LIGHT & GOLD

THE MUSIC OF ERIC WHITACRE
LIGHT &
GOLD
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA
CHOIRS 2013 SEASON
SAT AT 30 MARCH, MAR
ARCH CH CH, 7P 77PM M
SYDNEY SY SYDNEY OPERA OP OPER ER ERAA HOUSE H OU OUSE SE S
CONCERT CO CONCE C RT HAL HALL AL ALL
FRI FR FRI I 5 APRIL, APRI RIL, L, 7PM
ST. ST ST. PATRICK’S PAT AT A RI RICK CK’S ’S CATHEDRAL CAT AT ATHE HE HEDR DR DRAL AL
PARRAMATTA PAR AR ARRA RA RAMA MA MATT TT T A

UPCOMING EVENTS WITH SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA, MARCH – APRIL
REMEMBER ME
PURCELL Dido and Aeneas
BRITTEN Five Flower Songs
EDWARDS Flower Songs
MEALOR Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers
Brett Weymark Conductor
Fiona Campbell mezzo-soprano
Anna Fraser soprano
Penelope Mills soprano
Richard Butler tenor
Tobias Cole countertenor
Alexander Knight baritone
®
CHORUSOZ
Fri 26 April 7pm
The Concourse Concert Hall
(ticketek.com.au or 1300 795 012)
Sat 27 April 2pm
Joan Sutherland
Performing Arts Centre
(jspac.com.au or 4723 7600)
Sun 28 April 5pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place
(cityrecitalhall.com or 8256 2222)
FESTIVAL CHORUS
OPEN DAY
Have you been thinking about joining a choir recently? Ever wanted to sing with
300 other singers in the Sydney Opera House?
This year our Festival Chorus Open Day will be held on Sunday 7 April, 2pm-5pm
for new applicants keen to join the Festival Chorus. A relaxed and simple voice
assessment held at our rehearsal studios (Pier 4 Hickson Road, Millers Point), the
Open Day is for those who are able to hold a melody and who have basic music
reading ability. Participants of Festival Chorus then commit to two concert programs
in 2013 including Opera’s Triple Threat and A Cole Porter Celebration Concert.
For more information and to register visit sydneyphilharmonia.com.au
Registrations close Thursday 4th April.
– BRAHMS
A GERMAN REQUIEM
ChorusOz has become an annual event for many with singers returning year after year
to sing in a weekend of music-making in the Sydney Opera House. No auditions, no
commitment, no strings attached – just one weekend of rehearsals culminating in a
grand performance of Brahms’ German Requiem with over 800 musicians!
Date: Sat 18 – Sun 19 May
For more information and to register visit sydneyphilharmonia.com.au
If you don’t want to sing but do want to see what all the fuss is about, buy a
ticket for this special event – sydneyphilharmonia.com.au or call 9251 3115
Photo: Lisa Tomasetti
Ph Phot Photo: ot oto: o: J JJacqui
Jacqu acqu cq i Dean De Dean an a

LIGHT & GOLD
THE MUSIC OF ERIC WHITACRE
Lux Aurumque VOX
3 Traditional Spirituals (Trad. arr. Moses Hogan)
Elijah Rock
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
The Battle of Jericho
Alleluia
The Seal Lullaby c Symphony Chorus
The City and the Sea c
I i walked the boulevard
II the moon is hiding in her hair
III maggie and milly and molly and may
IV as is the sea marvellous
V little man in a hurry
Higher, Faster, Stronger ac Symphony Chorus & VOX
INTERVAL
Five Hebrew Love Songs ab Symphony Chorus
I Temuná (A picture)
II Kalá kallá (Light bride)
III Lárov (Mostly)
IV Éyze shéleg! (What snow!)
V Rakút (Tenderness)
The Chelsea Carol c
A Boy and a Girl VOX
Come, Sweet Death (Music by Bach, conceived by Edwin London)
Cloudburst ac
Sleep Symphony Chorus & VOX
Conductors – Eric Whitacre (30 March)
Elizabeth Scott, Anthony Pasquill (5 April)
Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus & VOX
Synergy Percussion a
The Acacia Quartet b
Christopher Cartner piano and organ c
Saturday’s performance will be Piano for Friday’s performance has been
broadcast live across Australia serviced and provided by Theme and Variations
on Fine Music 102.5 and Piano Services, exclusive agents for
streamed on fi nemusicfm.com Steinway and Sons pianos.
Approximate durations: 50 minutes, 20-minute interval, 45 minutes – The concert will conclude at approximately 9pm.
LIGHT & GOLD 3

PROGRAMME NOTES
Lux Aurumque
After deciding upon the poem by Edward Esch
(I was immediately struck by its genuine, elegant
simplicity), I had it translated into the Latin by poet
Charles Anthony Silvestri (Tony). I tried to write
simple, ‘breathing’ gestures, gentle motions that
would allow the music to shimmer and glow.
