Phoenix Choir started rehearsals again in 2021 at the beginning of term 1 practicing at first outside and in masks and then moving inside as the NSW Public Health orders allowed. So we have warmed up and we are ready to perform. First this year is a concert of Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat which the choir has been slow cooking for a year now.  Rowen is working the choir hard to polish up the rough edges in the few weeks before performance.

Vivaldi: Gloria e Magnificat

Phoenix Choir Blue Mountains will present two of Vivaldi’s best known choral works in a concert celebrating the great master composer of the Italian baroque. Musical director Rowen Fox will conduct the choir accompanied by the accomplished Kanimbla Quartet. These works combine dramatic choral fanfares with intricate solo movements, including duets for two soprano soloists.

Vivaldi’s Gloria is one of the most popular works in the choral repertoire, in which joyous choruses such as the opening Gloria and the uplifting Domine Fili unigenite contrast with the pained chromaticism of Et in terra pax hominibus, and the beautiful soprano solo with oboe obbligato, Domine Deus, Rex coelestis. This work pairs wonderfully with the finely wrought Magnificat to give a feast of Vivaldi’s choral music in a program which will also include an instrumental work performed by the quartet with Janette Norcott as continuo.

The concert is in the magnificent Hoskins Uniting Church in Lithgow. This iconic stone church in the gothic perpendicular style set in autumnal Sorensen gardens is an idyllic setting and fabulous accoustic for the Vivaldi, as well as being a large venue where we can practice our Covid safe plan.

Sunday 11 April 2021 at 4pm
Hoskins Uniting Church, Lithgow

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Later in the year Phoenix Choir has two other concerts planned.

Fox: Albert Morris

During our downtime in 2020 Rowen Fox kept busy starting the composition of his oratorio Albert Morris, based on the life and work of the Broken Hill environmentalist who was a pioneer of mining rehabilitation and land regeneration. Phoenix Choir commissioned his first chorusses and we will combine these with some early arias and perhaps an overture to give a concert preview of excerpts from the work, accompanied by a small ensemble of string quartet, piano and wind.

There’s more work to be done to finish the composition, but we are hopeful to work with Rowen to premiere the work when its complete. After our concert we are going to have a small launch party for the work, where Rowen can also talk about the work he has to planned to finish the work and his creative process, particularly around full orchestration.

Saturday 16 October at 3pm followed by launch party
Phillips Hall, Gardiner Crescent, Blackheath
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Handel: Israel in Egypt

Later in 2021, you can look forward to Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt. This is a major project which we will perform with large choir and full orchestra under the Sing in the Mountains banner to give justice to one of Handel’s greatest Oratorio.  It has choruses to match the best of Messiah, clever illustrative composition of the plagues sent to punish Egypt, and monumental anthems in the tradition of Zadok the Priest.

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Phillips Hall, Gardiner Crescent, Blackheath

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We will also perform at the Blackheath Choir Festival on Friday 20 August.  Hopefully that is a full uninterrupted year of singing and a chance for us all to perform again.