BACH MASS IN B MINOR
Acknowledgement of Country
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Welcome
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The Concert at a Glance
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About the Music
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Texts and Translations
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About the Artists
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Chamber Singers & VOX
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Sydney Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
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Our Supporters
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About Us
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PAGE FROM BACH’S AUTOGRAPH SCORE FOR THE MASS IN B MINOR (BEGINNING OF THE GLORIA)
CONTENTS Tap on an item in the list to jump to that section Tap lower right corner to return to this page
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS PRESENTS
BACH
MASS IN B MINOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
DEBORAH CHEETHAM and MATTHEW DOYLE Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here† JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Mass in B minor, BWV 232
Elizabeth Scott conductor Celeste Lazarenko soprano Anna Dowsley mezzo-soprano Jonathan Abernethy tenor Simon Lobelson baritone Chamber Singers VOX Sydney Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Fiona Ziegler concertmaster Saturday 16 April 2022 at 3pm Sydney Town Hall † Commissioned for 100 Minutes of New Australian Music 2020 The performance will run for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes including a 20-minute interval between the Gloria and the Credo.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY We acknowledge and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country we rehearse, sing and work, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Our voices bring to life the songs of many cultures and countries, from across the ages, in a spirit of sharing, learning and understanding. The ancient customs and cultures of this land inspire us to create harmony – in music and our society.
PHOTO: KRISTINA KINGSTON
TARIMI NULAY – LONG TIME LIVING HERE Deborah Cheetham and Matthew Doyle Tarimi Nulay – Long Time Living Here was commissioned for our centenary year (2020) as a choral Acknowledgement of Country to commence our concerts. With Tarimi Nulay, Deborah Cheetham (music) and Matthew Doyle (words) have created a work that explores a profound cultural and spiritual reflection of the land on which we sing. Tarimi Nulay was premiered in the Dawn Chorus performance on the steps of the Sydney Opera House at the beginning of 2020 and has been heard in performances we have given since then. It has been programmed to begin each concert in our 2022 season and we hope this special piece will be part of Sydney Philharmonia performances for many years to come.
Deborah Cheetham AO – Yorta Yorta, soprano, composer and educator – has been a leader in the Australian arts landscape for more than 25 years. In 2009 she established Short Black Opera, devoted to the development of Indigenous singers. In 2010 she produced Pecan Summer, Australia’s first Indigenous opera. In 2014 she was named an Officer of the Order of Australia, for ‘distinguished service to the performing arts as an opera singer, composer and artistic director, to the development of Indigenous artists, and to innovation in performance’. Her commissions include the major choral-orchestral work Eumeralla – A War Requiem for Peace (2019).
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WELCOME PHOTO: KEITH SAUNDERS
Bach’s music has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up in a musical household, and my mother’s favourite composer was Bach. During my time studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart in southern Germany – surrounded by and immersed in the history and music of the country – the power and majesty of Bach’s inspirational music was solidified for me. Bach and his music is so highly valued in German culture – it is a part of every community. During my three years in Stuttgart I performed the soprano solos in the St Matthew Passion, St John Passion and a multitude of Bach’s cantatas many times. I truly love singing Bach – with the complexity and instrumental style of his vocal lines. Of all Bach’s choral works, the Mass in B minor represents the culmination of a life’s work – containing some of the best music written by arguably the best composer to have ever lived. He probably
never heard it himself (it wasn’t performed complete until more than a hundred years after his death), which is why it’s so special to be able to share it with you in an authentic performance accompanied by period instruments – just as Bach would have imagined – almost 300 years after it was written. In this concert you’ll hear the youthful voices of VOX combine with the experience of the Chamber Singers, something I’m particularly excited to share with you. I am determined to ensure that the next generation of choral singers develop a passion, respect and understanding for Bach’s incredible music. Thank you for joining us! Elizabeth Scott Associate Music Director
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Cover page of the Dresden presentation copy of Bach’s Missa (1733)
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THE CONCERT AT A GLANCE Together with his St Matthew and St John Passions, Bach’s B minor Mass is one of his major contributions to the music of Christian worship.