This piece became the subject of my Virtual Choir in
2010, achieving more than a million hits in just two
months. I had played with the idea of singers from
all parts of the world coming together via the web
previously, but for Lux Aurumque I wanted to push
the concept to the next level. It was so exciting to
imagine individuals all recording their respective
voice parts in the comfort of their home or offi ce,
cutting it together to form a Virtual Choir. I recorded
a conductor track on video, fi lming it in complete
silence hearing the music only in my head. Then
I watched the video and played in the piano
accompaniment to my conductor track to be used as
a guide for the singers, for pitch and rhythm, when
fi lming their voice part. The sheet music was offered
as a free download. As singers began posting their
individual tracks, I called for ‘auditions’ for the
soprano solo. Melody Meyers from Tennessee posted
my favourite entry. My goal with this ‘chapter’ of
the Virtual Choir was to see if we could not just
sing our parts separately and cut them together;
I wanted to see if we could actually make music.
There is a lot of rubato in my conducting (slowing
4 LIGHT & GOLD
It is a huge honour to work with the wonderfully talented singers of
the Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus and VOX. To make my
conducting debut with these two fantastic choirs in the beautiful
surroundings and acoustics of the Sydney Opera House will be a truly
memorable experience. Although it is not my fi rst time in Australia,
I have long waited to return to this amazing country. I have many
fond memories of my previous visits so am absolutely thrilled to be
back here for what promises to be a magical evening of music.
Eric Whitacre
down, speeding up) and some very specifi c dynamic
gestures, and the singers responded beautifully.
When I saw the fi nished video for the fi rst time I
actually teared up. The intimacy of all the faces,
the sound of the singing, the obvious poetic
symbolism about our shared humanity and our
need to connect; all of it completely overwhelmed
me. We had singers involved from 12 different
countries. It must be said that a lot of the credit
for its beauty should go to Scott Haines, who spent
untold hours editing and polishing the video.
Alleluia
I’m not an atheist, but I’m not a Christian either, and
for my entire career I have resisted setting texts that
could be used in a liturgical context. After spending
the 2010 Michelmas term in Cambridge (Sidney
Sussex College), though, singing with Dr. David
Skinner and his marvellous Chapel Choir, I began
to see the deep wisdom in the liturgical service.
I found myself suddenly open to the history and
the beauty of the poetry, and it was the single word
Alleluia, “praise God”, that most enchanted me.
It seemed the perfect fi t for the music of my wind
symphony work October, which to me is a simple
and humble meditation on the glory of Autumn.
Alleluia was written for Dr. David Skinner and the
Sidney Sussex Chapel Choir; they premiered it in the
Sidney Sussex Chapel, Cambridge University, on
25 June, 2011.

The Seal Lullaby
In the spring of 2004 I was lucky enough to have
my show Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings
presented at the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop.
The workshop is the brainchild of legendary
composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell),
and his insights about the creative process were
profoundly helpful. He became a great mentor and
friend to the show and, I am honoured to say, to me
personally.
Soon after the workshop I received a call from a
major fi lm studio. Stephen had recommended me
to them and they wanted to know if I might be
interested in writing music for an animated feature.
I was incredibly excited, said yes, and took the
meeting.
The creative executives with whom I met explained
that the studio heads had always wanted to make
an epic adventure, a classic animated fi lm based
on Kipling’s “The White Seal”. I have always loved
animation (the early Disney fi lms; Looney Tunes;
everything Pixar makes) and I couldn’t believe that
I might get a chance to work in that grand tradition
on such great material.
“The White Seal” is a beautiful story, classic
Kipling, dark and rich and not at all condescending
to kids. Best of all, Kipling begins his tale with the
mother seal singing softly to her young pup. (The
opening poem is called The Seal Lullaby).
I was struck so deeply by those fi rst beautiful
words, and a simple, sweet Disney-esque song
just came gushing out of me. I wrote it down as
quickly as I could, had my wife record it while I
accompanied her at the piano, and then dropped it
off at the fi lm studio.
I didn’t hear anything from them for weeks and
weeks, and I began to despair. Did they hate it?
Was it too melodically complex? Did they even listen
to it? Finally, I called them, begging to know the
reason that they had rejected my tender little song.
“Oh,” said the exec, “we decided to make Kung Fu
Panda instead.”
So I didn’t do anything with it, just sang it to my
baby son every night to get him to go to sleep.
(Success rate: less than 50%.) And a few years
later the Towne Singers graciously commissioned
this arrangement of it. I’m grateful to them for
giving it a new life. And I’m especially grateful to
Stephen Schwartz, to whom the piece is dedicated.
His friendship and invaluable tutelage has meant
more to me than I could ever tell him.
The City and the Sea
The City and the Sea is a set of fi ve settings on
poems by E.E. Cummings I wrote: one for SATB
chorus and piano; and one for solo baritone and
piano.
