Sydney Chamber Choir’s A Royal Affair
Sydney Chamber Choir under its new Music Director Sam Allchurch with the Muffat Collective presents A Royal Affair, featuring masterworks from two Masters of the Queen’s Music with two of Handel’s grandest royal works.
The first non-Briton to hold the royal appointment, Australian composer Malcolm Williamson brought a larrikin spirit to the role. ‘Most of my music is Australian,’ he said, ‘not the bush or the deserts, but the brashness of the cities. The sort of brashness that makes Australians go through life pushing doors marked pull.’ His Symphony for Voices is a visionary work that explores the spirituality of the Australian landscape.
Current Master of the Queen’s Music, Scottish composer Judith Weir, offers a more intimate musical experience, drawing on writers as diverse as Shakespeare, e.e. cummings and Edward Lear. Music and poetry intertwine in a rich tapestry of choral colour.
George Friedrich Handel was never actually Master of the King’s Music, but as Composer to the Chapel Royal he wrote the most famous regal music of all: Zadok the Priest, which has graced every British coronation since Handel composed it for King George II in 1727. His Dettingen Te Deum is on an even grander scale: bold, triumphant and utterly thrilling.
The programme: Williamson Love, the Sentinel/ Williamson Symphony for Voices/ Weir The Song Sung True/ Weir A Blue True Dream of Sky/ Weir Love Bade me Welcome/ Handel Dettingen Te Deum/ Handel Zadok the Priest
Tickets: Premium Standard $75 | Concession $65 / A reserve Standard $60 | Concession $55 / B reserve Standard $50 | Concession $45 /Student (B reserve only) $25
Website and bookings: sydneychamberchoir.org/ Enquiries: 1300 661 738
