of community singing events throughout the year – Chorus Oz (the annual big sing), PopUp Sing and singing workshops throughout Sydney and NSW. In 2020, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs celebrated 100 years. Despite the restrictions on live performances that year, it pressed ahead with a commissioning project – 100 Minutes of New Australian Music – featuring new works by composers Elena Kats-Chernin and Deborah Cheetham, among others. 2021 saw a cautious but bold return to live choral performances and the launch of our 2022 season with concerts in the Sydney Town Hall, St Andrew’s Cathedral and the newly renovated Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

STAFF Fiona Hulton Executive Director Brett Weymark OAM Artistic & Music Director Dr Elizabeth Scott Associate Music Director Tim Cunniffe Assistant Chorus Master & Principal Rehearsal Pianist Lynne Murray Vocal Coach Mark Robinson Artistic Operations Manager Meagan Fitzpatrick Choirs Manager Susan Gandy Orchestra Coordinator Simon Crossley-Meates Marketing Manager Naomi Hamer Office & Box Office Administrator Sarah Howell Philanthropy Associate John Liebmann Finance Manager PROGRAM CREDITS Yvonne Frindle Editor and Design Marita Leuver Cover Artwork Immij NSW Printer

Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Road, Dawes Point (02) 8274 6200 | hello@sydneyphilharmonia.com.au

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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 22

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Eric Whitacre makes his longawaited return to Australia to conduct VOX in the Sydney premiere of The Sacred Veil – a ‘requiem’ for modern times.

Life, love, loss and the search for solace – these are the human constants at the heart of his latest major choral work. And you can hear it in the newly renovated Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

THE SACRED VEIL ERIC WHITACRE CONDUCTS Eric Whitacre conductor Julian Smiles cello Claire Howard Race piano VOX

Saturday 17 September | 8pm Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Tickets from $45 Youth Under 30 $30 Concessions available | Booking fees apply

sydneyphilharmonia.com.au/sacredveil SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 23

GRANT US PEACE: MUSIC OF VASKS SATURDAY 9 JULY 2022 St Andrew’s Cathedral