The entire set is based on white key clusters in
the piano. I’ve started calling this the “oven-mitt”
technique, because the chords are played as if you
are wearing mitts on your hands – the four fi ngers
all bunched together and the thumb on its own.
Occasionally I break up the clusters and write the
chords as arpeggios, as in maggie and milly and
molly and may.
Higher, Faster, Stronger
I was truly honoured to be invited to write a piece
for the BBC Proms in 2012. There is such a sense
of history with the Proms. I can feel the weight
of hundreds of commissions and performances
before mine; over the years every great ensemble or
group has performed at the Proms in the incredible
Royal Albert Hall. I wanted to write a piece which
showcased the extraordinary talent of my own
professional choir, the Eric Whitacre Singers, and
the BBC Singers, while paying homage to the Proms
tradition of excellence.
The title, Higher, Faster, Stronger is derived
from the Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius.
My idea was to take the combined total of 56
singers, split them into three choirs: Higher Choir,
Faster Choir, Stronger Choir, and the audience will
get the impression that the choirs are racing and
competing throughout the piece. I collaborated
with my close friend, poet and historian, Charles
Anthony Silvestri to fi nd the perfect poetry: an
Olympic Ode from the 5th century BC by Greek poet
Pindar, translated into Latin.
Light & Gold 5
LIGHT & GOLD 5

Five Hebrew Love Songs
In the spring of 1996, my great friend (and brilliant
violinist) Friedemann Eichhorn invited me and
my girlfriend-at-the-time Hila Plitmann (a
soprano) to give a concert with him in his home
city of Speyer, Germany. We had all met that year
as students at the Juilliard School, and were
inseparable.
Because we were appearing as a band of travelling
musicians, ‘Friedy’ asked me to write a set of
‘troubadour’ songs for piano, violin and soprano.
I asked Hila (who was born and raised in Jerusalem)
to write me a few ‘postcards’ in her native tongue,
and a few days later she presented me with these
exquisite and delicate Hebrew poems. I set them
while we vacationed in a small skiing village in the
Swiss Alps, and we performed them for the fi rst
time a week later in Speyer, Hila singing, Friedy
playing violin, and I at the piano.
Each of the songs captures a moment that Hila
and I shared together: “Kala Kalla” (which means
‘light bride’) was a pun I came up with while she
was fi rst teaching me Hebrew; the bells at the
beginning of “Eyze Sheleg” are the exact pitches
that awakened us each morning in Germany as
they rang from a nearby cathedral, and we really
did see the most astonishing snowfl akes falling
from the sky.
In 2001, the University of Miami commissioned
me to adapt the songs for SATB chorus and string
quartet, which is the version presented here. These
songs are profoundly personal for me, born entirely
out of my new love for this soprano, poet, and now
my beautiful wife, Hila Plitmann.
The Chelsea Carol
The Chelsea Carol was commissioned by the Choirs
of Birmingham-Southern College, Lester Seigel,
conductor, to commemorate the 75th anniversary
of the college’s Service of Lessons and Carols.
Original Latin text by my long-time collaborator
Charles Anthony Silvestri, scored for choir and
organ, it was fi rst printed in December 2012.
6 LIGHT & GOLD
A Boy and a Girl
(Composed 2002)
For me, writing music is a very lonely experience.
The process of wrestling the notes from my heart
to my brain to the page is usually a brutal one;
only rarely does it feel as glamorous as the word
“composing” sounds. I spend huge amounts of
time researching texts, and seek to fi nd words and
poems that, to me at least, have music hidden
with the words. “A Boy and a Girl” is such a tender,
delicate, exquisite poem; I simply tried to quiet
myself as much as possible, teasing out the music
that is contained within the words to create this
piece.
I’m often asked which of my compositions is my
favourite. I don’t really have one that I love more
than the others, but I do feel that the four measures
that musically paint the text “never kissing” may
be the truest notes I’ve ever written.
Cloudburst
After a performance of Go, Lovely Rose in 1991,
Dr. Jocelyn K. Jensen approached me about
writing a piece for her High School Choir. She is
an amazing conductor, legendary for doing crazy
things on stage (choralography, lighting, costumes,
you name it), and I wanted to write something for
her that would really knock the audience out.
I had recently been given an exquisite book of
poems by Octavio Paz, and around the same
time I witnessed an actual (breathtaking) desert
cloudburst, and I guess it just all lined up. The
fi nger snapping thing (all of the singers snap their
fi ngers to simulate rain) is an old campfi re game
that I modifi ed for the work, and the thunder sheets
were giant pieces of tin we took from the side of
the school.
The piece was originally about ten minutes long,
but Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe sagely convinced me
to “tighten it up”. I did, and the piece (now a lean
eight and a half minutes) was fi nally published in
1995.

Sleep
In the winter of 1999 I was contacted by Ms. Julia
Armstrong, a lawyer and professional mezzosoprano
living in Austin, Texas. She wanted to
commission a choral work from me that would be
premiered by the Austin ProChorus (Kinley Lange,
cond.), a terrifi c chorus in which she regularly
performed.
