The Sydney Chamber Choir delivered its first concert under the direction of Richard Gill OAM to an enthusiastic audience. Richard Gill needs no introduction as his contributions to music and especially music education are well known. The choir was in beautiful voice and the program was a wonderful mix of the very old, the very new and the in-between.

The first half comprised  Guillaume de Machaut’s 14th century work Messe de Notre Dame, interleaved with three new compositions from young Australian up and coming composers. Each brief interlude piece was different, yet each related to the prime text of the Messe. The contrast of the modern interludes with the classic polyphonic writing of the Messe illustrated the changes in music over the last 600 years and reflected the changes in taste and texture of music from then to now.

I also was interested to hear two vocal techniques formerly unknown to me: ‘hocketting’ which sounds like an odd form of syncopation with some singers taking turns at singing a few notes before others take their turn at a few notes; and ‘isorhythm’ where the lower voices maintain order through a drawn out plainchant line with a short fixed rhythmic pattern.

As usual the quality of the choir singers was superb and especially so for the soloists singing the first two interludes: the first Gabriel Angelus by Michael Paton for male voices, and the second interlude, Quomodo by Olivia Swift, for female voices. The final interlude, Ait Angelus, by Josephine Gibson, was sung in octaves by the whole choir as a deliberate contrast to the polyphonies of the Messe and the other interludes and recalled the simpler lines of Gregorian Chant.

The second piece was the well loved Carmina Burana in the version written by Carl Orff himself for voices, two pianos and percussion. The Sydney Chamber Choir was augmented by the NSW Public Schools Senior Singers, the pianists were Chris Cartner and Katherine Day, and Splash Percussion provided the oomph! The soloists were the superb Alexander Knight (baritone) of whom we will be hearing a lot more, Miguel Iglesias (tenor), and sopranos Belinda Montgomery, Wei Jiang and Megan Cronin.

I found this version and performance of Carmina Burana to be more fun with its lighter touch compared to the full orchestral version and the percussion seemed more integrated. The full text was included in the program notes which really enhanced my enjoyment of the performance.

As is usual with Sydney Chamber Choir, the program notes were excellent and informative.

The Sydney Chamber Choir’s impressive first concert of the year was performed at the City Recital Hall Angel Place on Saturday 19 March.

I am sure that we can look forward to a great 2016 season from the Sydney Chamber Choir under the direction of Richard Gill OAM and have already put the dates of their future concerts in my diary: 28 May for the Dixit Dominus and 1 October for the Nelson Mass.