Performance history Lutherans and the Mass A musical job application
The Mass completed
Too long for church, perfect for a concert
Transcending division
Bach probably never heard it complete. As far as we know, the first complete performance was in 1859, more than a century after his death in 1750. Lutherans kept just the Kyrie and Gloria from the Catholic Mass, referring to it as the ‘Missa’. In 1733, Bach sent the parts for a Missa setting to the Dresden court, seeking an official position. Most of the music was adapted, wonderfully, from other music by Bach. Towards the end of his life, Bach added the remaining sections of the Mass to form a complete setting. (His son Carl Philipp Emanuel referred to it as ‘the Great Catholic Mass’.) He probably intended for it to stand alongside the Passions as an exemplary work. Too long for any but the grandest and most festive worship service, the Mass in B minor is a compendium of Bach’s vocal and instrumental styles. Virtuosic arias with brilliant parts for solo instruments match exciting and expressive choruses – all illustrating the meaning of the text. This Mass transcends divisions in the Christian church, and makes available, in a form suitable for a concert, much music Bach originally devised for more transient occasions – you’d never guess!
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PORTRAIT OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, PAINTED BY ELIAS GOTTLOB HAUSSMANN IN 1746
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ABOUT THE MUSIC
NO ORDINARY MASS Completed in the final years of his life, the Mass in B minor is an astonishing display of Bach’s achievement BY DAVID GARRETT
Bach’s Mass in B minor may never have been heard in its entirety in his lifetime. The first known complete performance was more than a century after Bach’s death, in Leipzig in 1859, and was based on the first published edition, which came out in 1845. Since then the Mass in B minor has remained one of Bach’s most performed large-scale works. Representative of the many forms and styles of vocal and instrumental music that Bach brought to a peak, it makes a wonderful concert. Although its musical elements were assembled over more than a quarter of a century, Bach’s Mass forms a unity. It is Bach’s only setting of all the parts of the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass. A devout Lutheran, Bach completed it not for any service of worship, but probably to satisfy his sense of artistic completeness. Bach wanted to leave a worthy setting of the most important of all liturgical texts. Through the centuries of Christian tradition, the Mass had inspired musicians to apply the best of their craft to the glory of God.
The Mass in B minor, one of Bach’s last works, if not the very last, illustrates the ‘encyclopædic tendencies’ of his last years, seen also in the Goldberg Variations, The Musical Offering, and The Art of Fugue: a comprehensive display of the composer’s achievement in every relevant type of music, and an exemplary work. Bach selected and adapted, largely from his own vocal works, music to match the words of the Mass – showing his powers at their most impressive and varied. Where the adapted originals are not known, it can be assumed they existed: the Mass is a treasure trove of lost glories. Most of this music was composed for specific occasions and days of the Christian year. By putting it into a Mass, Bach gave it a repeatable context. Some of the pieces are intimate, some brilliant. Some are deliberately old-fashioned and learned, others fashionably up-to-date. This astonishing variety, yet compelling unity makes the Mass satisfying in concert performance. Bach’s main purpose, however,
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ABOUT THE COMPOSER DETAIL FROM HAUSSMANN’S SECOND PORTRAIT OF BACH (1748)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH was born in Eisenach in 1685 into a renowned dynasty of German musicians. He obtained his first post as a Lutheran church organist at the age of 18 and during his lifetime he was best known as an organist. In the century after his death his name was kept alive by enthusiasts, then – spurred in part by the first complete performance of his Mass in B minor and Mendelssohn’s revival of the St Matthew Passion (both in the mid-19th century) – he gained new and enduring fame as a great master of the Baroque era. Bach never left Germany, although as a young man he journeyed more than 200 miles on foot to hear the great organist-composer Dietrich Buxtehude, and his professional appointments took him to Arnstadt, Weimar, Cöthen and Leipzig. His career has been defined by three major periods of employment. In 1708, he became court organist in Weimar, but when he was passed over for a promotion it was time to move on and in 1717 Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen offered him a Kapellmeister post. It wasn’t an
easy departure: the Duke of Weimar briefly placed him under arrest! In Cöthen, where the young prince ‘loved and understood music’ and the orchestra was a particularly fine one, Bach composed much instrumental music, including the Brandenburg concertos. His compositions as a court musician in Weimar and Cöthen show an awareness of the trends in French and Italian music (he made a special study of Vivaldi’s concertos) and a gift for integrating them into his own German style. In 1722, by now in his late 30s, he applied for the post of cantor at the school attached to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. He wasn’t the town council’s first choice – the preferred candidate was Telemann – but he won the job and spent the remaining 27 years of his life in Leipzig: teaching, performing, organising the musical life of the church and composing most of his hundreds of church cantatas. In the years before his death in 1750, he completed the Mass in B minor, an exemplar of his musical achievement.