The circumstances around the commission were
certainly memorable. She wanted to commission
the piece in memory of her parents, who had died
within weeks of each other after more than fi fty
years of marriage; and she wanted me to set her
favourite poem, Robert Frost’s immortal “Stopping
By Woods on a Snowy Evening”. I was deeply moved
by her spirit and her request, and agreed to take on
the commission.
I took my time with the piece, crafting it note by
note until I felt that it was exactly the way I wanted
it. The poem is perfect, truly a gem, and my general
approach was to try to get out of the way of the
words and let them work their magic. We premiered
the piece in Austin, October 2000, and the piece
was well received. Rene Clausen gave it a glorious
performance at the ACDA National Convention in
the spring of 2001, and soon after I began receiving
letters, emails, and phone calls from conductors
trying to get a hold of the work.
And here was my tragic mistake: I never secured
permission to use the poem. Robert Frost’s
poetry has been under tight control from his estate
since his death, and until a few years ago only
Randall Thompson (Frostiana) had been given
permission to set his poetry. In 1997, out of the
blue, the estate released a number of titles, and
at least twenty composers set and published
“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” for
chorus. When I looked online and saw all of these
new and different settings, I naturally (and naively)
assumed that it was open to anyone. Little did
I know that the Robert Frost Estate had shut
down ANY use of the poem just months before,
ostensibly because of this plethora of new settings.
After a LONG legal battle (many letters, many
representatives), the estate of Robert Frost and
their publisher, Henry Holt Inc., sternly and formally
forbade me from using the poem for publication or
performance until the poem became public domain
in 2038.
I was crushed. The piece was dead, and would
sit under my bed for the next 37 years because
of some ridiculous ruling by heirs and lawyers.
After many discussions with my wife, I decided
that I would ask my friend and brilliant poet
Charles Anthony Silvestri (“Leonardo Dreams of
His Flying Machine”, Lux Aurumque, Nox Aurumque,
“Her Sacred Spirit Soars”) to set new words to the
music I had already written. This was an enormous
task, because I was asking him to not only write
a poem that had the exact structure of the Frost,
but that would even incorporate key words from
“Stopping”, like “sleep”. Tony wrote an absolutely
exquisite poem, fi nding a completely different
(but equally beautiful) message in the music I
had already written. I actually prefer Tony’s poem
now…And there it is. My setting of Robert Frost’s
“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” no longer
exists. And I won’t use that poem ever again, not
even when it becomes public domain in 2038.
Program notes © Eric Whitacre 2013
www.ericwhitacre.com
For all enquiries regarding Eric Whitacre please
contact:
Claire Long, Manager, Eric Whitacre
claire@musicprods.co.uk
Rose Donmall, Administrator, Eric Whitacre
rose@musicprods.co.uk
Rebecca Sparkes, Concerts and Tours Manager
rebecca@musicprods.co.uk
Celeste Collis, Administrator
celeste@musicprods.co.uk
Music Productions Ltd.
Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iver Heath,
Bucks, SL0 0NH
+44 (0) 1753 783 739 | claire@musicprods.co.uk
LIGHT & GOLD 7

ERIC WHITACRE
Eric Whitacre is a Grammyaward
winning pioneer of
21st century composition who
has a rare talent, combining
originality with popularity.
The innovation that he
has brought to the music
world through his groundbreaking
Virtual Choirs has
captured the imagination of
millions worldwide, as well as visionaries in the digital
space. He is one of the most performed composers of our
time, a distinguished conductor, broadcaster and public
speaker with a wide spectrum of media and corporate
engagements across the globe. A versatile composer,
Eric has written for the London Symphony Orchestra and
Chorus, BBC Proms, Chanticleer, Julian Lloyd Webber
and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Berlin Rundfunkchor
and he co-wrote the “Mermaid Theme” for Pirates of the
Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with legendary fi lm composer,
Hans Zimmer. An exceptional orator, Eric was honoured to
address the UN Leaders programme and the revered TED
conference in Long Beach CA where he earned the fi rst full
standing ovation of the event. He has addressed audiences
worldwide, including leading universities, The Economist
and Seoul Digital Forum. In October 2012, Eric presented
his Virtual Choir at the Founders conference alongside a
discussion with Jawed Karim, co-founder of YouTube. Eric
addressed the World Economic Forum, Davos, in January
2013 and will return to Davos by invitation in 2014. On
1 March 2013, he presented the fi rst “live” Virtual Choir at
TED (Long Beach, CA) singing Cloudburst.
Eric Whitacre is Composer in Residence at Cambridge
University, UK.
ELIZABETH SCOTT Elizabeth Scott graduated
from the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music
in 1995 as a fl ute major
having earned the prestigious
Student of the Year Award
and the Reuben F. Scarf
Scholarship for academic
and musical excellence.
