Sam Alllchurch is the Artistic Director of Sydney Chamber Choir which is performing Innocence & Experience for two concerts on Saturday 25 June. The concert is a celebration of Sydney Chamber Choir’s past, present and future, featuring a degustation of works from the ensemble’s 47 year history. classikON caught up with AIlchurch to find out more about this exciting program…
classikON: Where did the concept of a ‘degustation’ come from and how did you choose the repertoire?
Sam Allchurch: One of the strongest motivators for this program was pride in Choir’s achievements over its history. In the last two years I have been enormously proud of the choristers’ efforts in negotiating the challenges of COVID-19 – always with musicianship, good humour and a sense of responsibility. But it seemed a good moment to recall some pillars of our identity – Renaissance music and contemporary music. To give a good sense of these two styles, a degustation approach was necessary, rather than an exclusive focus on one composer or period.
Sydney Chamber Choir has been performing since 1975, how difficult was it to select works from the past as part of this degustation?
With such a large catalogue of commissioned Australian work, this selection was not an easy task. There were a few different motivations: what had been unfairly neglected in recent years? Did some pieces suit the Choir more than others? Which pieces would stretch the audience in the right way? Which recent pieces needed an urgent second outing? And then, how would this all fit together? So a set of questions rather than an answer!
What is the significance of the title of the concert ‘Innocence & Experience’?
The title I borrowed from William Blake’s poem. Like so many seeming polarities, the lesson of life teaches us both are valuable – innocence and experience together. Similarly, the Choir from early days was a forerunner in reviving ancient music, as well as in developing an Australian choral repertory. The interesting question for me, however, is which way to look at the polarity. Are the masters of the Renaissance the experienced, and those writing today the innocent, or vice versa? The answer is both.
Interesting! So, new Australian music features very strongly in this concert, is there a theme to the works or composers you have selected?
There was a deliberate theme when I was selecting the works but over the rehearsal process, some interesting connections have emerged. For instance, the refugee experience is a common thread between Josie Gibson’s Let them all come and Stephen Adams’ memory pieces. Josie’s work is an outraged, impassioned cry against the unjust treatment of refugees, while Stephen’s piece sets text of Ania Walwicz, who was a post-World War II refugee from Silesia. Then there are connections with Australian works and the Renaissance pieces – Ross Edwards’ Flower Songs are a joyful reflection of nature in a way that is not dissimilar to Brumel’s Sicut lilium, or the flower imagery in Dufay’s Flos florum.
It sounds like a beautiful program. You are performing these works in the new Neilson Theatre at Walsh Bay, have you had a chance to be in the space yet, what’s your first impression as a venue for choral music?
I was lucky enough to attend one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s acoustic testing sessions. The acoustic is incredible and I can’t wait to hear the Sydney Chamber Choir in it. It has the perfect combination of clarity and warmth in the sound. It also a beautiful space, physically which will inspire performers and audiences alike. But don’t take my word for it – come and hear for yourself!
Sydney Chamber Choir perform Innocence & Experience for two concerts on Saturday 25 June at 3pm and 7.30pm.
Bookings www.sydneychamberchoir.org or 1300 661 738.
