Canberra Choral Society proudly presents GREAT … · Canberra Choral Society proudly presents 20...

the second 25 years (1954–1979)

GREAT PERFORMANCES I N T H E A L B E R T H A L L

Sunday 13 July 2014

Canberra Choral Society proudly presents

20 September 2014 | Canberra PlayhouseConducted by Brett Weymark

Starring Tobias Cole, Christopher Saunders and Jacqueline Porter with Christopher Richardson and Christina Wilson

ALexANDeR BALus

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Great Performances in the Albert Hall

the second 25 years (1954 – 1979)

Conductor/MC: Tobias Cole

Featuring Louise Page, Christopher Lincoln Bogg,

Anthony Smith and CCS Chorus

With Katie Cole, Barbara Jane Gilby,

Joy McDonald and the Turner Trebles Guests Veronica Thwaites-Brown and Peter Tregear

God Save the Queen (all)

1954–Vienna Boys Choir

(Turner Trebles)

Emperor's Waltz (Johann Strauss)

1955–Medea (Elizabethan Trust Theatre starring Judith Anderson)

(Katie Cole and Tobias Cole)

1956–Miklos Gafni

(Christopher Lincoln Bogg)

Recondita Armonia (Puccini)

Mattina (Leoncavallo)

Torna a Surriento (de Curtis)

1957–Leontyne Price

(Louise Page)

'Piangerò' from Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Handel)

Après un rêve (Faure)

1959–Beryl Kimber

1961–Isaac Stern

(Barbara Jane Gilby)

‘Loure’, ‘Gavotte en rondeau’ from Partita No. 3 in E (JS Bach)

‘Sonatensatz: Scherzo’ from FAE Sonata (Brahms)

1960–The Magic Pudding (Peter Scriven’s Puppets)

(Joy McDonald)

1961–The Sentimental Bloke (singalong)

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Interval

1963–Rita Streich

(Louise Page)

‘O luce di quest’anima’ from Linda di Chamounix (Donizetti)

1965–Canberra Choral Society

‘Hallelujah’ from Messiah (Handel)

1968–Canberra Children’s Choir

(Turner Trebles)

‘Wolcum Yole’ from Ceremony of Carols (Britten)


‘Kyrie’, ‘Gloria’ excerpt from Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)

(with Louise Page, Veronica Thwaites-Brown, Christopher Lincoln Bogg & Peter Tregear)


‘Quando corpus morietur’, ‘Amen’ from Stabat Mater (Dvořák)

(with Louise Page, Veronica Thwaites-Brown, Christopher Lincoln Bogg & Peter Tregear)


‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ from Mass in B minor (JS Bach)


‘O Haupt voll Blut’ from St Matthew Passion (JS Bach)


‘Lacrymosa’ from Requiem (WA Mozart)


‘Conquissabit’ from Dixit Dominus (Handel)


‘Amen’ from Messiah (Handel)

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A Message from CCS President, Alison White

Canberra Choral Society is really delighted to return for our second

in the series Great Performances at Albert Hall. This much-loved

venue has witnessed some truly wonderful performances over the

years and we have much pleasure in recreating some of those historic

performances this afternoon. I would particularly like to acknowledge

all the talented Canberra artists who have contributed to the program

and of course our dynamic and creative conductor and artistic

director, Tobias Cole.

I would also like to thank the very hard-working members of the

Canberra Choral Society committee and choir members who devote

hours of their time to the choir and without whose hard work we

could not possibly put on these performances.

The Canberra Choral Society relies in major part on funding from

ticket sales and donations and I gratefully acknowledge those donors

who have so generously supported this concert. You too can choose to

support us and by doing so help us to present high quality and

creative performances for Canberra audiences. All donations to the

Canberra Choral Society are tax deductible.

Our next performance will be the Australian premiere of Handel’s

oratorio Alexander Balus, with acclaimed tenor Christopher

Saunders and our own Tobias Cole as two of the leading soloists,

along with many other talented musicians and singers. This concert

will be performed on original instruments in the Canberra Playhouse

and we look forward to seeing you in the audience on Saturday 20

September.

In the meantime I hope you really enjoy this entertaining program.

Alison White

‘While on the subject of goosebump-raising singing voices, Canberra’s

greatest vocal goosebump-raiser is Tobias Cole the counter-tenor. He

materialised (an unprogrammed surprise) singing as Queen Elizabeth I

in … Great Performances in the Albert Hall – the first 25 years.

