CITY RECITAL HALL & GONDWANA CHOIRS PRESENT SYDNEY CHILDREN’S CHOIR LYN WILLIAMS OAM, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Silent Night Chapel © TVB Oberndorf GREETINGS Astrid Mulholland-Licht Director Austrian National Tourist Office, Australia Salzburg is synonymous with music, be it as birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or as the gorgeous location of the movie-classic “The Sound of Music”. But did you know that the world’s most famous Christmas Carol also comes from the region of Salzburg? On 24 December 1818, Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber performed the song “Silent Night” for the first time, during Christmas Mass in a little chapel located in the village of Oberndorf near the city of Salzburg. The poem was written by Mohr, a young pastor from Salzburg, and the melody was composed by the teacher and organist Gruber from Upper Austria. Two hundred years later, the song is sung by around two billion people in over 300 languages and dialects around the world. “Silent Night” is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and world peace song, international cultural asset and musical legacy. Not many people know that the origins of this Christmas song can be found in SalzburgerLand, that Franz Xaver Gruber was born and raised in Upper Austria and that the song spread to the world via Tirol in our country’s west. The three Austrian provinces represent a paradise for Advent and winter enthusiasts. Guests from all over the world can enjoy an authentic holiday experience in the footsteps of “Silent Night” with special exhibitions, romantic Christmas markets, which usually open their doors on the last weekend in November, and numerous other events. One of the most beautiful traditions is the so-called “Adventsingen”, where choirs come together during the Advent period (the four weeks before Christmas) to celebrate the season with festive concerts singing carols and folk music. We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Gondwana Choirs to celebrate 200 years of Silent Night, the carol that has been reaffirming people’s hope for peace in the world. Voices of Angels brings the Land of Silent Night to Sydney this evening. Thank you to Lyn Williams and Gondwana Choirs for staging an “Adventsingen” in true Austrian spirit on this occasion. I sincerely hope it will inspire you to visit my home country one day. Tonight please come and visit us in the Foyer of the City Recital Hall to picture yourself in the snowy “Heart of Europe”. Chat to us about Austrian Winter and some of its traditions. Find out how we celebrate Christmas and help us open our Advent Calendar. Best wishes for the festive season and “Frohe Weihnachten” (Merry Christmas). ABOUT THE MUSIC Lyn Williams OAM, Artistic Director Each year it is a new and delicious challenge to devise a program which captures the familiar warmth and generosity of the season yet is still able to surprise and delight the Voices of Angels veterans amongst you. 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the composition of what must surely be the world’s most loved Christmas carol; Stille Nacht, or Silent Night. The first half of our program takes us to Austria, the land of Silent Night. Who amongst us has not dreamt of one day experiencing a perfect white Christmas? Setting the scene with our Young Men’s Choir singing the celebrated carol, we will move on to a rare and delightful work by the Austrian composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Das Namensfest (Grandfather’s Nameday Celebration), an occasional play for children soloists, children’s choir and orchestra in one act. Süssmayr was a pupil of Mozart and is most well know today for finishing Mozart’s Requiem following his death. Das Namensfest was composed in 1799 for the Nameday of Freiherr von Lang and was to be performed by his clearly exceptionally talented grandchildren. This work holds a special place in my heart as it was the first major work for children’s choir that I ever conducted well before the Sydney Children’s Choir existed. Centered around a large Austrian singing family, I like to picture this work as the eighteenth-century version of the Sound of Music. Tonight’s performance features soloists from the Junior and Senior Performing Choirs as well as our guest soloist and ex-chorister, Alexandra Oomens. It is a true pleasure to invite Alex to perform and she wil delight you with Mozart’s virtuosic concert aria, Exsultate jubilate. Before interval, the rich voices of the Young Men’s Choir will delight us with further carols from the German tradition in new arrangements by Owen Elsley. Works composed specifically for children’s choirs before 1800 are extremely rare. Following the interval, the Senior Choir is delighted to be able to bring you a second such work. Niccola Porpora’s Magnificat was composed fifty years earlier than the Süssmayer. Whereas the Süssmayer was quintessentially Classical in style, Porpora’s Magnificat is clearly a work of the Baroque tradition with complex interweaving choral lines. Porpora, like his better known