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AVE MARIA

In the lead up to Christmas, the Geelong Chorale presents a selection of music from the extraordinary wealth of choral repertoire inspired by the Virgin Mary.

Ever since the early centuries of Christian history, the Virgin Mary has played a significant role in worship. Over time, feast days dedicated to her began to appear in the church calendar, and to celebrate such feasts, more and more elaborate Marian music was composed. The 13th & 14th centuries saw a period of especially intense devotion to Mary and she became a popular subject of paintings and poetry, too, often being likened to a rose. The Reformation in England brought a pause to the singing of Marian music but in other catholic and orthodox countries, she continued to be honoured. Popular devotion to the Virgin was also given new impetus by a number of miraculous apparitions during the 19th century. Mary has provided a marvellous legacy of music. In reality, we know so little about her but she has given inspiration and solace to many.

The Geelong Chorale will present Marian music from the past five centuries, including works by Palestrina, Victoria, Rachmaninov, Bruckner, Howells, Lauridsen and Biebl.

Saturday 30th November 2024 at 5pm

All Saints’ Anglican Church

Noble Street

Newtown

Admission: $35/ $30 / Under 18 free

https://www.trybooking.com/CUXYT

Sir Karl Jenkins Requiem

We are thrilled to present Requiem by Karl Jenkins in its original version with full orchestral accompaniment. Over the centuries many composers have composed Requiems (think Victoria, Mozart, Verdi to name three) but Jenkins, in his usual fashion, creates a completely distinctive, contemporary composition.

In this deeply moving work, he combines the traditional Latin movements of the Mass for the Dead with five Japanese haiku: in this case, poems concerned with nature and the water cycle, which the Japanese view as being synonymous with life. In this journey of life and death, Jenkins utilises a wide palette of orchestral colours and rhythms (including hip-hop) whilst referencing other settings of the Requiem by Fauré, Duruflé and Lloyd-Webber.

Sunday 18th August 2024 at 2.30pm

Wesley Uniting Church

100 Yarra Street

Geelong

Admission $40 / $35

https://w.trybooking.com/CTSFK

On the Orient Express

Since October 1883, when the Orient Express made its inaugural journey, there have been numerous trains and several different routes.  But the magic and romance of this luxurious train, which completely redefined long-distance travel, have remained constant.  As you journey with us on the original route of this iconic train, we travel from Istanbul to Paris, pulling in at each station to enjoy musical delights from Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Germany, finally arriving refreshed and rejuvenated in France.

Sunday 5th May 2024

St Paul’s Anglican Church

LaTrobe Terrace

Geelong

Orient Express A4

Concerts for 2020

POSTPONED – from Sunday May 3 to a date to be determined

Brahms – A German Requiem
Brahms’ beautiful German Requiem performed with the accompaniment in his own arrangement for piano 4 hands.

CANCELLED – Sunday August 16 at 2.30pm

Around the World in Eighty Minutes.
A veritable world tour with folksongs of many nationalities followed by a multicultural afternoon tea.

CANCELLED – Saturday December 5 at 5pm

Christmas Through the Ages
A selection of Advent and Christmas music spanning four centuries

Singing the Classics 2020

The program for this year is

  • CANCELLED – Sunday 5 April Tom Healey, Dvorak Mass in D with Terry Norman
  • Sunday 12 July Anne Pilgrim, Beethoven Mass in C with John Bumford
  • Sunday 4 October Allister Cox (G&S)

All sessions are from 2-5pm at St Luke’s Uniting Church, Highton.

Bookings are essential because we have to hire music and plan afternoon tea. Book by email at pandapilgrim@gmail.com or phone 0412 524 316

Singing the Classics – Handel – Messiah

The most recent Singing the Classics was choruses from The Messiah by Handel. A great afternoon of singing was appreciated by about 70 keen singers.

Sunday July 7 at St Luke’s Uniting Church, Cnr Barrabool & Scenic Rds, Highton from 2.00pm to 5.00 pm.

 

Starting the year

Have you ever wanted to join a choir? Do you like the Hallelujah Chorus?

