In 2025 I’ll be continuing my now 10-year association with The Song Company appearing in two major tours across the year. Journeying to Finisterre is programmed and directed by Amy Moore, and will feature many early Spanish works alongside contemporary Australian works by Anne Cawrse, Joe Twist, and more.

From the Song Company website

7-16 March
Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra, Sydney, Blackheath*

*Other dates to be added…

Journeying to Finisterre is an evocative exploration of pilgrimage, not just across landscapes but deep within the self. Curated by Co-Artistic Director and Soprano Amy Moore, this program delves into the 12th Century Codex Calixtinus and 14th Century Libre Vermell de Montserrat—devotional manuscripts that guided pilgrims both physically and spiritually.

We trace the Camino paths to Santiago de Compostela with Spanish and Portuguese Renaissance polyphony, including Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Versa est in Luctum which echoes through time in Joseph Twist’s setting of the same text. Paul Stanhope’s Explorer’s Journal draws us deep into the natural world, and Anne Cawrse’s Pilgrim Psalms offer a contemporary reflection on spiritual journeys, the quest for inner connection and the timeless search for meaning.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

12th-century Magister Pérotin’s polyphony vs. the metal strings of The Omnific

Pérotin Beata viscera
The Omnific Kismet
The Omnific Objets de Vertu
Pérotin Viderunt omnes

Our singers join forces with the rising bass guitar duo, Matthew Fackrell & Toby Peterson-Stewart from Melbourne metal band The Omnific for a resonant mix of plainchant, dynamic basslines, and 12th-century organum. A collaboration across genres with a uniting interest in the deep resonances of vocal cords, struck strings, and powerful harmonies. A cluster of rising stars from Melbourne, The Omnific has already made a name for their unique rhythmic interplay and wordless metallic fantasias. The Omnific’s two five-string bass guitarists’ classic duo Kismet and other works are interleaved with multi-voice chanting and improvisation from the male voices of The Song Company in music from Magister Pérotin’s masterpiece Viderunt omnesand its late 12th-century inspirations, echoed by a high soprano in his most haunting of songs, Beata viscera.

Details and tickets here.

Following its performance of Passio in 2017 - The Song Company tours this masterwork of the 20th Century to Melbourne in a new collaboration with the Trinity College Choir. Andrew will again sing the role of Christus / Jesus for which he received this review: 'In the role of Jesus, Andrew O’Connor, the Song Company’s resident bass, had few words, but the scoring and his rich, even tone made every line count.' - Harriet Cunningham

Arvo Pärt’s setting of the St John Passion is a mesmerizing minimalist masterpiece – with the most concentrated of musical means Pärt communicates the depth and universal spirituality of the Passion story.

Tickets and Details: http://the.song.company/Passio/

Friday 12 April 2019 – 7.30pm | St Andrew’s, Brighton

Saturday 13 April 2019 – 2pm | Trinity College Chapel, Parkville, Melbourne

The first of two collaborations between The Song Company and St Mary’s Cathedral Choir for 2019 features the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, including Jesu Meine Freude and vocal arrangements from The Art of Fugue. For tickets and more details visit here.

Friday 29 March, 7:00pm

Sunday 31 March, 2:00pm

From the February 9 – March 2 The Song Company are touring music from The Eton Choirbook - one of the most important musical collections to survive the English Renaissance. More details can be found here and below.

Our performance tour includes Blackheath, Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, Newcastle, Brisbane, Canberra, and Wollongong.

From The Song Company website:

One of the greatest surviving glories of pre-Reformation England, The Eton Choirbook is a giant 500-year-old manuscript from the royal foundation at Eton College Chapel – a stone’s throw from Windsor Castle. This sequence of music from the Choirbook features a thrilling setting of the Magnificat, heartrending motets, the earliest polyphonic Passion by a named composer, and an extraordinary 13-part canon by the man in charge of the Choristers at Eton, Robert Wylkynson. Continuing a journey begun with the partbooks of Byrd-Round-Table and Machaut’s manuscript in True-Love-Story, we read the music of the Eton Choirbook from a beautiful Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music facsimile, all gathered around a central music stand.