Cole, this column’s 2012 Canberran of the year, gets that gong for 2013

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A Message from CCS Artistic Director, Tobias Cole

For its first thirty-seven years the Albert Hall served as Canberra’s

major performance venue. Whenever a singer, musician, or company

(dance, theatre or puppet) of national or international renown visited

Canberra, people would put on their finest and make their way to the

Albert Hall.

After the Canberra Theatre opened in 1965, the Albert Hall became

an affordable and preferred performance venue for community

groups including Canberra Choral Society. But when the Canberra

School of Music Auditorium (now known as Llewellyn Hall) opened

in 1976, CCS deserted the Albert Hall for the larger stage and,

arguably, better acoustics of the new venue.

I am sure you will enjoy all our guest artists this afternoon,

including Beryl Kimber and Isaac Stern (Barbara Jane Gilby), Albert,

the grumpy pudding (Joy McDonald), American soprano Leontyne

Price (Louise Page), Polish tenor Miklos Gafni (Christopher Lincoln

Bogg), Australia’s expat actress Judith Anderson (Katie Cole), the

Vienna Boys Choir (Turner Trebles), and many famous

accompanists and local orchestras (Anthony Smith).

I have drawn my information from three main sources: the online

digital newspaper collection on the National Library’s Trove website,

Peter Campbell’s book on the history of Canberra Choral Society and a

very insightful conversation I had with local writer Lenore Coltheart,

whose history of the Albert Hall will be published very soon.

Enjoy this glimpse of what it might have been like for Canberrans of the

50’s, 60’s and 70’s to experience a performance in our Albert Hall.

Tobias Cole

as well, in part for staging things so progressive, so unpretentious and so

excellent. Concert-going, music loving Canberrans speak of him with the

fondness with which, in his heyday, football-loving Canberrans used to

speak of Mal Meninga.’

(Ian Warden, Canberra Times, 31 December 2013)

Great Performances Scrapbook 1954-1979

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Extracts from the Canberra Times

8 June 1954

18 June 1956


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6 October 1955

6 October 1955

5 August 1957


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10 June 1961

3 August 1960


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My Sentimental Bloke (Singalong)

Bill! You're the man that I adore

Bill! You're the man I've waited for

All my life I knew that someone soon

Would come to me out of my dreams

Bill! When you say you'll love me true

Bill! When you say I'll do for you

My heart tells me now that I'm bespoke

I know I'm yours, My Sentimental Bloke. Music by Albert Arlen, lyrics by Nancye Brown

8 March 1961


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25 September 1963

25 September 1963

15 March 1965


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11 October 1968

15 October 1968


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28 October 1969

11 April 1969


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All articles in our Great Performances Scrapbook come from the

Canberra Times via the amazing resource trove.nla.gov.au.

19 October 1970

Our Artists

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Tobias Cole, CCS Artistic Director

Tobias Cole has gained a reputation

as a highly sought after choral trainer

and innovative concert programmer

and was recently appointed a

Distinguished Artist in Residence at

the ANU School of Music. As CCS

Artistic Director, his inspiring long-

term vision includes presenting one

Handel dramatic oratorio in Canberra

each year. He is well qualified for the task, with a Helpmann

Award nomination in Handel’s Julius Caesar (Opera Australia,

2007) and a Green Room Award in the title role of Handel’s

Xerxes (Victorian Opera, 2009). CCS has presented two of

Handel’s dramatic oratorios under Tobias’ leadership: Saul

(2012) and a sellout Theodora at the Canberra Playhouse in 2013.

2014 will see the Australian premiere of Alexander Balus.

Tobias is also one of Australia’s most successful countertenors,

travelling the country as a soloist in opera, oratorio and theatre.

Last year he performed in a staged production of Bach’s St

Matthew Passion with Opera Queensland, Dido and Aeneas for

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Theodora for the Canberra Choral

Society, concerts at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the

Canberra International Music Festival and the Woodend Winter

Arts Festival, Carmina Burana for the Canberra Symphony

Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah for the Queensland Symphony

Orchestra and a number of guest appearances with the Song

Company.

This year Tobias has appeared in the Canberra International Music

Festival and in New Zealand with the Christchurch Symphony

Orchestra. In August he will perform the title role in Philip Glass's

Akhnaten with the State Opera of South Australia.