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was as a believer. His Mass was neither Lutheran nor Catholic in any narrow sense, nor was it meant to reconcile religious divisions, or to promote peace, in a Germany still inflamed by religious strife. Rather, as a profoundly Christian musician, Bach reached back beyond ancient Christian divisions, to the unity that preceded and transcended them. His Mass in B minor is one of music’s most comprehensive commentaries on the ancient liturgy’s most important text. The History of the Mass in B minor On 27 July 1733, Bach deposited a set of parts for a ‘Missa’ – the Lutheran term for a work comprising the Kyrie and Gloria of the Latin Mass – with the electoral court of Saxony in Dresden. With the music was an elaborate supplication to be appointed Court Composer to the Elector Friedrich August II. Bach probably sought this official, though largely honorific, title in part to strengthen his position with regard to his employers, the municipal authorities in Leipzig, with whom he often had difficulties. The Saxon court had turned Catholic in 1697, so the sacred work accompanying such an application had to be suitable for the Catholic liturgy. But the Lutheran Bach was not compromising to curry favour; Luther himself had kept the Latin Kyrie and Gloria as part of Protestant worship. Bach may have assembled his Latin Missa rather hastily – many movements show signs of being adaptations of music originally conceived for different words. Bach may also have had in mind the capabilities of the music ensemble of the Dresden court. These instrumentalists and singers were among the most brilliant musicians in Europe. All the arias of the
Gloria have solo instrumental parts, and each of the five voices in the ensembles has either a solo number or a duet. In Dresden, the music would probably have been performed with one voice and one instrument to each part, even in the choruses. Such a performance is hardly practicable in a large hall, but hearing the music on this scale is a reminder that much of it, especially the solos and duets, is essentially chamber music, and should be performed as such. The Saxon court possibly never heard a performance of the Missa, even though Bach, after writing a reminder, did secure the appointment three years later. The remaining three sections that complete the Mass were written in the very last years of Bach’s life. He expanded the unused score of the Missa into a full setting of the Roman Mass, and joined the new and old music together in a composite volume. The way Bach divides the remaining sections is neither Catholic nor Lutheran – the Creed, here called Symbolum Nicenum, is followed by a Sanctus which, following Lutheran practice, does not incorporate the Benedictus and Osanna. These, however, are grouped together in a separate section with the Agnus Dei and Dona nobis pacem. At the end Bach writes D.S.G. (Deo Soli Gloria – ‘to God alone be the glory’). By writing this, in his last years, at the end of major compositions, Bach shows that everything preceding these words forms a unity. This is underlined by bringing back the music for Gratias agimus tibi, to set the words Dona nobis pacem. Using music from earlier in the Mass was a traditional way of unifying a complete setting.
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The Music of the Mass Part I. Missa (Kyrie and Gloria) Bach divides the text of the Mass into separate movements, with arias, duets and choruses. The Kyrie begins with four mighty introductory bars, which may be its only newly composed music. A vast five-part fugue follows, prefaced by an instrumental ritornello. The music is measured and thoughtful, as befits the prayer for mercy. The Christe eleison is chamber music in the Italian style: the two soprano soloists ‘warbling in thirds’ (wrote Sir Donald Tovey), and alternately pleading in canon. The second Kyrie is a fugue on different material. The FUGUE technique features extensively throughout this Mass. In fugal writing, a short theme (the subject) is first sounded by one voice part or instrument alone and then imitated by all the other parts, each entering in turn. (The Latin fuga is related to the idea of both ‘fleeing’ and ‘chasing’.) Listen for the effect of intricately weaving melodic lines.
