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Christmas Carolling 2007
Toowong Village Shopping Centre

Brisbane Concert Choir members perform a cappella Christmas favourites.

It's a great place to sing - and a great place to shop ... one of Brisbane's
most relaxed shopping venues. Why not give it a try!

Session Times:      
10am - 1.00pm       Sat 8th December
5.30 - 8.30pm        Thu 13th December
10am - 1.00pm       Sat 15th December
12 noon - 3.00pm   Sun 16th December
5.30 - 8.30pm        Tue 18th December
5.30 - 8.30pm        Thu 20th December
10am - 1.00pm       Sat 22nd December

NOEL! Peace On Earth  Concert 2 December 2007
A large audience enjoyed this our Christmas offering for 2007.
Selected highlights are available as videos on YouTube.
Please click on the links below to see and hear these pieces.

Angelus ad Pastores  - A Christmas motet by Giovanni Gabrieli

O Magnum Mysterium - A Christmas motet by Giovanni Gabrieli

The Shepherds' Farewell - from L'enfance du Christ (The Childhood of Christ) by Hector Berlioz

Magnificat in D, BWV 243 by Johann Sebastian Bach

For details of these and other pieces, please consult the programme notes.

Congratulations to Anna Kloeden   -   Queensland Rhodes Scholar for 2008


 Photo by René Marcel Photography                                                                                         © Brisbane Concert Choir at St Andrew's 2006
Anna Kloeden (centre) has sung with Brisbane Concert Choir for a number of years. We all
join in congratulating her on this outstanding achievement and wish her well in her studies. If her
Oxford study schedule allows, Anna might be able to sing with us for one last time on our
proposed tour to Advent Music Festivals in Prague and Vienna in December 2008.

Of course, this means there will be a vacancy for another young soprano next year, so contact
us now if you would like to arrange an audition. We accept new members throughout the year.

Hail, Gladdening Light   Concert 16 September 2007

Our once-a-year concert without orchestra was to have taken place in our normal home venue of
St Andrew's, but was switched to the Cathedral of St Stephen as our contribution to the 2007
Cathedrals' Week festival of music. We performed a widely varied program of music, from 16th and
17th century works such as Jacob Handl's Haec est dies and de Salazar's Salga el torillo hosquillo!,
as well as music by Schütz and Gabrieli. Compositions of the 20th and 21st centuries were well
represented with music by Wood, Duruflé, Gorécki, Tavener and Shank.

A lighter selection of spirituals rounded out the program. The concert closed with the Australian premiere
performance of A Choral Menagerie by Ian Maurer (our chairman and webmaster).

In another first for our choir, video selections of parts of the program have been uploaded to the
YouTube web site. You can play Salga el torillo hosquillo! by clicking the play button of the Flash Player
below. If your browser is not set up to do this, please click on the links below to see and hear us in performance:


 Salga el torillo hosquillo!  by Diego José de Salazar

A Choral Menagerie   Ian Maurer (Australian Premiere)

Hanacpachap cussicuinin   anon. (from Peru, in Quechua language) 

Haec est dies  Jacob Handl

Hail Gladdening Light  Charles Wood

For details of these and other pieces, please consult the programme notes.

Lismore Weekend  - 18-19 August 2007

The choir was pleased to have been asked to perform Gounod's Messe Solennelle (Mass for
St Cecilia) at St Carthage's Cathedral in Lismore, NSW as part of their centenary celebrations.

Our September concert was previewed at St Carthage's Cathedral in Lismore, NSW on Sunday
19th August.

Beethoven's Mass in C 'from scratch'  - 14 July 2007

We had a great time staging our 5th Annual Come and Sing 'from scratch' event.

With about 140 singers, 30+ orchestral players in the Sinfonia of St Andrew's,
soloists Anita Parakh-Morgan, Sophie Wotton, Robert Shearer, Simon Schmidt,
and musical director Debra Shearer-Dirié, we worked our way through Beethoven's
Mass in C and a large amount of delicious food on the way to an exciting
performance in the evening.

While not as well known as his Missa Solemnis, it is an enjoyable but challenging
work to sing, especially in one day. Our thanks to everyone who came along, from
as far away as Yeppoon and Armidale, and made it such an enjoyable experience
in spite of the cool weather.

We look forward to offering our 6th such event in August 2008.



Click on the picture above to find all of the pictures from the day.

Land of Lakes Choirboys - Shared Concert 9 June 2007
Brisbane Concert Choir received an SOS from the Land of Lakes Choirboys who were on tour
to New Zealand, via Brisbane. Their previous plans having fallen through, they contacted us via the web
to see if we could help with arranging a concert and providing billets for the choirboys. The first part was
relatively easy to arrange, thanks to the generosity of St Andrew's Uniting Church. The billeting proved
to be more of a challenge, because of their planned arrival on the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

Nevertheless, a large audience had an enjoyable evening listening to the boys singing sacred and secular
works, with a small contribution by our choir. We regularly enjoy working with local youth and children's
choirs, and were glad that we were just able to squeeze this commitment into our schedule at short notice.

We would like to thank staff and parents of St Peters Lutheran College, St Andrew's Uniting Church,
Brisbane Birralee Voices, and the Australian Catholic University for responding to our call for extra host
families. You can find out more from the Land of Lakes Choirboys web site.

  Photo - Michael Kuilboer (click for larger image)


 Advice to Choir Directors who find this page and are planning a tour to Brisbane: Because of our high visibility on the
web, we attract quite a few requests similar to this one, most of which we regretfully have to decline. If you are touring with a
children's choir, the best approach is to invite a local children's choir (either community or school) to participate. We are
happy to provide contacts. However, you need to be making the initial proposal at least a year before you depart on tour, as
schools in particular have their schedules fixed by September or October of the previous calendar year. Another good source
of information is ANCA, the Australian National Choral Association.
 

The Armed Man - Concert 13 May 2007

Our first performance for 2007 proved to be a great success with audience and performers alike. A near
capacity audience was spellbound by this dramatic choral and orchestral presentation, with quite a few
people taking the trouble to send us a note of appreciation:

       Congratulations ... on a splendid production of a stunning and fascinating piece. The range of emotions expressed so
       meaningfully by the singers left the audience breathless on several occasions. The performance made for a rewarding
       afternoon.  Mona B.

      Just a note to say how much we and our friends enjoyed the concert. Such a superb performance. It really gave us all
      a lot of pleasure. Thanks so much.  Anne & Hans

      Click to read a Review by Mansel Jones.

Because of the overwhelming response, we will be performing this marvelous work again on
Anzac Day  2008.

Photos - David Maurer  (Click for larger images)
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