Our Artists

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Louise Page

Louise Page is one of Australia’s most

highly regarded singers and has

performed in opera, operetta, oratorio,

cabaret, recital and broadcasts

throughout Europe and Australia. She

is the winner of the inaugural Mietta's

Song Recital Competition, the vocal

grand final of the ABC Young Performer

of the Year Award, the Robert Stolz/Apex

scholarship to Vienna, and the Belgian Radio and Television

Opera en Bel Canto City of Ghent Prize. Louise has performed

throughout Europe, including at the Vienna State Opera as a

member of the young artist program.

Now based in Canberra, she has performed with the Sydney,

Queensland, Canberra and Central Coast Symphony Orchestras

and the National Capital Orchestra, and in recital for Musica

Viva, the ABC, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the

Canberra International Music Festival and many others.

Louise has recorded six CDs with accompanist Phillipa Candy,

varying from Lieder to operetta, Australian music and

Christmas songs. Her awards include a Canberra Critics Circle

Award for music (2007), Canberra Times Artist of the Year (2007)

and an OAM for services to the performing arts (2013).

Christopher Lincoln Bogg

Chris began his enthusiasm for music and theatre as a keen

amateur while growing up in his native Canberra. His first

opera solo role and his first oratorio were performed in the

Albert Hall as a boy soprano, and he later sang as a member of

CCS before embarking on a professional career.

This career has included major roles at some of the world's

leading opera houses and touring throughout Europe and the

USA. Chris has also been soloist with Opera Australia and

Our Artists

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many of the regional orchestras, opera

companies and choral organisations in

Australia and New Zealand. His wide

solo repertoire includes favourites and

rarities in both traditional and

contemporary opera, most of the great

concert choral classics as well as an

eclectic mix of recital and art song. He

has also appeared in operettas,

musicals and plays and in diverse

venues from intimate cabaret stages to giant arenas.

Chris has recorded for the Orfeo label, Move Records Australia

and made many radio broadcasts. His awards include the

Dame Joan Sutherland Society Scholarship, the Bond Family

Scholarship for Tenors and the German Operatic Award. He

was nominated for a Helpmann Award for his performance in

Opera Australia's Madeline Lee.

Anthony Smith (piano)

Anthony Smith is one of Canberra’s

leading accompanists. Répétiteur for

CCS since 2005, his knowledge, skills,

and insightful feedback make him an

invaluable part of our rehearsals. It is

always special to be able to feature

Anthony on stage where our audience

can appreciate his wonderful

accompanist skills.

Anthony Smith is also a musicologist

and composer who has written chamber music, solo piano

works, a work for small orchestra, and music for theatre. CCS

was proud to give the first complete performance of his first

essay in the choral medium, Mass in C minor ‘Latin’, at our

Canberra Voices concert in March 2014.

Our Artists

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Canberra Choral Society

From humble beginnings in 1952 as a small group of people

singing for pleasure, the Canberra Choral Society (CCS) has

become one of the most innovative and exciting choirs in the

capital. Led by Artistic Director Tobias Cole, CCS is known

both for traditional choral repertoire such as Handel’s Messiah,

and for surprising audiences with new music, new venues,

and new ways to experience old favourites.

A recent feature of CCS programming has been works by local

composers, beginning with The Best Choral Music Ever Written

by an Australian Composer with a Canberra Connection (2013).

Not only did this concert have the longest title in the Canberra

Centenary program, it also showed that Canberra composers

can be cheeky, uplifting, political, ethereal, rhythmic,

entertaining, sublime, and everything in between. Canberra

Voices (2014) continued the exploration, and proved that it

really is possible to sell out a concert dedicated solely to choral

music by local (and still living) composers.

A complementary theme has been the showcasing of local

performers and local musical history. Concerts such as Great

Performances in the Albert Hall—the first twenty-five years (2013)

featured many local guest artists, and entertained audiences

with familiar and forgotten musical gems and intriguing

stories about the early years of Canberra’s first performance

venue. Today’s concert, Great Performances in the Albert Hall—

the second twenty-five years, continues this theme.

To round out the musical picture, Tobias Cole is also leading

CCS on an ambitious long-term project to perform all of

Handel’s dramatic oratorios. 2014 will see the Australian

premiere of Handel’s Alexander Balus in the Canberra

Playhouse on 20 September, conducted by Brett Weymark and

starring Tobias Cole, Christopher Saunders and Jacqueline

Porter, with Christopher Richardson and Christina Wilson.