As the holder of scholarships
from the Hungarian Ministry of Education, she then
completed post-graduate studies in choral conducting,
vocal performance and aural training in Hungary and
Germany before returning to Australia in 2004.
Elizabeth was the Assistant Chorus Master to Sydney
Philharmonia Choirs from 2006 to 2008 and has been
8 LIGHT & GOLD
the Musical Director of Vox, Sydney Philharmonia’s youth
choir since 2008. Currently Acting Music Director of Sydney
Philharmonia, she is also Associate Conductor of Sydney
Chamber Choir and is also in demand as a guest choral
director for ensembles including Gondwana Choirs, Coro
Innominata, Macquarie University Singers, and Orpheus
Choral Music. Elizabeth is currently Music Performance
Projects Offi cer at The Arts Unit, a specialist branch of
the Department of Education and Communities and is the
Director of Vocal and Choral Studies at the Conservatorium
High School. Since 2007, Elizabeth has been part of
Symphony Australia’s Conductor Development Program
and in 2008 was awarded the Sydney Choral Symposium
Foundation Choral Conducting Scholarship.
Elizabeth sings regularly with Cantillation and has performed
and recorded with Pinchgut Opera and The Song Company.
ANTHONY PASQUILL
A pianist, clarinettist and
singer by training, Anthony
began his musical education
at Lichfield Cathedral where
he was head chorister under
the guidance of Andrew
Lumsden and graduated with
a BMus from Leeds University
after spending a year abroad
at the University of North
Texas studying contemporary clarinet performance. He
has just completed his MMus in conducting at the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music and currently works in the music
departments of The King’s School and Wenona Girls School.
Anthony is currently the Assistant Chorusmaster of Sydney
Philharmonia Choirs and Musical Director of Sydney-based
chamber choir Bel a cappella. Recent engagements include
preparing Rachmaninov’s Vespers, the Australian premiere
of Rautavaara’s Missa, Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades,
Britten’s St Nicolas and both Handel’s Semele and works
by Ligeti as part of the 2013 Sydney Festival, both to
critical acclaim with Sydney Philharmonia, and Howells’
Requiem, Britten’s A Boy Was Born and Australian
premieres of Dyson’s Hierusalem and Vasks’ Missa with
Bel a cappella.
Other 2013 engagements include preparing for
performances with David Robertson (Wagner’s Der fl iegende
Holländer and Verdi’s Messa di Requiem) and Vladimir
Ashkenazy (War Requiem) as well as other concerts with
the Sydney Symphony.
With Bel a cappella he will be conducting Britten’s Sacred
and Profane as well as Gabriel Jackson’s Edinburgh Mass,
Frank Martin’s Mass and both secular and sacred works
by 20th century composers from Estonia, Latvia, Sweden
and Finland.

Photo: Karen Steains
SYNERGY PERCUSSION
Timothy Constable, Bree van Reyk, Joshua Hill,
William Jackson percussion
“Synergy is the fi nest contemporary music group in
Australia, and I am proud to be associated with it.” –
Peter Sculthorpe, 2008
Synergy is a world of sound with percussion at its
heart. The group continues a journey which began 39
years ago, touching audiences with the beauty and
expressive diversity of percussion today. With an enviable
international reputation as one of Australia’s fi nest and
most versatile music projects, Synergy has performed at
festivals throughout Europe, Asia and the United States,
as well as most of Australia’s mainstage recital and
performance venues. Core members – Timothy Constable,
Bree van Reyk and Joshua Hill are all award-winning and
internationally acclaimed exponents of new music in their
own right.
ACACIA QUARTET
Lisa Stewart, Myee Clohessy violins, Stefan Duwe viola,
Anna Martin-Scrase cello
The Acacia Quartet is comprised of four remarkable
musicians: Lisa Stewart and Myee Clohessy (violins),
Stefan Duwe (viola) and Anna Martin-Scrase (cello). Their
diverse careers led them to play in chamber ensembles
and orchestras the world over before forming the Acacia
Quartet in 2010.
Their performances couple established repertoire with the
unorthodox and have notably included debut performances
of contemporary compositions. In the short time the group
has been together, they have collaborated with acclaimed
soprano Jane Sheldon, bassoonist Kim Walker, singer
songwriter Katie Noonan, vocal ensemble Halcyon and
composers Elena Kats-Chernin, Gordon Kerry and Lyle
Chan.
The Acacia Quartet developed a special relationship with
Elena Kats-Chernin when she heard them play her music
in 2011. Kats-Chernin’s invitation to record her complete
work for string quartet resulted in the world-premiere
recording made in the presence of the composer.
Two recordings have been released so far by the Acacia
Quartet: Blue Silence, the double CD with the complete
string quartets by Elena Kats-Chernin and North + South,
10 folk songs with Jane Sheldon and Genevieve Lang.
