At the time of writing (17 October, 2023), Christmas has come 416 Days early for this Bass-Baritone, and I am honoured and humbled to announce that I will be part of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's 2024 Season singing Handel's 'Messiah' alongside some extraordinary colleagues.

It's shaping up to be a very big and busy year! Full details can be found here.

From the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra website

Embrace the cherished Christmas tradition of Handel’s Messiah. From deeply tender arias to show-stopping choruses, this music enchants audiences worldwide. The orchestra, chorus and vocal soloists intertwine, breathing life into a narrative of prophecy, suffering, and redemption. Messiah carries a glorious message of belief, one which continues to resonate through time.

Featuring

• Samantha Clarke, Soprano

• Fiona Campbell, Mezzo

• Andrew Goodwin, Tenor

• Andrew O’Connor, Bass

• Adelaide Chamber Singers, Choir

• Ivars Taurins, Conductor

It is a great delight to be programming Hark! 2024 which rounds out the 40th Anniversary Year of The Song Company. Earlier this year I became an uncle for the first time, and I found myself reflecting on the 'sacred' and gentle way in which humans hold themselves around new life – and indeed around the end of life also. We speak gently, think deeply, and often find moments of great togetherness.

The Christmas Season, regardless of your particular religious stripe, is a time of year that invites reflections on family, friendship, and (for some) faith – and at its centre draws focus to the story of a child being born in a stable to Jewish parents in what was then Roman-controlled Palestine. Hark 2024! will reflect and celebrate the Christmas story and the little everyday miracle of new life with music and poetry old and new; both sacred and secular.

The Song Company tours Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, and the Blue Mountains with this program from 28 November - 1 December.

All details can be found here.

I am over the moon to announce that I will be debuting with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for not one but two projects in their 2024 Season.

In August I will give the WORLD PREMIERE of Katy Abbott's new commission for the MSO 'Hidden Thoughts: Stories of Awe' – a 40-minute work for Orchestra, Soprano, Baritone and Narrator helmed by Maestro Benjamin Northey. You too can contribute to the work with your stories of awe via the MSO website below. To be part of such an important premiere in Hamer Hall really is a huge honour.

From the MSO Website

Friday 09 August 2024 - 7:30pm at Hamer Hall

Saturday 10 August 2024 - 7:30pm at Hamer Hall

Featuring

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Northey conductor
Sunny Kim vocalist
Andrew O'Connor bass-baritone
Pamela Rabe narrator

Program

Katy Abbott* Hidden Thoughts III: Stories of Awe**
Max Richter The Four Seasons Recomposed

*MSO Composer in Residence
**World premiere of an MSO Commission

About this performance

This dynamic program opens with the third piece in Katy Abbott's award-winning Hidden Thoughts series. Based on the stories of anonymous participants, this piece sets individual stories and the collective voice to music, capturing and delivering the very human experience of awe. The stories tell of unexpected encounters, of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, of being moved by music, art, nature, kindness and courage. Collective effervescence, spiritual awakenings, the delicacy and complexity of nature and the infinitesimal self within it.

If you’d like to contribute a story to Hidden Thoughts III, please complete a short anonymous survey at: bit.ly/stories-of-awe

Ground-breaking composer Max Richter’s minimalist-inspired music is equally at home in the concert hall as it is on screen, having featured in Arrival, and episodes of Black Mirrorand The Last of Us, among many others. His innovative fresh take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasonstopped the classical charts in 22 countries in 2012, and continues to awe devotees of the original and new fans alike.

Duration: approx. 2 hours including interval

From the Song Company Website:

Celebrating the wealth of Australian music commissioned and performed by The Song Company over its illustrious 40-year history.

14-30 June
Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra (more to come…)

Drawing inspiration from the iconic masterpiece by Peter Sculthorpe, The Stars Turn captures the essence of The Song Company's vibrant history, showcasing our rich tapestry of collaborations with some of the brightest stars of Australian music. From the mesmerising Elena Kats-Chernin to the intricate textures of Nigel Butterly and Katy Abbott, this program is a snapshot of The Song Company's musical milestones.

The Stars Turn also casts its gaze toward the future, with the next generation of composers whose talents light up the musical sky. Experience the innovative soundscapes of Alice Chance, Sonya Holowell and Chris Williams, and the debut of a mesmerising new work by Angus Davison.

