The Australian Chamber Choir: Bach In The Castle Of Heaven
The Australian Chamber Choir directed by Douglas Lawrence OAM, brings its programme Bach In The Castle Of Heaven to Sydney and Bowral after a sell out performance in Melbourne.
Director Douglas Lawrence OAM, renowned for his engaging programs, has taken as a starting point a comment made by John Eliot Gardiner in Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven: “Who needs pills to lift the spirits when we have the six motets of Johann Sebastian Bach?” Lawrence contrasts three of JS Bach’s masterpieces with a cantata from Bach’s father-in-law, Johann Michael Bach,Das Blut Jesu Christi, highlighting the talents of the choir’s six sopranos, four altos, four tenors and four basses.
Gregorio Allegri’s celebrated Miserere, which the choir has performed to enraptured European and Australian audiences, sits alongside one of the most profound works in the motet repertoire, Messiaen’s O sacrum convivium. The program also features Three Latin Motets by Herbert Howells, representing a pinnacle of early 20th century English choral music.
Fresh from his role as Ubaldo in Haydn’s Armida with Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, Jacob Lawrence will be singing with the choir for this series before he leaves Australia to undertake vocal studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Ellie Walker and Ria Pollo, also choir members, will accompany two of the Bach motets on cello and organ. Internationally renowned harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson also sings with the choir.
Since its beginning nine years ago, the Australian Chamber Choir has given 168 concerts across Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, regional Victoria and NSW, Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland and Poland and released 4 CDs. Their most recent release is Live in Europe 2015, was recorded in Geneva.
In June and July next year, the Australian Chamber Choir will undertake its sixth concert tour of Europe, taking along an accompanying party of 30 ‘friends’, who will experience an unforgettable journey with performances in Rome, Florence, Verona, Vienna, Innsbruck, Lindau, Tübingen and Leipzig. In Leipzig, the choir sings in St Thomas’ Church, where JS Bach was Cantor for the last 27 years of his life.
Bach In The Castle Of Heaven Program:
JS Bach (1685–1750) Lobet den Herren alle Heiden (BWV 230) for 4-part choir
Herbert Howells (1892–1983) Three Latin Motets Op.38
JS Bach Jesu meine Freude (BWV 227) for 5-part choir
Johann Michael Bach (1648–94) Das Blut Jesu Christi
Gregorio Allegri (c.1582–1652) Miserere
Olivier Messiaen (1908–92) O sacrum convivium
JS Bach – Singet dem Herren ein neues Lied (BWV 225) for two 4-part choirs
Tickets: Adult $40 Conc $35 Student $20 ( 2 school-age children free with a paying adult)
Bowral: Sat 20 Aug, 3.30pm, St Jude’s, Bowral / Tickets: Adult $35 Conc $25
Bookings: www.auschoir.org or tickets at the door