contemporary Antonio Vivaldi, was employed as a teacher in one of the four famous Venetian orphanages (Ospedali) where girls were trained to an extremely high musical level. They were renowned throughout Europe for their performances, both as singers and instrumentalists. The Magnificat received its first performance in the Ospedali degli Incurabili. So that you will leave Voices of Angels full of festive cheer, we will of course enjoy a good dose of old favourites for you to sing and enjoy. Thank you to the Austrian National Tourist office for inspiring and supporting this program. Christmas Market Salzburg www.stillenacht.com © SalzburgerLand Tourismus VOICES OF ANGELS Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 December 2018 City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney The Sydney Children’s Choir Conductors Lyn Williams Sam Allchurch Guest Artist Alexandra Oomens Presenter Jill Wran Piano Sally Whitwell Voices of Angels Orchestra Grandfather Richard Cohen Staging Director (Sussmayr) Alexander Andrews Musical Preparation Sam Allchurch, Amandine Petit, Estella Roche Elizabeth Vierboom, Lyn Williams, Sally Whitwell German Lg. Coach Gertraud Cohen CHORISTER SOLOISTS (Sussmayr) ENSEMBLE (movement 6) Jemma Kenny, aged 11 (movement 3) Keala Burns Esme Power Dashel Eck, aged 13 (movement 4) Iris Farrer Carmela Reznik Elsa Susnajara, aged 14 (movement 7) Athena Jiang Eleonora Speyer Yuna Cho, aged 11 (movement 9) Sienna Langenheim Jasper Tops Paisley Motum, aged 10 (movement 10) Paisley Motum Hanna Wallace VOICES OF ANGELS ORCHESTRA Violin Viola Flute Oboe Anna McMichael - Nicole Forsyth Bridget Bolliger Matthew Bubb Concertmaster Angela Bonetti Clarinet Eve Osborn Narine Melconian Charlotte Featherston Jason Noble Piano Peter Clark Cello Claire Fox Sally Whitwell Liisa Pallandi Daniel Yeadon Bassoon Organ Matthew Greco Anton Baba Long Nguyen Neal Peres da Costa Jennifer Hoy Double Bass Harley Milano Annie Gard Josef Bisits SYDNEY CHILDREN’S CHOIR ARTISTS Artistic Director Lyn Williams OAM Associate Artistic Director Sam Allchurch Head of Training Choirs Amandine Petit Associate Conductor Elizabeth Vierboom Principal Pianist Sally Whitwell Conductors Sam Allchurch, Bronwyn Cleworth, Ruth McCall, Atalya Masi, Amandine Petit, Lyn Williams, Hester Wright Pianists Estella Roche, Heinz Schweers, Antonio Fernandez PROGRAM Franz Grüber, arr. Owen Elsley Stille Nacht Franz Xaver Süssmayr Das Namensfest 1. Sinfonia 2. Coro - Brüder, kommt und richtet euch! 3. Aria - Komm süsser Schlaf 4. Aria - Unser aller Gott und Vater 5. Aria - Liebe Brüder, seht mich an 6. Ensemble - O wie klopft mein Herze hier 7. Aria - Wer anders spricht, als wie er denkt 8. Recitative und Chor - Nimm meine Rosen hin: Den Strauss, den wir hier binden 9. Ariette - Ich singe und sage 10. Finale - Welche Freude, welche Lust Traditional German, arr. Owen Elsley Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Traditional German, arr. Owen Elsley In dulci jubilo Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Exsultate Jubilate 1. Exsultate jubilate 4. Alleluja Nicola Porpora Magnificat 1. Magnificat anima mea 2. Et exultavit spiritus meus 3.Et misericordia 4. Fecit potentiam 5.Gloria Patri 6.Sicut erat in principio Traditional English, arr. Bob Chilcott Sussex Carol Traditional Basque, arr. John Raymond Howell The Angel Gabriel arr. Dan Walker O Come all ye faithful arr. Owen Elsley Deck the Halls - The Holly and the Ivy John Rutter Angels’ Carol Traditional French, arr. Dan Walker Angels from the realms of glory Please note that recording of this concert by members of the audience is strictly prohibited ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES LYN WILLIAMS OAM - Artistic Director and Founder Lyn Williams is Australia’s leading director of choirs for young people, having founded two internationally renowned choirs: Sydney Children’s Choir in 1989 and the national children’s choir, Gondwana Voices, in 1997. Lyn’s exceptional skill in working with young people is recognised internationally for its high artistic quality and ground- breaking innovation. Lyn has toured extensively internationally with her choirs to Europe, Asia and North and Central America. Highlights include with Gondwana Voices at the 2007 BBC Proms; Sydney Children’s Choir in 2013 at the Palau de la Música, Barcelona, and the internationally acclaimed Polyfollia festival in France; and in 2017, Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir’s first major tour to Germany, Slovenia and Vienna. Lyn has conducted major choirs and orchestras including the Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. She has been Music Director and Conductor for major events, including the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. In 2017 she was honoured with the Australia Council for the Arts’ prestigious Don Banks Music Award in recognition of her lifework. In 2004, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of her services to the Arts. She also received the NSW State Award at the 2006 Classical Music Awards for her long-term contribution to Australian music.