Don't miss this extraordinary celebration of Australian musical creativity, past, present and future. Secure your tickets now and be part of this luminous constellation of sound.

As part of my involvement in all of Pinchgut Opera’s 2024 Season – I’m delighted to be singing in a reduced Consort of voices from Cantillation in this baroque gem that I haven’t sung for many years.

From the Pinchgut Opera Website

TICKETS & INFORMATION

Acclaimed for its insightful and unique interpretations of the lesser-known works from the Baroque period, Pinchgut Opera also relishes the opportunity to put its signature stamp on one of the best-known operas in the repertory.

Dido and Aeneas is the perfect operatic gem. Few stories capture the essence of tragic love, heroism and destiny as intensely as the tale of the Trojan hero Aeneas and the noble Queen Dido, the founder of Carthage.

It is this star-crossed love story, laden with the tumultuous interplay of duty, passion and fate, that Purcell, a master of music for the theatre, chose as the subject of his only true opera.

Australian star soprano Valda Wilson (Theodora, 2016) returns to Pinchgut in her role debut as Dido, with acclaimed baritone David Greco as Aeneas. Joining them is Kanen Breen (Ormindo, 2009; Platée, 2021) inhabiting the snarling malice of the Sorceress, and the ever-eloquent Sara Macliver (The Fairy Queen, 2003; Orfeo, 2004; Bajazet, 2015) as Belinda.

Dido and Aeneas features some of the most beautiful Baroque music of all time, including the final lament of Dido, darkly brooding and famously tragic, which was aptly featured in the final season of the HBO smash-hit series The White Lotus.

Musically resplendent and thrillingly fierce, Pinchgut’s presentation of Dido and Aeneas is not to be missed.

I am looking forward to working with Salut Baroque for the first time in May - having long known of their recordings and long history in Australia. These performances in May will feature a great mix of vocal and instrumental works by Bach, Handel, Purcell, Lambert, Buxtehude, Monteverdi and more!

From the Salut Baroque website

The Influencers

Expectations were high for salaried composers during the Baroque period. Constant demands for new repertoire required inspiration and creativity as well as talent. Influence ebbed and flowed between composers, nations, styles and beliefs. Bach was inspired by his devoutness and his vast collection of other composers’ works; Handel reinvented himself between German, Italian and English styles, depending on where he was living and what was fashionable; Purcell loved theatrical spectacle; and Rameau was fascinated by the exploration of culture from abroad. In turn, our curious composers influenced generations of musicians to continually discover new horizons of musical creativity.

Andrew O’Connor (Bass-Baritone), Sally Melhuish (Recorder), Jane Downer (Baroque Oboe, Recorder), Meg Cohen (Baroque Violin), Julia Russoniello (Baroque Violin), Karina Schmitz (Baroque Viola), Suzie Kim (Baroque Viola), Tim Blomfield (Baroque Cello), Simon Martyn-Ellis (Theorbo), Monika Kornel (Harpsichord)

Program

Avison – Concerto No. 5 in D minor
Bach – Aria Ich habe genug from Cantata BWV 82
Biber – Battalia in D major, C61
Handel – Aria O ruddier than the cherry
Locke – Lilk; Curtain Tune; Rustick Air; Minoit
Vivaldi – Aria Se il cor Guerriero
Buxtehude – Sonata; Vulnerasti cor meum
Rameau – Air pour les esclaves africains; Tambourins I-II; Air pour l’adoration de soleil; Air pour les Sauvages
Lambert – Ma bergère est tendre et fidèle
Telemann – Concerto in G major for Viola, TWV 51:G9
Purcell – Aria What Power Art Thou?
Monteverdi – Damigella tutta bella

Friday 3 May 2024, 7.30pm
Wesley Church, 20 National Circuit, Forrest, Canberra

Sunday 5 May 2024, 3.00pm
Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music

I will be joining Bach Akademie Australia for a few projects across 2024 - my COVID-cancellation at the Sydney Festival not withstanding - and the first is this Cantata project with two concerts in Sydney: Paddington and Chatswood — April 12 & April 14

From the Bach Akademie Australia website

The Bach family spent their lives in service. After four generations of practicing musicians, J.S. Bach was no different. He was a passionate educator, pedagogue, school master and mentor to his own many children and those of the Thomasschule of which he was Cantor. With a strong social conscience, he composed music to enrich, instruct and inspire the lives of all. Bach Akademie Australia presents a program featuring Bach’s cantata ‘Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot’, dubbed the ‘refugee cantata’, thought to have welcomed the arrival into Germany of Protestant refugees banished from Salzburg.

