Welcome

My Mahler journey began when my Year 8 music teacher played the First Symphony funeral march, based on “Frère Jacques”. In Year 9, we formed part of a combined schools choir to sing the finale to his Resurrection Symphony. I remember feeling like the earth itself was being ripped apart in what was some of the most epic music I’d ever heard. Later, in this very room, I would sing the same work with the great Australian conductor Stuart Challender– a shattering performance that I treasure to this day.

In 2002, I accompanied Sydney Philharmonia Choirs as a fairly green assistant chorus master to perform at the BBC Proms and watch Simon Rattle conduct his very first Mahler8, a work that seems at odds with the deep pessimism of earlier symphonies, and which is quite unlike Mahler’s previous creations.

Mahler believed in Love as the great redemptive power that informs not only Life but Art itself. He saw in the texts of the “Veni Creator Spiritus” and Goethe’s Faust that Love was at the heart of all creation and at the end of life, our salvation. Not only that, he also wrote what was the most complete symphony combining voices and instruments ever written.

It’s an ambitious choice for ChorusOz. But since we’re celebrating the 50th anniversaries of both the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Youth Orchestra, and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs recently celebrated its hundredth, and since we’re relaunching ChorusOz, an event that celebrates participation in the arts – why not aim for Everest with a symphony nicknamed (not by Mahler) “Symphony of a Thousand”?

Let’s see what a choir that met in person only yesterday morning can achieve with a work that won instant fame not only for its sheer scale but for its depth of feeling and expression. Life changing!

Brett Weymark OAM Artistic and Music Director

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Gadigal 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, ina spirit of sharing, learning and understanding. The ancient customs and cultures of this land inspire us to create harmony–inmusic and in our society.