Well we aren’t singing that this year, but we are singing Dixit Dominus and Coronation Anthems also by G.F. Handel.

2018 commences on Saturday February 3 with an all day rehearsal. Any prospective singers are welcome to join us and see what we do. If you like it, you are welcome to join us for a few rehearsals at no obligation. If you still want to continue, we will invite you to have an audition with our musical director.

So come along and see what it’s all about. We have a very exciting year ahead of us.

Venue: St Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, LaTrobe Tce, Geelong.
Date: Saturday February 3, 2018.
Time: 10am to 4pm

Singing the Classics June 2017

The second ‘Singing the Classics’ for 2018 was Mozart’s Requiem.

We had a large ensemble of over 60 people to sing this great work.

Thanks to Malcolm John, our patient conductor for the day, and Sonoka Miyake for her beautiful accompaniment.

Also thanks to our soloists and trombonist!

An American Portrait

An American Portrait – Sunday May 21 at 2:30pm, Wesley Church, Yarra Street, Geelong

2017-AmericanPortrait

Review by Helen Lyth in the Choral Grapevine

https://thechoralgrapevine.wordpress.com/2017/05/27/an-american-portrait-the-geelong-chorale/

Review by Colin Mockett at Entertainment Geelong

http://www.entertainmentgeelong.com/colinmockett/Reviews.html

This unusual concert for the Chorale was reportedly not to every member’s taste. Some singers were believed to hold the view that our region’s premier choir should stick to its traditional material, drawn from classical and/or sacred musical catalogues.
But for this reviewer – and, I’d hazard, a clear audience majority – this concert was just perfect. Sure, there were some challenging moments, but for the most part, this was a concert of delight.
It took the form of five different groups of well-known American songs, each having their backgrounds explained by the knowledgeable Allister Cox before being delivered with clarity and dexterity by the Chorale.
To this history and music buff, this was concert nirvana. It was entertaining, enlightening, informative – and delivered in the most stylish musical way.
Following a short, humorous intro from Director Cox, ‘we planned this concert a year ago before political events in America overtook us..’ including a well-delivered mock Trump call, he went on to explain the context of the first group of spirituals, neatly detailing their roots in the deep south’s slavery era. Then the Chorale delivered Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Soon Ah Will Be Done, Deep River and Ain’t Got Time To Die with joy and care if not quite the jubilation of a revivalist meeting.
Then followed a Stephen Foster medley following Allister’s potted biography which noted that the author of so many of America’s landmark tunes died with just 40c in his pocket. The Chorale, in unfamiliar but effective formation with tenors front and centre, then delivered I Dream Of Jeanie, My Old Kentucky Home and Beautiful Dreamer with sensitive élan.
A folksong section followed, with Shenandoah, The Riddle Song, Long Time Ago and Ching-A-Ring Chaw receiving the concert’s explanation before refined delivery treatment, and then a trio of Art Songs in Samuel Barber’s Sure on this Shining Night, Randall Thompson’s ironic 1940 multi-layered Alleluia and Stephen Paulus’ The Road Home.
Then came a build-up to the concert’s finale in a section titled ‘Medleys from the Shows’. This preamble told us, among other things, that George Gershwin sought classical training when he was the most successful songwriter in the world and that Judy Garland’s Over The Rainbow was almost cut from The Wizard of Oz as being too slow. Highlights in this section included an amazing number of hit references rolled into the chorale’s Gershwin medley; Helen Seymour and John Stubbings’ duet in Cole Porter’s Night and Day – and the Chorale’s enthusiastic delivery of the thigh-slapping theme tune for Oklahoma!
The concert’s finale was, almost inevitably, the rousing Battle Hymn of the Republic – but only after Director Cox had explained just who John Brown was, and why his body mouldered in the grave.
As always, pianist Kristine Mellens gave the Chorale her fine, unobtrusive support – and I believe that the enthusiastic final applause would have won over even the most sceptical chorister.
For this was a concert of unexpected delights.
— Colin Mockett