2001, Bach's Magnificat and Purcell's Ode for St Cecilia's Day

It was agreed to tackle the difficult Magnificat by Bach and Purcell's Ode for Saint Cecilia's Day. Performances were organised in Kilmore, Ormond, Templestowe and Greensborough. Over forty were involved in performances, and nine tenors turned up for the first rehearsal. Stephen had to return to America for a while, so Ken helped out with rehearsals. The main difficulty was trying to get Darren and Diane to keep straight faces while singing their duet about "Wanton Passion"

We had a good crowd at Kilmore, in spite of other activities going on in the town. Ormond was very disappointing, with less than half as many in the audience as in the choir. We had fifty at Templestowe, though the basses struggled until Graham arrived after visiting his father in hospital. We had the smallest choir at Greensborough and not a big audience there either. Teresa Engebretson was to do Lesley's solos as Lesley had a dress rehearsal at Mornington; but that was cancelled, which was just as well, as Teresa was sick.

These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.

Oratorios, 2000'sSteve WilkiePurcell, Bach, 2001