The Gloria opens with a lively concerto-like movement with three trumpets and oboes, then, at the words ‘And on earth peace’, a completely contrasted fugue. Laudamus te is a joyful chamber music solo for soprano, with a florid violin obbligato. The Gratias also exists as the first chorus of the cantata BWV 29 Wir danken dir Gott (We thank thee, O God), on words of identical meaning. This is a strict fugue. In Domine Deus the two voices intertwine to symbolise the unity of the Father and Son, and a flute adds a third voice. Qui tollis is an arrangement of the opening chorus of the cantata Schauet doch und sehet (BWV 46); the original words ‘Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow’ inspired music fitting for contrite contemplation of sin. Qui sedes features an obbligato for oboe d’amore. The bass solo Quoniam tu solis sanctus has a peculiar accompaniment for hunting horn and two bassoons, probably to express the singularity of Christ. Cum Sancto Spiritu is a brilliant chorus with a central fugato.
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TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS CHEETHAM & DOYLE Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here Tarimi nulay ngalawa yura garrabarra baraya yagu barrabugu ngyiningi ngara ngyiningi berong
Long time here live the people dancing and singing today and tomorrow, your way of knowing your way of belonging Translated from Gadigal by Matthew Doyle
J.S. BACH Mass in B minor, BWV 232 I. MISSA Kyrie CHORUS Kyrie eleison
Lord, have mercy
DUET: SOPRANO I & II (WITH TWO VIOLINS) Christe eleison
Christ, have mercy
CHORUS Kyrie eleison
Lord, have mercy
Gloria CHORUS Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of goodwill
ARIA: SOPRANO (WITH VIOLIN) Laudamus te, benedicimus te. Adoramus te, glorificamus te.
We praise thee. We bless thee. We adore thee. We glorify thee.
CHORUS Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
We give thee thanks for thy great Glory.
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GRANT US PEACE MUSIC OF VASKS Sanctuary in a troubled world with meditative and comforting choral music that speaks to the soul. The Chamber Singers perform sacred music by Pēteris Vasks alongside two new Australian works in the resonant beauty of St Andrew’s Cathedral. Brett Weymark conductor Chamber Singers Sydney Philharmonia String Ensemble
Saturday 9 July | 2pm St Andrew’s Cathedral Limited Premium seats $70 General Admission $60 Booking fees apply
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DUET: SOPRANO & TENOR (WITH FLUTE) Domine Deus, Rex coelestis Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe altissime Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris
O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, O Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son. Jesus Christ the most high O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
CHORUS Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
ARIA: ALTO (WITH OBOE D’AMORE) Qui sedes ad dextram Patris miserere nobis.
Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
ARIA: BASS (WITH CORNO DI CACCIA & TWO BASSOONS) Quoniam tu solus sanctus, For thou alone art holy, tu solus Dominus, thou alone art Lord, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe. thou alone, O Jesus Christ, art most high. CHORUS Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris, Amen.
Together with the Holy Ghost, in the glory of God the Father, Amen.
INTERVAL
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Part II. Symbolum Nicenum (Credo) Looking at both the texts and musical forms in this part of the Mass reveals a palindromic structure. Bach’s Credo begins and ends with plainchant-based choruses, issuing in fugal endings. This points eye and ear to the central core belief in Christ crucified, also presented by the chorus. In contrast with the Gloria, the Credo is dominated by choral movements, beginning with a fugue in the ancient Mixolydian ‘church’ mode; its theme is the intonation ‘Credo…’ in Gregorian chant. The whole orchestra enters at the words, ‘Patrem omnipotentem’, in a fugal movement derived from Cantata 171. In the duet Et in unum Dominum, the mystical unity of God the Father and God the Son is symbolised by imitation in unison, then in canon. In ‘Et incarnatus est’ a drooping theme illustrates the meaning of the words, and prepares the Crucifixus, where grief is intensified and emphasised, musically, through a repeating fundamental idea (passacaglia).
This music opened Cantata BWV 12, ‘Weeping, moaning, worry, trembling’, and is built over 13 repetitions of a ground bass. At the words, ‘And was buried’, the bass line descends to its lowest point, with an unexpected modulation to a dark key, dispelled by the exultant announcement of the Resurrection. The bass solo in the middle section (‘et iterum venturus’), usually sung nowadays by all the chorus basses, is essentially solo music, and suggests another lost original. The first of the doctrinal clauses, the bass solo Et in Spiritum Sanctum, is graceful and lyrical, in a pastoral 6/8 meter. Confiteor, possibly the only wholly new music in the Mass, is a summit of Bach’s learning and contrapuntal skill. This choral fugue on the Gregorian chant shows how seriously Bach took the doctrine of baptism. Suddenly the music veers into a harmonic no-man’s land, resolved with excitement at the idea of the Resurrection.
