2003, Brahms' A German Requiem
Show Program
For the Oratorio Season, the choir was excited to find that we were to do Brahms' Requiem, something many of us had wanted to do for years. Again, we had a performance to do with the Preston Orchestra and some of our own with our own conductor and accompanist.
Then Graham received an email from Alan Cook looking for conducting opportunities. He offered skills as a conductor, repetiteur, and vocal coach. It sounded very promising. His wife was also a promising soprano, but before he could start rehearsals, they had to return from Vienna where she was competing in a singing competition, making the semi-finals. He came out for an interview, and the committee was very impressed. However, Alan's wife was offered a scholarship in France after the competition, so it was some time before it was clear whether he would be available. Everyone was very impressed with Alan, who had an easy-going nature, but was also very clear about what he wanted. The choir loved working with him.
Long-time member, architect David Cox, volunteered the new Plenty Valley Uniting Church in Epping, which he had designed, as a new venue for a performance.
There were over twenty singers auditioning for the professional solo positions in the Brahms, with Angela Chiavarolli and young baritone Derek Welton being successful. For the second year in a row a soprano who was to go on to win the Herald-Sun Aria that year was passed over for an older more experienced one. There were four baritones and two sopranos available for the organ performances, so with two baritone solos and one soprano, we were able to give them all solos.
Performances were organized in Bendigo, Greensborough, Plenty Valley, and Collins St Baptist (Alan's church), prior to the Preston performance. We weren't sure what to do about accompaniment at Bendigo, as the organ was in the loft at the back, there was an electronic organ at the front and also a Roland keyboard. When members were asked which performances they would be attending, we found we had one with eight sopranos and eIeven basses.
Thirty-seven singers were in the choir at the Bendigo Cathedral and about the same in the audience, which looked a bit bare! The performance went reasonably well, though the acoustics were muddy further back. It was Gerard's old church where unfortunately he'd attended his father's funeral the week before. Greensborough was a disaster in terms of audience, with only ten, which barely covered the hire.
Plenty Valley had a similar audience to Bendigo, but looked better in the smaller church. Collins St. Baptist was wonderful venue, but only half as many turned up, which was disappointing, particularly for Alan. Nancy was suffering and didn't want to do her solo, so Lesley was asked to do that. Versatility once more.
Fortunately for our morale, we had over two hundred at the orchestral performance. This was wonderful, but it was very hot and one of the girls had to take break in the first half. We had thirty-six in the choir, which was bit disappointing, but the whole concert was a success, though the orchestra got lost in one part. Fortunately the choir managed to keep going. The baritone missed one entry, but came in a bit later with no-one noticing. Later it was revealed that the conductor almost stopped the performance when the orchestra got out of kilter. The audience didn't seem to care, judging by the enthusiastic applause, and the choir had had all the pleasure of following this beautiful work.
Long-time member, architect David Cox, volunteered the new Plenty Valley Uniting Church in Epping, which he had designed, as a new venue for a performance.
There were over twenty singers auditioning for the professional solo positions in the Brahms, with Angela Chiavarolli and young baritone Derek Welton being successful. For the second year in a row a soprano who was to go on to win the Herald-Sun Aria that year was passed over for an older more experienced one. There were four baritones and two sopranos available for the organ performances, so with two baritone solos and one soprano, we were able to give them all solos.
Performances were organized in Bendigo, Greensborough, Plenty Valley, and Collins St Baptist (Alan's church), prior to the Preston performance. We weren't sure what to do about accompaniment at Bendigo, as the organ was in the loft at the back, there was an electronic organ at the front and also a Roland keyboard. When members were asked which performances they would be attending, we found we had one with eight sopranos and eIeven basses.
Thirty-seven singers were in the choir at the Bendigo Cathedral and about the same in the audience, which looked a bit bare! The performance went reasonably well, though the acoustics were muddy further back. It was Gerard's old church where unfortunately he'd attended his father's funeral the week before. Greensborough was a disaster in terms of audience, with only ten, which barely covered the hire.
Plenty Valley had a similar audience to Bendigo, but looked better in the smaller church. Collins St. Baptist was wonderful venue, but only half as many turned up, which was disappointing, particularly for Alan. Nancy was suffering and didn't want to do her solo, so Lesley was asked to do that. Versatility once more.
Fortunately for our morale, we had over two hundred at the orchestral performance. This was wonderful, but it was very hot and one of the girls had to take break in the first half. We had thirty-six in the choir, which was bit disappointing, but the whole concert was a success. The audience loved it, judging by the enthusiastic applause, and the choir had had all the pleasure of following this beautiful work.
These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.
Audio files are mostly from the performance at Plenty Valley Baptist Church, where the acoustics were clearer. The recordings from the Preston Orchestra performance are unavailable.
1 Blessed are they that mourn 2 Behold all flesh 3 Lord help me to walk - Lucas Richter 4 How lovely are thy dwellings 5 Ye now have sorrow - Eva Butcher 6 For we have no abiding city - Graham Ford 6 For we have no abiding city - Ed Carter 7 Blessed are the Dead