Musica Viva Australia Season Brochure | 2024

The Choir of
King’s College,
Cambridge
Every year on Christmas Eve listeners around the world tune in
to hear The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge celebrate the
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in a glorious display of the
British choral tradition. Now this unique and precious sound
returns to Australia.
The Choir will perform soaring anthems and sacred works
alongside two touchstones of the choral repertoire: Stravinsky’s
Mass for choir and double wind quintet (ten of Australia’s best
instrumentalists); and Maurice Duruflé’s magnificent Requiem,
a radiant meditation on life and death for choir and organ.
It’s not all top hats and heavenly voices: just as boys grow
up and voices break, the Choir’s work evolves across the
generations. Which is why Daniel Hyde, Director since 2019,
asked us what The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge might
learn from us. Integral to their performance is a new work
commissioned from Australian composer Damian Barbeler,
working with a text by Judith Nangala Crispin (a descendent
of the Bpangerang people), which weaves a new tapestry from
the threads of history.
With special thanks to Ensemble Patrons Ian Dickson AM and Reg Holloway
for their support of this tour.
Photo by Leon Hargreaves.
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