Fast Blue Village, the fi rst volume of Blue Silence, received
a 4½ star review and Editor’s Choice selection in the July
2012 edition of Limelight Magazine. Blue Silence was
recently featured as ABC Classic FM’s CD Of The Week in
February 2013.
CHRISTOPHER CARTNER
Chris Cartner was still a teenager when he was appointed
Organ Scholar at Rochester Cathedral in the UK. He went
on to graduate in classical piano performance at Trinity
College of Music in London, before completing his training
under the expert guidance of concert pianist Professor
Matthijs Verschoor at the Amsterdam Conservatoire in
Holland. After a period as repetiteur with British Youth
Opera, Chris became a much sought-after musician on
the busy London circuit, embarking on a huge array of
different musical projects. Since this time he has worked
as solo pianist, accompanist, chamber musician and
musical director in various parts of the world, and in
particular completed several hundred recital programmes
in the British and Dutch capitals.
Since coming to Australia early in 2008, Chris has
been increasingly involved in the arts industry in
Sydney, working with most of the nation’s major arts
organisations. He is currently pianist with Opera Australia,
Sydney Philharmonia and Sydney Chamber Choir amongst
others, and has a busy diary of concert engagements.
LIGHT & GOLD 9

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS
Music Director Brett Weymark
Acting Music Director & Music Director: VOX Elizabeth Scott
Assistant Chorus Master Anthony Pasquill
Rehearsal Pianists Josephine Allan, Luke Byrne, Christopher Cartner, Michael Curtain
SYMPHONY CHORUS
SOPRANOS
Jacqui Binetsky†
Georgina Bitcon
Anne Blake
Nikki Bogard
Anne Cook
Rouna Daley
Catherine De Luca
Shamistha De Soysa*
Soline Epain-Marzac
Rachel Evans
Belinda Griffi ths
Caroline Gude
Rychelle Kiely
Karolina Kulczynska
Yvette Leonard
Athena Lill
Carolyn Lowry
Lyanne Macfarlane
Bernadette Mitchell
VOX
SOPRANOS
Ria Andriani
Olivia Bandler-
Llewellyn
Anita Burkart
Victoria Campbell
Charlotte Campbell
Jeongyoon (Ashley)
Choi
Charmaine Cusack
Vanessa Ede
Joanna Forbes
Meredith Harrison-
Brown
Emi Haskell
Ellen Hopper
Genevra Howard
Clare Kenny†
Yi-Hsia Koh
10 LIGHT & GOLD
Sarah Parker
Dympna Paterson
Allison Rowlands
Elna Schonfeldt
Meg Shaw
Rachel Sibley
Sarah Thompson
Sara Watts
Jacqui Wilkins
ALTOS
Amanda Baird
Mallika Bender
Jan Borrie
Heather Burnett
Michelle (Nien-Hung)
Chou
Kate Clowes
Alison Dutton
Ruth Edenborough
Alexandra Little
Georgia Melville†
Amelia Myers
Quan Quan Phua
Amanda Ramos
Clare Richards†
Maya Schwenke
Kaila Sercombe
Alex Siegers†
Kimberley Stuart
Simone Toldi
Stephanie Vierboom
ALTOS
Maddy Carr
Ananya Chakravorty
Erin Chapman
Misha Christian
Helen Esmond
Jessica Farrell
Phoebe Ferguson
Linda Gerryts
Jennifer Gillman
Kathryn Harwood
Margaret Hofman
Pia Kostiainen
Rachel Maiden
Donna McIntosh
Maggie McKelvey
Tijana Miljovska
Penelope Morris
Susie North
Helen Pedersen
Jan Shaw
Natasja Stu
Melvin Tan
Robyn Tupman
Isabel Colman
Naomi Cooper
Emma Hancock
Edwina Howes
Johanna Knoechel
Sarah McGrath
Mia Miller
Liane Papantoniou†
Christine Polec
Olivia Robinson
Hannah Shanks
Alexandra Stuart-Watt
Chela Weitzel
Lia Weitzel
Brigitte Wirfl er
Jaimie Wolbers
Priscilla Yuen
TENORS
Matthew Allchurch
Simon Cadwallader
Daniel Comarmond
Denys Gillespie *
Steven Hankey
Jude Holdsworth
Ben Hurley
Michael Kertesz
Selwyn Lemos
Frank Maio
Juan Martin
Marangoni
Mark Meehan
Martin Stebbings
TENORS
Xander Bird
Lanhowe Chen
Cody Christopher
Blade Fuller
Shaun Gessler
Todd Hawken
Fenn Idle
Neil Lazo
Matthew Lennon
Paul Mai
Jarred Mattes
Jack Pengelly
Ben Wirfl er
Shaun Young
BASSES
Julian Coghlan
Philip Crenigan *
Graham Dick
Tom Forrester-Paton
Eric Hansen
David Jacobs
Timothy Jenkins
Ian Pettener
Peter Poole
Michael Ryan
Jannie Van Deventer
Robert Williams
Arthur Winckler
David Wood
BASSES
Timothy Bennett
Dominic Blake
Gabe Fischer
Isaias Sirur Flores
Jack Garner
Zac Gough
Alex Li-Kim-Mui
Sebastian Lush†
Samuel Merrick
Sean Moloney
Michael Nolan
Theo Small
Ryan Wiblin
Stephen Young
* Section Leader † Solo

12 LIGHT & GOLD
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA
CHOIRS – WHO WE ARE
General Manager Atul Joshi
Music Director Brett Weymark
Acting Music Director & Music Director: VOX Elizabeth Scott
Assistant Chorus Master Anthony Pasquill
Operations Manager Jenna Mathie
Choirs Manager Mark Robinson
Development Manager Lisa Parragi
Administration Assistant Thomas Chiu
Accounts Darela Kurtovic
PATRONS & BOARD
PATRON
Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO
Governor of NSW
VICE PATRONS
Lauris Elms AM OBE Hon D. Mus (Syd)
