Ambassador thoughts

Bel a Cappella’s O Adonai, masterfully unconventional

Bel A Cappella | O Adonai Sunday 7 December, Christ Church St Laurence, Haymarket, NSW Conductor: Monica Buckland “O Adonai” means “O Lord” or “O My Lord” in Hebrew, an ancient and revered title for God used in Jewish tradition and Christian Advent antiphons. I really appreciated the program notes that were provided to this concert. Well written, and highly informative.

Richard Wong December 12, 2025

Ambassador thoughts

ACC celebrated Palestrina with many moments of bliss

Australian Chamber Choir | Palestrina 500 Sunday 25 May, 2025, Middle Park, VIC It’s Palestrina’s 500th birthday this year. Born in 1525, Giovanni Pierluigi (as he was known to his friends) da Palestrina was just as famous in his lifetime as in the 500 years since his birth. His music has long been synonymous with church and worship, and with

Daniel Brace May 26, 2025

Ambassador thoughts

Tudor Choristers’ celebration of Palestrina a fitting tribute

Tudor Choristers | 500 years of Palestrina 5 April, 2025, St John’s, Camberwell, VIC There’s a reason why Palestrina has been a celebrated composer for the past almost 500 years. His music is technically brilliant, as well as pleasing to the ear. Meaning, the music is a triple threat: challenging for the performers, choir and conductor. So it was ambitious,

Daniel Brace April 8, 2025

Ambassador thoughts

Coro Austral journeyed across cultures for ‘el saber’!

Coro Austral | El Saber 6 April 2025, St Augustine’s, Balmain, NSW In Spanish, el saber literally means “Knowledge”. In philosophical or poetic contexts, el saber often carries a sense of inherited wisdom, or knowing that goes beyond the intellect – the kind of knowing you might gain through music, history or lived experience. Perfect for a choral program tracing

Pepe Newton April 7, 2025

Ambassador thoughts

Bel a cappella’s concert with Balmain Sinfonia a sheer delight!

Bel a cappella | Sanctus August 25, 2024, St Augustine’s, Balmain, NSW There was a frisson of excitement as music lovers crowded into Balmain’s beautiful St.Augustine’s Catholic Church on a warm, cloudy Sunday afternoon. Bel a cappella were to perform with members of the Balmain Sinfonia – both conducted and directed by Monica Buckland. It was Monica’s thoughtful programming and

Heidi Hereth August 28, 2024

Ambassador thoughts

SYD FEST 24, An interesting program of Bach and those inspired by him

Sydney Festival: Temperament series | Andrew Bukenya: Bach in Colour 27 January, 2024, The Neilson, Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay, NSW The Sydney Festival is presenting an interesting series of seven concerts, broadly based around the music of JS Bach. In this, the fourth of these concerts, the charismatic Andrew Bukenya and his Vocal Ensemble presented an interesting program of unaccompanied

Daniel Kaan January 28, 2024

Latitude 37’s beautiful music is a thing that binds us

Latitude 37 | Meditations Tuesday 3 October, Melbourne Recital Centre Meditations is the title from the latest concert by early music ensemble Latitude 37, Laura Vaughan on viola da gamba and lira da gamba, Julia Fredersdorff on baroque violin and Donald Nicolson on organ. The program, which was continuously played without applause from the second item until the last, was

Daniel Brace October 7, 2023

Australian Chamber Choir’s “Keys to Heaven” showcased their sumptuous sound

In the recently restored and now even more exquisite Christ Church St Laurence, the Australian Chamber Choir presented Keys to Heaven, a concert of music dating from the late 1400’s through to about 1640. The sumptuous sound of one of Australia’s leading vocal ensembles in this visually delightful church transported the enthusiastic audience to another place, another time when music

Alan Holley November 25, 2019

Ambassador thoughts

Sydney Chamber Choir programme joyfully celebrated the power of the voice

Sam Allchurch took his audience to heart and taught them a thing or two about singing in his first subscription concert as Music Director for Sydney Chamber Choir in 2019. Music on Music was billed as a celebration of singing as an artform, and the ‘feeling of joy that only singing can give,’ and it certainly lived up to that promise.

Lliane Clarke April 2, 2019

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