Fri 24 Nov | Yellow House, Sydney | 7pm PREVIEW NIGHT
Sat 25 Nov | Blackheath Uniting Church | 3pm
Tues 28 Nov | Hobart Town Hall | 7.30pm
Wed 29 Nov | Deakin Edge, Melbourne | 7.30pm
Thurs 30 Nov | Newcastle Conservatorium | 7pm
Sat 2 Dec | St James' Church, Sydney | 7.30pm
Tue 5 Dec | Berry Uniting Church Hall | 2pm
Thurs 7 Dec | The Cathedral of St Stephen, Brisbane | 7.30pm
Sat 9 Dec | Wesley Uniting Church, Canberra | 7pm
Sun 10 Dec | Wollongong Art Gallery | 3pm

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The final program in the 2017 season The Attraction of Opposites is set within the narrative framework of mediaeval English verse, with seasonal music old and new that touches both on the joy of a young mother giving birth to the King of the Ages, and on the hard-hitting realities of exile, refugee status, and the ‘slaughter of the innocents’. The ‘Coventry Carol’ Lully, lulla is one of three songs (transcribed, arranged, or composed by Thomas Mawdycke in 1591) from the Shearmen and Tailors’ Pageant and is justly famous for its chillingly evocative tale of Herod’s rage. Woven into The Song Company’s telling of the story are new Australian and English carols, as well as a Gloria in excelsis from the first part of the 15th century with upbeat syncopations and happy harmonies that could have been written yesterday.

THEODORA
By George Frederic Handel
libretto by Thomas Morrell

Theodora was first performed 16 March 1750 at Covent Garden Theatre. 
In English with surtitles

Wednesday 30 November 2016, 7pm
Thursday 1 December 2016, 7pm
Saturday 3 December 2016, 7pm
Sunday 4 December 2016, 5pm
Tuesday 6 December 2016, 7pm

   Valda Wilson                       Theodora
   Caitlin Hulcup                      Irene
   Christopher Lowrey             Didymus
   Ed Lyon                               Septimius
   Andrew Collis                      Valens

   Cantillation                          Chorus
   Orchestra of the Antipodes

  Erin Helyard, conductor
  Lindy Hume, director
  Dan Potra, designer
  Matthew Marshall, lighting designer

Glories stream from heaven afar – a sumptuous programme of carols with Georgian, Greek, and other connections. The traditional Christmas story is not just about one transfigured night in Bethlehem, but stretches from the Annunciation some nine months earlier, to the visit of the wise men and Herod’s subsequent attempt to wipe out the rival boy-King – by then possibly a year or two old.

Arvo Pärt and John Tavener’s music is well-known for its iconic beauty; that of Ivan Moody and Artistic Director Antony Pitts also draws on the resonant solemnity of the Orthodox liturgy, while the more earthly and rousing carols bring the celebrations home.

Arvo Pärt: Magnificat
Jonathan Pitts: Hark the Herald Angels sing!
Ivan Moody: The Manger: A Carol for Christmas
Antony Pitts: O Holy of Holies
John Sheppard: Reges Tharsis
John Tavener: The Lamb
plus a seasonal selection from The Naxos Book of Carols

Blackheath Saturday 12th November, 3.00pm Blackheath Uniting Church
Newcastle Thursday 10th November, 7.00pm Christ Church Cathedral
Wollongong Sunday 6th November, 3.00pm Wollongong ART Gallery
Sydney Thursday 3rd November 7.30pm St James' Church
Sydney Sunday 13th November, 3.00pm Independent Theatre North Sydney

In 1939 Billie Holiday first sang the song Strange Fruit (actually written by a white Jewish teacher, Abel Meeropol) and brought to raw prominence the inequity of much of America's history. She was afraid to sing it, even in the integrated, welcoming environment of Café Society in New York’s Greenwich Village, and when she finished, there “wasn’t even a patter of applause.... 

Then a lone person began to clap nervously. Then suddenly everybody was clapping.” In this programme of blues, jazz, gospel, and more, The Song Company sing of the pain of alienation, and reach beyond the heartbreaking imagery of Strange Fruit to touch a place of reconciliation and healing.

Strange fruit
Motherless child
Go down, Moses
It ain’t necessarily so
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen
I’ll get by

Blackheath Saturday 8th October, 3.00pm Blackheath Uniting Church
Canberra Thursday 13th October, 6.00pm Wesley Uniting Church
Sydney Friday 7th October, 7.30pm Pier 4 The Wharf Hickson Road
Sydney Sunday 9th October, 3.00pm Independent Theatre North Sydney
Berry Wednesday 12th October, 7.00pm Berry Uniting Church

In collaboration with Hollis Taylor

Olivier Messiaen described birds as the “greatest musicians on the planet” and Hollis Taylor has followed his example in finding direct inspiration in their dazzling and ever-varied song. Her suite of dialogues with the Australian Pied Butcherbird forms the backbone of this programme ending with a piece of collaborative/participatory sound art by A.M. Self in which the audience is free to take flight...