II. SYMBOLUM NICENUM Credo CHORUS Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
I believe in one God, The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
DUET: SOPRANO & ALTO Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia secula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God of God, light of light,
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Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum, non factum consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.
True God of true God, begotten not made; of one being with the Father, by whom all thing were made, who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven.
CHORUS Et incarnatus est de Spiritu sancto ex Maria virgine, et homo factus est.
And was made flesh by the Holy ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est.
He was also crucified for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried.
Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum scripturas; et ascendit in coelum, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris, et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos, cujus regni non erit finis.
And on the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and he shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, and of his Kingdom there shall be no end.
ARIA: BASS (WITH TWO OBOES D’AMORE) Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum, et vivificantem, qui ex Patre, Filioque procedit; qui cum Patre, et Filio simul adoratur, et conglorificatur, qui locutus est per Prophetas. et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam.
And in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who together with the Father and the Son is no less glorified, who spoke through the Prophets. and in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
CHORUS Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
And I await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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Part III. Sanctus The Sanctus is the grandest of Bach’s several settings. In this six-part chorus, as Tovey says, Bach is ‘conducting the angelic hosts’. His setting is very unlike the traditional Catholic awe at the enacting of the supreme mystery of the Mass. Part IV. Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona nobis pacem The Osanna is written for two choirs in four parts each, with the orchestra as the third ‘choir’. It derives from cantatas for kings of Saxony: ‘better suited’, as Tovey says, ‘to the heavenly hosts than to the poor mortals to whom Bach was beholden for fifty thalers and a court title’. The Benedictus, a solo for tenor, has an obbligato part for flute. Bach’s previous version of the music for Agnus Dei was in the ‘Ascension Oratorio’ (Cantata BWV 11). Bach simplified the melodic line, shortened the aria, fitting it to the new text. This obviously cost Bach more effort than writing a new piece – Bach borrowed from himself with the utmost artistic care. The mass concludes in D major (its main key since the end of the Kyrie) repeating the music of Gratias agimus tibi to the words ‘Dona nobis pacem’. Linking thanks and peace, Bach goes back to music appropriate for the new text. David Garrett © 2011/2022 The beginning of the Benedictus (an aria for the tenor soloist), with the obbligato flute part occupying the top line.
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III. SANCTUS CHORUS Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus, Sabaoth, Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, Heaven and earth are filled with his glory.
IV. OSANNA, BENEDICTUS, AGNUS DEI & DONA NOBIS PACEM DOUBLE CHORUS Osanna in excelsis.
Hosanna in the highest.
ARIA: TENOR (WITH FLUTE) Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
DOUBLE CHORUS Osanna in excelsis.
Hosanna in the highest.
ARIA: ALTO Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
CHORUS Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace.
Bach signed the final page of the Mass ‘D.S.G.’ – Deo Soli Gloria.
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SING WITH US
At Sydney Philharmonia Choirs there’s a choir for you. If you just sing in the shower or have a busy schedule, our Festival Chorus or Christmas Choir are perfect places to start. If you want the challenge of one of our auditioned choirs, you could try our young adult choir VOX, our Chamber Singers, or our Symphony Chorus, which performs regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. A FRIENDLY COMMUNITY | INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC MENTAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH Find out more at sydneyphilharmonia.com.au/choirs SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 21
ABOUT THE ARTISTS PHOTO: KEITH SAUNDERS
Elizabeth Scott conductor Elizabeth Scott is a highly skilful choral conductor who has led Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ young adult choir VOX to great success since 2008. A former SPC Assistant Chorus Master (2006–2008) and Acting Music Director (2013), she is also currently the Music Performance Projects Officer (Secondary Choral Music/Instrumental Music) for the Arts Unit within the NSW Department of Education, and since 2009 has been the Choral Conductor for the Department’s Schools Spectacular. She was recently appointed Lecturer in Choral Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is a true leader of the next generation of choral singers. After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1995, she completed postgraduate studies in choral conducting, vocal performance and aural training in Hungary and Germany. Through Symphony Australia’s Conductor Development Program she has worked with the Queensland, Adelaide and Melbourne symphony orchestras and Orchestra Victoria, among others, and was awarded the 2008 Sydney Choral Symposium Foundation Choral Conducting Scholarship.