Composed in Cöthen, his Harpsichord Concerto in E arranged for violin is a shining example of clever adaptation, which he used later in his career as a toolfor teaching his students. We end with his famous cantata ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’ BWV 147, which perfectly encapsulates Bach’s desire that our hearts, mouths, deeds and lives be in service to humanity and to God.

PROGRAM

J.S. Bach Cantata ‘Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot’ BWV 39

J.S. Bach Harpsichord Concerto in E arranged for Violin in D (after BWV 1053) arr. K. Debrezeni

J.S. Bach Cantata ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’ BWV 147

I will be (re)joining The Song Company for three major projects in its 40th Anniversary Season in 2024 - and the first of these is Superbloom with guest director Jane Sheldon.

Touring from 1-10 March in Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra, Sydney, and to the Orange Chamber Music Festival.

From The Song Company Website:

"Superbloom" is the phenomenon in which the desert landscape receives an unusual season of rain such that the next spring brings forth carpets of rare displays of flowers. Immerse yourself in this magical and musical "Superbloom" - a program of rare works for unaccompanied voices that draws parallels between the stark beauty of the arid desert and the lush abundance brought by the wet season.

Acclaimed Australian-American soprano and composer Jane Sheldon makes her Guest Directorial debut with The Song Company. Her artistry has created a musical journey that connects historical compositional giants such as Hildegard von Bingen and Carlo Gesualdo with contemporary composers Rebecca Saunders, Chaya Czernowin and James Weeks. Plus, be among the first to experience a brand-new work composed by the talented Jane Sheldon herself.

The Song Company has been captivating audiences with adventurous programming for 40 years. Join Australia's world-class vocal ensemble for this unforgettable experience that celebrates both the resilience of the desert and the creativity of the human spirit.

Superbloom Tour Dates & Ticket Links

Newcastle
Fri 1 March, 6pm
Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, Newcastle

Wollongong
Sat 2 March, 3pm
St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Wollongong

Canberra
Sun 3 March, 3pm
Wesley Music Centre, Ainslie

Sydney
Thu 7 March, 7pm
Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House 
 
Orange
Sat 9 March, 11am
Orange Chamber Music Festival 
Holy Trinity Church, Orange

Chatswood
Sun 10 March, 3pm
Our Lady of Dolours Catholic Church, Chatswood

I’m delighted that my first engagement for 2024 is part of the Sydney Festival’s Temperament Series - a 5-day mini festival of J.S. Bach held at The Neilson, home of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

From the Sydney Festival website

TEMPERAMENT SERIES

JS Bach is a true avant-gardist. Temperament – a week-long celebration and deconstruction of Bach – pays homage to the revolutionary advances his music enabled and its influence on modern composers.

This series features an exceptional group of local and international artists and ensembles including Bach Akademie Australia, Korkmaz Can Sağlam, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Andrew Bukenya, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Benjamin Skepper and Ensemble Apex.

"Bach truly is the master of rhetoric and the Bach Akademie Australia the masters of persuasion and joy."

PROGRAM

Under violinist and founder Madeleine Easton, the ensemble's focus on mastery, authenticity and originality of interpretation makes it the ideal companion for the journey of Bach’s remarkable life, from beginning to end. Bach’s earliest cantata (his 'Actus Tragicus', circa 1708) is a perfect place to start, an introspective and innovative funeral cantata. In his splendid Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, written a decade later, we hear what is arguably the first ever keyboard concerto ever written. From Bach’s later life in Leipzig, comes his motet 'Lobet den Herrn’, one of his most joyful works, and his cantata 'Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats', a narrative of faith and hope in six captivating movements. Played in intimate, acoustically excellent surroundings, JS Bach: A Life in Music promises spiritual depth, instrumental brilliance and choral splendour.