Hollis Taylor: Pied Butcherbird Suite
Korean traditional: Sae-Ta-Ryung (Song of the Birds)
A.M. Self: I believe I can fly...
and other flights of fancy

Blackheath Saturday 6th August, 3.00pm Blackheath Uniting Church
Sydney Sunday 7th August, 3.00pm Independent Theatre North Sydney
Sydney Saturday 13th August, 3.00pm Glebe Town Hall
Berry Wednesday 10th August, 7.00pm Berry Uniting Church

In collaboration with Gary Watt

The lifetime of an individual, as outlined by William Shakespeare in As You Like It is the unfolding framework for both the familiar and the unexpected – in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s words, “the inability to predict outliers implies the inability to predict the course of history”.

Part-theatre, part-concert programme celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, A Strange Eventful History draws on the work of scholar Gary Watt on performance rhetoric for the Royal Shakespeare Company and his forthcoming Shakespeare’s Acts of Will, and on contemporary settings from The Song Company’s Call for Scores.

A selection of Shakespeare settings by Banister, Byrd, Johnson, Landsman, and Morley
Dances including:
Munday’s Joy
The Queenes Alman
La Volta
Mal Sims

Blackheath: Saturday 18th June, 3.00pm Blackheath Uniting Church
Canberra: Saturday 25th June, 6.00pm Wesley Uniting Church
Newcastle: Thursday 23rd June, 7.00pm Newcastle Conservatorium
Wollongong: Sunday 26th June, 3.00pm Wollongong ART Gallery
Sydney: Sunday 19th June, 3.00pm Independent Theatre North Sydney
Sydney: Tuesday 21st June, 7.30pm Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC
Berry: Monday 27th June, 7.00pm Berry Uniting Church

City Scapes - Elizabeth Murdoch Hall - Wednesday 18 May - 6pm

Wander through the sounds of city streets through the ages – as composed by Orlando Gibbons and Luciano Berio.

The program also includes Aaron Copland’s gritty Music for a Great City and two works inspired by Atlanta, Georgia: Jennifer Higdon’s City Scape, and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever.

Song Company perform with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

This concert is part of Metropolis New Music Festival 2016.

Presented by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Recital Centre

GO INTO THE CITY - THE SALON - Thursday 19 May - 6pm

A one-hour recital program building on The Cries of Melbourne – a newly-created collaborative work by local composers made up of street recordings from Melbourne and composed vocal cries.

Go into the City features poly-textual motets from medieval Europe juxtaposed with contemporary commentary, including political caricature from Tim Hansen’s satirical song cycle Howls from the House.

The history of composed “cries” stretches back to Clément Janequin’s Cris de Paris in the first half of the 16th century, and since then, Orlando Gibbons’ depiction of the street cries of London; in the 1970s Luciano Berio continued the tradition with his own London cries, originally written for the King’s Singers and reworked for the Swingle Singers. In this hour-long sequence (following their concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), The Song Company dig down even earlier – to a Parisian strawberry-seller in the 13th-century Montpellier Codex – and layer the brand new city textures of The Cries of Melbourne with fragments of passion, parody, riot and ruin from Paris, Tournai, Canberra, and London.

This concert is part of Metropolis New Music Festival 2016.

Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre and The Song Company

The all-Leunig Song Almanac

To ring out the old year and ring in the new, we present 12 new songs and 12 stories, one for each month.

Twelve composers, each supported by a generous donor, have created with The Song Company a new musical almanac for Australia drawing on the words and works of one our most iconic public figures, Michael Leunig.

A wry observer of life, Leunig’s cartoons, stories, poems and drawings are never less than mirthprovoking. But as much as he is a superb humourist, first and foremost he is an observer, philosopher, commentator, historian of the absurd and catalyst for free thinking.

All stories and lyrics based on Leunig. Music by Katy Abbott, Tony Backhouse, Lyle Chan, Alice Chance, Drew Crawford, Robert Davidson, Gareth Farr, Ruth McCall, Kate Moore, Lachlan Skipworth, Mark Viggiani and James Wade.

Tour Schedlue

Blue Mountains Saturday 31 Otcober, 3.00pm, Blackheath Uniting Church

Canberra Saturday 7 November, 6.00pm Wesley Uniting Church

Newcastle Thursday 5 November, 7.00pm, Newcastle Conservatorium

Wollongong Sunday 8 November, 3.00pm, Wollongong ART Gallery

Sydney City Sunday 1 November, 3.00pm, City Recital Hall Angel Place

Parramatta Tuesday 3 November, 7.30pm, Riverside Theatre Parramatta

TO PURCHASE SUBSCRIPTIONS CLICK HERE