Our Artists

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CCS Chorus

Sopranos

Lyndal Callister

Bronwyn Clark

Kelly Corner

Alison Cozadinos

Rachael Eddowes

Margaret Evans

Brenda Gill

Evelyn Graham

Jenny Grierson

Deborah Hayes

June Howell

Ursula Hurley

Jenny Landsberg

Christine Mahe

Nathalie O'Toole

Erika Parkinson

Carole Shearer

Margot Skinner

Doris Stokes

Catherine Stuart

Jeanette Weeden

Janelle Weissman

Alison White

Altos

Barbara Austin

Elizabeth Clement

Susan Cowan

Judy Evans

Sandra Gray

Barbara Inglis

Trish Levick

Atja Maier

Beverley Payne

Yvonne Scales

Sylvia Shanahan

Lyn Stevens

Sarah Sutcliffe

Laura Tingle

Lynne Webb

Christiane Weissbach

Tenors

Arko Chakrabarty

Brenton Lovett

Peter May

Simon Tiller

Basses

Murray Basnett

Phil Bloomfield

Gary Faehse

Ian Gilkes

Rowan Grigg

John Inglis

Rick Musial

Michael Pidcock

David Short

Katie Cole

Katie Cole is a singer, musician,

songwriter, arranger and choral

director. Currently, she directs the

German Harmonie choir and the

ABBA choir Andante Andante.

In 2013 Katie performed in Sandra

France’s new opera From A Black Sky

and presented a solo show Una Voce—

a collection of popular and operatic

songs—in the foyer of the National

Library of Australia and at the Yarralumla Woolshed Arts Fair.

Other recent performances include Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don

Giovanni (CAMRA 2013), the Witch of Endor in Handel’s Saul

(CCS 2012) and Morgana in Handel’s Alcina (CAMRA 2011).

Our Artists

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Barbara Jane Gilby (violinist)

Barbara Jane Gilby returned to

Canberra in 2000 after studying

and working in USA and Europe

followed by fifteen years as

Concertmaster of the Tasmanian

Symphony Orchestra. She teaches

violin, is Concertmaster of the

Canberra Symphony Orchestra

and is frequently invited to

adjudicate at music competitions.

Barbara appears on numerous

recordings on the ABC Classics

label including Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and String Concerti of

Richard Mills. In 2014 she has performed as soloist with the CSO

and led the Corpus Medicorum Orchestra in Saint Petersburg.

Joy McDonald (puppeteer)

Joy McDonald left her teaching

career to begin as a puppeteer in the

late 1960s with Peter Scriven’s

Tintookies at the Elizabethan Theatre

Trust, Sydney. She continued her

work with Richard Bradshaw,

Australia’s leading shadow

puppeteer, in various shows

including ABC TVs Playschool.

In later years Joy became a practising

artist on the north NSW coast and then as a graduate of the

National Institute of the Arts, ANU in Canberra, where she now

lives and works as a multi-disciplinary artist.

As part of Canberra’s Centenary, Joy’s puppet production for

adults and children, The very Sad Fish-lady, was performed at

the Street Theatre with music by David Pereira. She is

Our Artists

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currently taking a puppetry workshop as part of the

Messengers Program for young

people in Tuggeranong.

Albert Pudding

The Magic Pudding puppet in

today’s performance was made in

1970 and travelled to Osaka, Japan to

appear in Expo ‘70. He has travelled

to the Albert Hall from Sydney,

where he usually lives in semi-

retirement in a puppet archive.

Turner Trebles

Tobias Cole

established the

Turner Trebles at

Turner School at

the start of 2013

as a choir

dedicated to

giving boys with

treble voices the

opportunity to develop their singing and performance skills.

Last year they performed in two concerts with the Canberra

Choral Society and in Carmina Burana with the Canberra

Symphony Orchestra.

This year Tobias established a separate girls choir, the Turner

Girl Trebles. The combined choirs' first performance was at the

CCS Canberra Voices concert in March 2014.

Hannah Bagheri

Cayde Ball-Curry

George Banks

Leif Bodilsen

Gabriel Cole

Jessie Cole

Marcel Cole

Ashwin Phillips

Scarlet Price

Thomas Rush

Julius Stoljar

Hugh Windeyer

Oliver Windeyer

Our Artists

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Veronica Thwaites-Brown

Veronica Thwaites-Brown studied

music and German at the University of

Sydney (2001), and piano performance

under teacher Phillip Shovk. She

worked as a repetiteur, accompanist

and choral conductor for musicians and

choirs in Sydney and Canberra before

shifting her focus to singing in 2004.