TIMES

Tue 23rd Jan, 07:30pm

Wed 24th Jan, 02:00pm

TICKETS & INFO

The Song Company Christmas

Start the festive season with well-loved carols and heart-melting harmonies. 
A Christmas concert for the whole family to enjoy together in Sydney and Wollongong.

The Song Company Christmas Carol program Hark! will be presented three times in Sydney and for the first in Wollongong.

TICKETS AND DETAILS

See The Song Company Christmas Carols:

Wed 29 Nov, 6:00PM Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood

Thu 30 Nov, 6:00PM St Francis of Assisi, Paddington

Fri 1 Dec, 6:00PM The Garrison Church, Millers Point

Sat 2 Dec, 2:00PM St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Wollongong

Hark! will also be broadcast live via the Australian Digital Concert Hall on Friday, 1 December at 6pm and will be available on demand after that initial livestream.

In November I will join Bach Akademie Australia for their final program in 2023 (the only one I was available for!) which includes performances in Glenbrook, Chatswood, and the ‘flagship’ performance at City Recital Hall, Angel Place. Featuring some of the music I recently sang in the United States with the American Bach Soloists, it will be a fitting end to a big year of Bach for me personally.

Saturday 18 November, 7:30pm, Glenbrook

Sunday 19 November, 2:30pm, Chatswood

Thursday 23 November, 7:00pm, City Recital Hall

From the Bach Akademie Australia Website - where further details can be found

2023 brings us an opportunity to celebrate one of the greatest events in musical history, J.S. Bach’s appointment as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. As a result, a new era in music history began. For the next 27 years, the requirements of his appointment combined with his deep faith and desire to encourage faith in all others, inspired Bach to produce music of such staggering beauty, complexity and profundity that changed the course of music forever. These works, particularly the cantatas, are still performed and idolised around the world today, demonstrated by the more than 300 Bach choirs and societies that exist worldwide. To celebrate this momentous event, we have chosen 3 of his most celebrated Leipzig cantatas and his jubilant motet ‘Singet dem Herrn’. How can the works of Bach ever be adequately summed up? We will leave it to our international patron Sir John Eliot Gardiner ’But it is Bach, making music in the Castle of Heaven, who gives us the voice of God – in human form. He is the one who blazes a trail, showing us how to overcome our imperfections through the perfections of his music: to make divine things human and human things divine.’

PROGRAM

J.S. Bach Chorale Prelude ‘In Dulci
Jublio’ BWV 729

J.S. Bach Cantata ‘Unser mund sei voll
Lachens’ BWV 110

J.S. Bach Motet ‘Singet dem Herrn’
BWV 225
— Interval —
J.S. Bach Cantata ‘Jesu, der du meine
Seele’ BWV 78

J.S. Bach Cantata ‘Wachet auf’
BWV 140

The Australian Vocal Ensemble (AVE) concludes its Regional NSW tour - facilitated in part by Music Viva and the former RISE Fund - with performances in Bathurst, Orange, Kangaroo Valley, and Goulburn. Orange also includes an education and choral workshop which is open to singers in the community - so I advise contacting the Orange Regional Conservatorium for more specific on-the-ground details in preparation for that.

Importantly, our performance in Kangaroo Valley is facilitated by Arts in The Valley - and long-time supporters of the arts, Nick and Caroline Minogue. We are very grateful, as I am in particular, to be heading to the exceptional beauty of The Valley for this tour performance.

All tour details can be found at the Australian Vocal Ensemble (AVE) website.

Welcome to Baroquefest! Australia's boutique baroque music festival in the heart of central western New South Wales. 

We are proud to present Baroquefest 2023, celebrating the music of JS Bach with Bach Akademie Australia. Violinist and Director Madeleine Easton will lead you on a journey through the music of JS Bach from his first composition to his last; your Baroquefest will be rich in musical colour as you enjoy historic Canowindra, fine wine and cuisine!

“With thoughtful, well-researched performances and an elegantly constructed program, Easton and Bach Akademie Australia offered an opportunity to really dig down deep into Bach’s words and music – a profound and rewarding experience.” — Limelight Magazine

Bach Akademie Australia is dedicated to performing the works of J.S. Bach. It was established in late 2016 by Australian violinist Madeleine Easton who has recently returned after 19 years of living and working in Europe. Its aim is to enrich and enhance the musical life of Australia. The ensemble's focus on mastery of performance, authenticity and originality of interpretation brings the music of J.S. Bach to life. Bach Akademie Australia is also focused on forging close links with academic institutions around the country in order to establish educational and learning opportunities for young musicians.

