Steve Moffatt – Limelight Magazine, ★★★★1/2
“There was plenty on offer for Easter in Sydney for those who didn’t want to brave the airline queues and traffic gridlocks, including a top-shelf performance by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs of Bach’s magnificent Mass in B Minor.”
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Peter MacCallum – Sydney Morning Herald, ★★★½
“…the choir began…with a sound of hushed imploration, gradually increasing to a radiant glow at the close.”
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Ben Apfelbaum – Sydney Arts Guide
“Sydney is lucky to have the Philharmonia as part of the musical fabric of our city and the enthusiastic acclaim at the end of the concert acknowledged the outstanding musical standards they always achieve and the positive contribution they make to the cultural life of our city.”
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What would be your “desert island” Bach?
Here at Sydney Philharmonia, we’d nominate his Mass in B minor. In just under two hours, this astonishing choral work does it all. On the one hand, it’s a literal portfolio of Bach’s tremendous musical accomplishment – a virtuoso display of style and taste, from the academic to the fashionable, wonderfully varied and yet completely coherent. Easily the most impressive job application in the history of music.
But it’s more than that. When Bach eventually completed the Mass in B minor, he signed it “D.S.G.” – Deo Soli Gloria. This music was a celebration of an ancient liturgical tradition – an ecumenical setting of the Latin Mass by a deeply devout Lutheran inspired to the glory of God alone.
It was also completely impractical: too long for use in church and calling for brilliant musicians – it’s as if every singer and instrumentalist has a solo part to play. But that’s exactly what makes it so satisfying in the concert hall. And in her first concert as Associate Music Director, Elizabeth Scott will conduct the Chamber Singers – a precision ensemble of singers – accompanied by our own period instrument orchestra for a virtuoso performance to do justice to Bach’s supreme musical craft and spiritual inspiration.
Saturday 16 April | 3pm
Sydney Town Hall
This performance will run for approximately 2 hours, 10 minutes including one 20-minute interval.
Deborah CHEETHAM & Matthew DOYLE Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here*
Johann Sebastian BACH Mass in B minor, BWV 232
* Commissioned for our 100 Minutes of New Australian Music project.
This performance will run for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including one 20-minute interval.
Elizabeth Scott conductor
Celeste Lazarenko soprano
Anna Dowsley mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Abernethy tenor
Simon Lobelson baritone
Chamber Singers
VOX
Sydney Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Premium $112 | A $92 | B $71 | C $50
Concessions $101 | A $83| B $64 | C $45
A booking fee of $8.50 per transaction applies.