She also holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting. Elizabeth Scott is a regular chorus master for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and has prepared choirs for international conductors including Simone Young, David Robertson and Gianluigi Gelmetti. She also regularly works with Cantillation and Gondwana Choirs. In 2017, she became the first Australian woman to conduct SPC’s Messiah concerts at the Sydney Opera House. Recent performance highlights include Mozart: Requiem and Revelations (which she conducted at short notice in March), Berliner Messe and St John Passion Reimagined (2021), Considering Matthew Shepherd (2020) and Music at the Movies (2019). She is Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’s first Associate Music Director, working across all aspects of the organisation. Elizabeth Scott is a passionate champion of contemporary composers such as Arvo Pärt, Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo and Ēriks Ešenvalds, as well as Australian composers such as Paul Stanhope, Joseph Twist, Brooke Shelley, Matthew Orlovich and Sally Whitwell.
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PHOTO: LOUIS DILLON SAVAGE
Celeste Lazarenko soprano
Anna Dowsley mezzo-soprano
Celeste Lazarenko holds master’s degrees from the Guildhall, London and the Sydney Conservatorium Opera School and has appeared with English National Opera, Opera North and Angers-Nantes Opéra. Her many prizes and awards include the Countess of Munster Award, the Marten Bequest and the Australian Music Foundation Award, and she was also a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition in London. In Australia, she has sung the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen (Victorian Opera), Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia (Victorian Opera for Dark Mofo, Hobart and Sydney Chamber Opera), and for Pinchgut Opera, Télaïre in Castor et Pollux, Medea in Giasone, and Leonore in L’Amant jaloux. Over the past two years she was scheduled to make her New Zealand Opera debut in the title role of Handel’s Semele, and to appear with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra in Haydn’s Creation and works of Vivaldi and Hasse, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C minor, and with Hayllar Music Tours. For Opera Australia, she has sung Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Pamina and Second Lady (The Magic Flute), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Sylviane (The Merry Widow) and the Fiji Woman (Elena Kats-Chernin’s Whiteley). In concert she has appeared with the Sydney, Queensland, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras, and the Newcastle and Sydney university graduate choirs. Recent appearances with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs include Messiah and Bach’s St John Passion.
Anna Dowsley has been a prominent operatic and concert performer in Australia for many years; she is now based in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2021, she sang Carmen (Staatstheater Nürnberg) and Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Teatro Petruzzelli). In 2017, she made her UK debut performing Meg Page alongside Bryn Terfel as Falstaff (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic). In 2019, she received the Australian Opera Award and third prize in the Toulouse International Singing Competition. Her roles for Opera Australia have included Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Siebel (Faust), Smeton (Anna Bolena), Flora (La traviata), Tebaldo (Don Carlos) and Zaida (Il turco in Italia). She was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Dorabella and Green Room awards for Tebaldo, Zaida and Siebel. With Sydney Chamber Opera, she performed the title role in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia. On the concert platform, she has performed with the Sydney, Tasmanian, Adelaide and Queensland symphony orchestras, Van Diemen’s Band, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic. During 2020, she performed live-streamed recitals for Phoenix Central Park and Oper Frankfurt, and starred in Pinchgut Opera’s full-length opera-film, A Delicate Fire. Future engagements in 2022 include her first stage production with Pinchgut Opera (the title role in Orontea), an Australian Chamber Orchestra tour and concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simone Young.
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Jonathan Abernethy tenor
Simon Lobelson baritone
New Zealand-born Jonathan Abernethy has established himself as a vibrant tenor on the international stage. A member of the Oper Frankfurt ensemble, in 2022 he also appears with Pinchgut Opera. With Oper Frankfurt, he has performed in Dialogues des Carmélites, Manon Lescaut, Salome, Königskinder, Die lustige Witwe, Martinů’s Julietta, Three Short Operas by Ernst Krenek and A Village Romeo and Juliet by Delius. He has also appeared with the Erl Festival as Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore); Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as Brighella (Ariadne auf Naxos); Opernhaus Zürich as Trin (La fanciulla del West), First Prisoner (Fidelio), First and Fourth Jew (Salome), Fourth Knappe (Parsifal) and Toby Higgins (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny); and Festival d’Aix-enProvence as Brighella and Diarte (Cavalli’s Erismena). He has also appeared with Opera Australia as Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Fenton (Falstaff), Nadir (The Pearlfishers) and Remendado (Carmen); West Australian Opera as Nadir and Don Ottavio; and NZ Opera as Nanki-poo (The Mikado). His concert engagements include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with conductor Thomas Hengelbrock, the Balthasaar Neumann Ensemble in Hamburg, and Laurence Equilbey in Paris; Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s St John Passion in France; and in a solo recital, Chants du Voyageur, for the 2018 Festival d’Aix-EnProvence; as well as the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Canberra Choral Society.