Sir David Willcocks CBE MC
BOARD
Sara Watts (Chairman)
Jacqui Wilkins (President) | Vesna Hatezic (Vice-President)
Andrea Hoole (Treasurer)
Simon Boileau, Ian Davies, Ruth Edenborough,
Hannah Mason
SUPPORTED BY
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs gratefully acknowledges
fi nancial assistance and support from:
The Commonwealth Government through the
Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The NSW Government throungh the
Department of Trade & Investment
Arts NSW
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs also thanks the following
for their generous co-operation and assistance:
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA LTD.
Pier 4 Hickson Road, Millers Point NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9251 2024 Fax (02) 9251 2117
www.sydneyphilharmonia.com.au

SUPPORT
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA
CHOIRS
THE POWER OF SINGING
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs has championed the
exhilarating power of the human voice in Australia
for almost 100 years. This makes us Australia’s
oldest performing arts organisation and one of the
oldest community participation groups. Over that
time, we have impacted on and empowered tens of
thousands of Australians through the communal
activity of singing together and have kept a strong
choral tradition alive for new generations.
We are looking towards our 100th anniversary in
2020, and need your support to enable us to really
celebrate our centenary through an expanded range
of activities, commissions, and performances
which are beyond our usual scale and scope. To
realise this vision, and to ensure that our traditions
exist for the next hundred years, we need your
help in assisting young people to be the future
singers, composers, conductors and audiences of
tomorrow.
Don’t hesitate to contact us directly for further
information or to discuss your interest in
supporting the work that we do now or in the future.
Your donation to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs will
help guarantee that great choral music remains
at the heart of cultural life in Sydney and
Australia.
Contact Lisa Parragi
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
Pier 4 Hickson Road
MILLERS POINT NSW 2000
Phone: 02 9251 2024
Email: lisa@sydneyphilharmonia.com.au
www.sydneyphilharmonia.com.au
LIGHT & GOLD 13

DONORS
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs warmly thanks all our generous donors and supporters. Your
contributions ensure that we are able to continue developing the choral tradition in Australia.
Donations $2 and above to Sydney Philharmonia Limited are tax deductible and donations of
$100 and above are listed in our programmes and on our website
$10,000+
Mr Robert Albert
Estate of the late
Ruth Jurd
$5000–$9999
Ars Musica Australis
Mr Michael Crouch
Mr John Lamble
Anonymous x 2
$2500–$4999
Mrs Christine Bishop
Mr Simon Boileau
Mr J.D.O. Burns
Ms Ruth Edenborough
Foster Raffan Pty Ltd
Mr Cecil Grivas
$1000–$2499
Mr Michael Ahrens
Mr David & Mrs Halina
Brett
Prof. Edmund Campion
Mr Robert Clark
Ms Jennifer Cook
Mr James P. Cox
Mr Philip Crenigan
Ms Elizabeth Donati
Mr Eric Hansen
Ms Despina Kallinikos
Mrs W.G. Keighley
Mrs Christine
Kenworthy
The Macquarie Group
Foundation
Mary Mortimer &
Donald Denoon
The Hon. Barry &
Mrs Janette O’Keefe
Ms Lindsay Paget-Cooke
Patricia H. Reid
Endowment Fund
Ms Jacqueline Rowlands
14 LIGHT & GOLD
Ms Sara Watts
Mr Anthony Whelan
Anonymous x 3
$500–$999
M.J. Brodribb & C. Draper
Colleen & Michael
Chesterman
Julian Coghlan & Andrea
Beattie
Mr Denys & Mrs Jenny
Gillespie
Mr Warren Green
Mr Robert Green
Mrs Audrey Harry
Ms Vesna Hatezic
Ms Andrea Hoole
Mr David Jacobs
Dr Veronica Lambert
Mr KJ Martin
Ms Marsha Milliken
Ms Beverley Price
Mr Mark Sheldon
Dr Agnes Sinclair
Mrs Rayner Soothill
Judge Robyn Tupman
Ms Kay Vernon
Hon. Justice Anthony
Whealy
Ms Louisa Wright
Anonymous x 2
$100–$499
Mr David Allen
Ms Oon Ja Bae
Dr Duncan Bassett
Jane Beeby
Mr Brian Beech
Dr Richard M. Bibby
Ms Rhonda Black
Mrs Norma Blackwood
Ninette Boothroyd
Ms Lea Bouganim
Ms Kate Bowen-Jones
Mrs Sue Bowring
E. Bradhurst
Mrs Patricia Bradley
Mrs Pamela Bray
Canberra Choral Society
Miss Margaret Coleman
Mrs Mavis Cooney
Mr Paul Couvret
Mr Charles Curran &
Mrs Eva Curran
Mrs Rosa Dai
Mr Ian Davies
Ms Erna de Vries
Gail Edinborough
Dr Beverley Firth
Lynne Frolich
Ms Eleonore Fuchter
Ms Susan Gordon
Ms Dallas Griffi n
Alison & David Gyger
Mrs Kathleen P. Hamilton
Ms Deborah Henville
Ms Sally Hopkins
Mrs Patricia Howes
Mr Alistair Johnston
John & Joan Jones
Mrs Merle Jones
Keola Pty. Ltd.