I am delighted to be making the trip out to Baradine and Dubbo again this year (having missed the August camps being in the United States) for the always engaging, connecting, and grounding Moorambilla Voices Residency Camps and Gala Concerts.

In addition to the usual concerts there are also many open-air activities and cultural events as part of a mini festival just across the road from the theatre.

Taken from the Moorambilla Voices Website

Experience the fantastic choirs of Moorambilla Voices as they celebrate regional Australia and the youth that inhabits it in the iconic Moorambilla Gala Concert Series! Each year Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre will host four concerts. Each 80-minute concert will leave you mesmerised and uplifted. Feel firsthand the power of the Japanese Taiko Drums, listen to the beauty of the angelic voices of our regional choirs and MAXed OUT company as they join with senior choreographers, photographers, Taiko percussionists, a Chamber Orchestra and Visual Artists. Led by Founder and Artistic Director Michelle Leonard OAM, join them as they celebrate the inspiring beauty and capacity of the region.

(SOLD OUT) MOORAMBILLA VOICES RIVERSONG 2023: MARKS ON COUNTRY

DUBBO: 23 & 24 September 2023 at the Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre

Experience the Moorambilla Magic in this joyful celebration of Country, connection, contemporary art and choral music, choreography and installation visual art.
Celebrate the energy, tenacity and enormous capacity of our region’s children. 
Feel the power and energy of our magnificent rivers interpreted through Japanese Taiko Drums, dance, and the voices of our four regional youth choirs, all woven together with a word-class Chamber Orchestra.

The program was informed by the annual 2023 Artistic and Cultural Immersion Program, inspired by the stories, relationships and Country of the Gamilaroi,Yuwaalaraay and Yuwalayaay language groups of the Gomeroi Nation starting from the head of the Castlereagh River at the magnificent Warrumbungles connecting through to the wonders of the Narran Lakes.
  
Performed by four youth ensembles that represent 21 LGAs of North West NSW.

Following the concerts join us across the road at Victoria Park for spectacular FREE light and fire sculptures. 

MOORAMBILLA VOICES RIVERSONG 2023: FIRE! SAND! LIGHT!

In addition to our two sold-out performances of ‘Marks on Country’ at the Dubbo Regional Theatre, we are proud to share our FREE community ‘FIRE! SAND! LIGHT!’ festival which will take place over the weekend – Friday 22-24 September in Victoria Park – opposite the theatre. 

I will be joining (after many asks!) the Chapel Choir of St Paul’s College in their presentation of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. Quite literally I start rehearsing this meer hours after arriving back in Australia after study and travels in the United States – so it will be a fun adventure on that front as well as being a lively and effervescent score!

I am very excited to announce that I'll be travelling to San Francisco in August for the American Bach Soloists Academy. I'll be undertaking two weeks of intensive work with their faculty culminating in concert appearances – before a little working holiday zipping around the United States.

This was originally an opportunity I won in 2020 (we all know what happened that year) so it feels wonderful to finally be able to take it up three years later. It's been almost a decade since I was last in the U.S. so I'm very much looking forward to this unique professional development opportunity as well as catching up with some old friends!

MUSIC OF BRITTEN, SAARIAHO AND GYGER

9-15 June
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and online

The Song Company's second program Songs of Rosa Mystica, led by Guest Music Director Jack Symonds, is a program of contemporary masterworks for unaccompanied voices. From Elliott Gyger's mighty 1994 work Ficta, through excepts of Benjamin Britten's A.M.D.G. and works by Tippett, Saariaho and Symonds himself, The Song Company will challenge your perception of what the human voice is capable.

Susannah Lawergren, Amy Moore, Jessica O'Donoghue, Timothy Reynolds, Simon Lobelson and Andrew O'Connor

GUEST MUSIC DIRECTOR

Jack Symonds

WITH

Ben Carey, Sound Designer

COMPOSERS

Elliott Gyger, Benjamin Britten, Jack Symonds, Michael Tippett, Kaija Saariaho