With a career that has spanned four continents and 85 operatic roles from the baroque to the newly composed, Simon Lobelson has established himself as one of the most versatile baritones of his generation. Since graduating with first-class honours from Sydney University and with distinction from the Royal College of Music, he has worked extensively as a soloist worldwide, with companies such as the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, London Mozart Players, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Australian Haydn Ensemble, English Chamber Orchestra, Israel Camerata and the Lucerne Festival, under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Simon Halsey, Charles Dutoit, Paul McCreesh and Richard Bonynge. His roles have included Amfortas, Escamillo, Rigoletto, Alberich, Nick Shadow, Marcello, Ford, Germont, Figaro, Michele and Don Alfonso, and he has recorded for Chandos, Toccata Classics and ABC Classic. He is a champion of contemporary music and creator of numerous operatic roles, and his performances as the lead in Metamorphosis for Opera Australia attracted outstanding press reviews and a Helpmann Award nomination. A respected pedagogue, he lectures in voice and opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, adjudicates for the Queensland and Sydney eisteddfods, and gives masterclasses in Australia and China. He recently completed his doctorate on Vocalism in Contemporary Opera through Sydney University.
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 24
CHAMBER SINGERS AND VOX Elizabeth Scott Associate Music Director Tim Cunniffe Assistant Chorus Master and Principal Rehearsal Pianist Claire Howard Race and Estella Roche Rehearsal Pianists VOX SOPRANOS Hannah Alexander Josephine Brereton Anita Burkart Nicollette Burr Courtney Cousins Mélanie David Madison Dring Leila Harris Annabel Jeffery Miriam Jeffery Jasmin Jungo Caitlin Kearney Atalya Masi Claire McPherson Charlotte Moore Isabella Rahme Maya Schwenke Eva Tarbox Lily Tindale Emily Winton Dorothy Wu ALTOS Lucy Blomfield Ariel Bonnell Jasmin Borsovszky Lucy Cantrill Sophie Funston Madi Holness Charlotte Humphries Asher Joyce Naomi Leviton Laura McKay Kathleen Morris Alleyne Moss Tara Naralyn Ines Obermair Audrey Ormella
Chamber Singers Hannah Roberts Louise Underwood Catrin Wood TENORS Owen Bloomfield Bryce Gonlin Bennett Haskew Matthew Koh Alex McEwan Mitchell Sutton Andy Wang BASSES Phillip Cullen Scott Hekking Jonathon Kelley Kevin Limanta Sebastian Lush Aedan MacNamara Chris Masson Sam Morrell-Feitelberg Michael Nolan Rafi Owen Edward Phillips Daniel Rae Robert Sherrington Lachlan Wrenford
SOPRANOS Jodie Boehme Nikki Bogard Liz Fuggle Maria Lopes Lucy Lush Raphaela Mazzone Stephanie Mooney Amelia Myers Katherine Thompson ALTOS Kate Clowes Claire Duffy Jessica Farrell Vesna Hatezic Georgia Luikens Rachel Maiden Judith Pickering Beverley Price TENORS Michael Gray Steven Hankey Boghos Keleshian Emanuel Kunick Rajah Selvarajah Alex Walter BASSES Edwin Carter Andy Clare Nicholas Davison Simon Harris Selwyn Lemos Philippe Mayoraz Robert Mitchell Bruce Watson
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 25
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
FIRST VIOLINS Fiona Ziegler Concertmaster James Armstrong Bridget Crouch Rafael Font Nicole Forsyth Karina Hollands Leigh Middenway James Tarbotton SECOND VIOLINS Michele O’Young* Anthony Donovan Bridgitte Holden Kiseok Kim Narine Melconian Adele Ohki Shaun Warden VIOLAS James Eccles* Tara Hashambhoy Suzie Kim Heather Lloyd Cecile Ross Marianne Yeomans CELLOS Anthea Cottee* Anita Gluyas Rosemary Quinn Annika Stagg DOUBLE BASSES Dorit Herskovits* David Cooper
FLUTES Michaela Oberg* Jessica Lee OBOES D’AMORE Kirsten Barry* Fiona McMillan BASSOONS Simon Rickard* Harley Milano CORNO DI CACCIA Michael Dixon* TRUMPETS Simon Wolnizer* Alfie Carslake Christopher Moran ORGAN David Drury* HARPSICHORD Nathan Cox* TIMPANI Brian Nixon* * = Principal Continuo organ by Henk Klop, Garderen, The Netherlands (2004); Ruckers double harpsichord by Carey Beebe, Sydney (2003); supplied by Carey Beebe Harpsichords. Corno di caccia supplied courtesy of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 26