Mrs Lilly Krienbuhl
Ms Stephanie Lang
Ms Penny Le Couteur
Dr Carolyn Lowry OAM
Mrs Elizabeth Mackinnon
Ms Louise Marsden
Mr Paul Marx
Ms Soline Marzac
Mr Lauchlan McIntosh
Ms Alison McIntyre
Mr Duncan McKay
Ms Susan Melick
Mr Jeffrey Mellefont
Mrs Jane Mezzina
Mr Dimitry Moraitis
Morestone Management
Solutions
Mrs Patricia O’Dea
Ms Kathleen Oakley
Mr Paul Ovnerud-Potter
Mrs Margaret Partridge
Ms Dianne Peters
Ms Susan Ping Kee
Mr Chris Raper
Mrs Jenny Raper
Mrs Ruth Redgrave
Ms Georgia Rivers
Mrs Jeanne Robertson
Ms Margaret Shaw
Mr Allen Sibley
Dr William E. Smith
Fiona Spence
Mrs Margaret Symes
Ms Helen Thompson
Mrs Susan Tooker
Mr & Mrs Larry Turner
Mr Peter Warren
Ms Barbara Weissfl og
Ms Jacqui Wilkins
Mr Alban Wong-Too-Tuen
Ms Jocelyn Woodhouse
Anonymous x 13
For further information about how you can support Sydney Philharmonia Choirs,
please contact Lisa Parragi, Development Manager on 9251 2024 or
lisa@sydneyphilharmonia.com.au

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
TRUST
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Bennelong Point
GPO Box 4274, Sydney NSW 2001
Administration (02) 9250 7111
Box Offi ce (02) 9250 7777
Facsimile (02) 9250 7666
Website sydneyoperahouse.com
Mr Kim Williams AM [Chair]
Ms Catherine Brenner
The Hon Helen Coonan
Mr Wesley Enoch
Ms Renata Kaldor AO
Mr Robert Leece AM RFD
Mr Peter Mason AM
Dr Thomas Parry AM
Mr Leo Schofi eld AM
Mr John Symond AM
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL
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SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS 2013 SEASON
VOICES
IN MOTION
REMEMBER ME – APR 26, 27, 28
Fiona Campbell sings Dido in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas
CHORUSOZ – 19 MAY
Brahms’ German Requiem with Celeste Lazarenko & Samuel Dundas
OPERA’S TRIPLE THREAT – JUN 8 & 9
Verdi, Wagner and Britten featuring Cheryl Barker and Stuart Skelton
ARCHITECTURE OF SOUND – AUG 24 & 25
Baroque & new music with saxophonist Michael Duke
A COLE PORTER CELEBRATION CONCERT – SEP 19, 21
Just one word: de-lovely!
TRACING TIME – OCT 25, 26, 27
Vocal transformations with Paul Capsis, Genevieve Lacey,
Kirsty McCahon and Marshall McGuire
MESSIAH – DEC 12, 14, 15
The return of Handel’s masterpiece with Miriam Allan,
Sally-Ann Russell, Andrew Goodwin and Peter Coleman-Wright
GET MORE INFO AND BOOK AT
WWW.SYDNEYPHILHARMONIA.COM.AU
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is supported by
the NSW Government through Arts NSW and the
Australian Government through the Australia
Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
STILL AVAILABLE!
4 CONCERTS
FROM $104
SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS PIER 4, HICKSON ROAD, MILLERS POINT NSW 2000
T (02) 9251 2024 F (02) 9251 2117 W WWW.SYDNEYPHILHARMONIA.COM.AU
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Photo: Lisa Tomasetti