Veronica has performed principal roles

in musical theatre productions, sung in

recitals including a Lieder recital for Art Song Canberra, and

performed for private functions with her opera trio, Three’s A

Crowd. Veronica currently sings with the chamber choir Coro,

and performed in the 2014 Canberra International Music festival.

Later this year she will perform the role of ‘Speranza’ in

Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at Llewellyn Hall.

Peter Tregear

Head of the ANU School of Music,

bass-baritone Peter Tregear is a

graduate of King’s College,

University of Cambridge, where he

was a Choral Scholar. He later joined

the Choir of London, and still

regularly performs with them in the

UK, Europe and Middle East.

Since returning to Australia in 2006,

Peter has worked with Victorian

Opera and Melbourne Opera and performed extensively as a

vocal soloist and conductor. In 2008 he co-founded the

Consort of Melbourne. Peter is conducting a new production

of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in Llewellyn Hall on 21-22 August

this year.

Our Supporters

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CCS gratefully acknowledge our sponsors.

Supporters Program

CCS sincerely thank all our generous supporters.

ARIA ($100-$199) Barbara Austin

David Short

CHORUS ($200-$499) Judy Evans

Tricia Levick

Bruce Lindenmayer

Margot Skinner

Bob Swainson

ORATORIO ($500-$999) Laura Tingle

Capital Wines

CMAX Advisory

Kreab Gavin Anderson

PASSION ($1,000 & above) Tobias Cole

Carole Shearer

Dr J O Ward

The Hyatt Hotel

Donations to CCS are recognised for 12 months from the time of

donation. This list is current as of July 2014. Donations are tax-

deductible. If you are interested in becoming a donor or in-kind

supporter, please contact us at [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Sing with CCS!

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CCS offers you a number of choral options.

Our Come and Sing is a great way to test the waters. There’s no

audition, you get learning resources and lots of support

through the rehearsals, and you’re part of a massed choir. At

the end you perform in Llewellyn Hall with a full orchestra

and professional soloists under a top class conductor. It’s a

real buzz, as our previous guest choristers will attest. Our

Come and Sing program this year is A Feast of Saint Nicolas

with music by Britten and Vivaldi (performance 13 December).

Details will be announced on our website.

Our youth choir, CCS New Voices, is a great option for

talented young singers. The choir performs a wide range of

choral repertoire, including opera choruses, music theatre,

world music and pop songs. For more information see

canberrachoralsociety.org/sing-with-us/new-voices/.

We also welcome enquiries from singers who wish to join the

CCS Chorus on a permanent basis. Email [email protected]

to find out about our audition workshops.

Acknowledgements

ABC Radio, ArtSound FM, the Canberra Times, Canberra Weekly,

the Chronicle and City News for helping to promote our concerts.

Yvonne Scales, Trish Levick and The Silk Road Gallery in

Kingston for loan of their lovely furniture.

Capital Wines for their generous donation of wines for our

raffle, and for their ongoing support for our concerts.

The ACT Government for ongoing support.

Cover design by Gillian Worrall

CCS Committee

Alison White (President), Brenda Gill (Vice President),

Rowan Grigg (Treasurer), Erika Parkinson (Secretary),

Kelly Corner, Jenny Landsberg, Nathalie O’Toole, Beverley Payne,

Bettina Söderbaum, Lyn Stevens, Doris Stokes.

Program written and compiled by

Kelly Corner, Canberra Choral Society, July 2014.

http://www.canberrachoralsociety.org/sing-with-us/new-voices-youth-choir/

mailto:[email protected]

the second 25 years (1954–1979)

20 September 2014 | Canberra PlayhouseConducted by Brett Weymark

Starring Tobias Cole, Christopher Saunders and Jacqueline Porter with Christopher Richardson and Christina Wilson

ALexANDeR BALusin the Australian premiere of Handel's

Love, friendship & loyalty are put to the test

Tickets 6275 2700 www.canberraticketing.com.au Presented by the Canberra Choral Society | www.canberrachoralsociety.org

Canberra Choral Society proudly presents GREAT … · Canberra Choral Society proudly presents 20...

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