OUR SUPPORTERS Sydney Philharmonia Choirs gratefully acknowledge the vision, commitment and generosity of our supporters. $50,000+
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100 MINUTES OF NEW AUSTRALIAN MUSIC
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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 27
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Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Your gift, of any size, would make a vital contribution to ensuring our future as we return to concerts. sydneyphilharmonia.com.au/donate SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 28
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS Sydney Philharmonia Choirs presents the art of choral singing at the highest standard, and develops the talents of those with a passion for singing, in Sydney and beyond. Founded in 1920, it has become Australia’s finest choral organisation and is a Resident Company of the Sydney Opera House. Led by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark OAM since 2003, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs comprises three auditioned and three community choirs that perform repertoire from choral classics to musical theatre and commissions by Australian composers. SPC presents its own annual concert season and collaborates with leading conductors, soloists and orchestras in Australia and overseas. In 2002, SPC was the first Australian choir to sing at the BBC Proms (Mahler’s Symphony No.8 under Simon Rattle), returning again in 2010 to celebrate its 90th anniversary. The choirs VICE-REGAL PATRONS The Hon. Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales and Mr Dennis Wilson VICE PATRONS Prof. the Hon. Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO Lauris Elms AM OBE DMus (Syd) AMBASSADOR FOR SINGING Yvonne Kenny AM BOARD Jacqui Wilkins Chair & President Andrea Hoole Treasurer Ian Bennett, Katie Blake Tracey Jordan, John Moore Bill Napier, Georgia Rivers, Ben Yi
perform in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s season every year as they have done for more than 80 years. SPC also presents a series of community singing events throughout the year – Chorus Oz (the annual big sing), PopUp Sing and singing workshops throughout Sydney and NSW. In 2020, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs celebrated 100 years. Despite the restrictions on live performances that year, it pressed ahead with a commissioning project – 100 Minutes of New Australian Music – featuring new works by composers Elena Kats-Chernin and Deborah Cheetham, among others. 2021 saw a cautious but bold return to live choral performances and the launch of our 2022 season with concerts in the Sydney Town Hall, St Andrew’s Cathedral and the newly renovated Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. STAFF Fiona Hulton Executive Director Brett Weymark OAM Artistic & Music Director Dr Elizabeth Scott Associate Music Director Tim Cunniffe Assistant Chorus Master & Principal Rehearsal Pianist Mark Robinson Artistic Operations Manager Meagan Fitzpatrick Choirs Manager Susan Gandy Orchestra Coordinator Simon Crossley-Meates Marketing Manager Naomi Hamer Office & Box Office Administrator Sarah Howell Philanthropy Associate John Liebmann Finance Manager PROGRAM CREDITS Yvonne Frindle Editor and Design Marita Leuver Cover Artwork Immij NSW Printer
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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS · 2022 SEASON · 29
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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS DEDICATES THIS PERFORMANCE TO THE MEMORY OF OUR FRIEND AND ARTISTIC COLLEAGUE PAUL GOODCHILD (1960–2022)
BRYCE GONLIN AND MEMBERS OF SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS (PHOTO: KEITH SAUNDERS)
BACH MASS IN B MINOR SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2022 Sydney Town Hall