On 25th January 2008, the Newcastle University Choir will co-host the 59th Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival in the Newcastle region for the first time in the Festival’s history. Waratah Brass have been invited to take part in this and the subsequent Sydney concert on February 2nd.
"Visions of Australia"
The Festival concert, “Visions of Australia”, will showcase the breadth of Australian music and the depth of our nation’s choral and brass gifts. The concert will feature the world première of Anne Boyd’s Missa Pacifica.
As well as being Professor of Music at the University of Sydney, Anne Boyd is also a world-renowned composer. Her works are inspired by real life and personal experiences. The people of Newcastle will know Boyd for her 1979 composition Coal River, a choral and orchestral work about their city.
We have a fantastic programme of all-Australian choral and brass music, which includes newer works, as well as some popular favourites.Brett Weymark
Brett Weymark – who has an enviable reputation as the Artistic Director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and who was judge of the ABC Choir of the Year in 2007 – is the Festival’s Musical Director and Conductor.
Brett says, “We have a fantastic programme of all-Australian choral and brass music, which includes newer works, as well as some popular favourites. I am particularly looking forward to collaborating with the Waratah Brass Ensemble, which has a well-deserved reputation for excellence”.
Mike Fitzpatrick works
Waratah Brass will feature some Australian works by Melbourne composer Mike Fitzpatrick.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the people of Newcastle to hear the powerful voices of Australia’s university choirs combined with the Waratah Brass. This extraordinary combination is guaranteed to raise the roof!
Sydney concert
The second concert at The Sydney Town Hall on Saturday 2nd February at 8.00pm, is entitled Reflections from England. This will feature the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Recognised as one of the 19th century’s most celebrated composers, we will be remembering the 50th anniversary of his death. The featured work, Five Tudor Portraits, is an expansive composition for choir, piano and strings.
Waratah Brass will feature in an innovative re-orchestration of Tallis’ Spem in Allium as well as the Sydney premiere of the Anne Boyd work Missa Pacifica.
The Newcastle Concert will be at the University of Newcastle Great Hall on Friday 25th January and will commence at 8.00pm.
Tickets cost $25 ($20 concession) and are available by phoning Quicktix on 1300 552130 (booking fees apply), or Waratah Brass on 49751118.
Tickets for the Sydney concert are also available through Quicktix. Costs are $53 ($43 concession)
