SATURDAY 28 MAY, 7:30PM

Following its recent sell-out performance of Carmina Burana, Sydney Chamber Choir combines with the Orchestra of the Antipodes to present the second concert in its 2016 season Dixit Dominus – featuring sublime early compositions by both Handel and Bach.

Handel was just 20 years of age when he composed his choral masterpiece, Dixit Dominus, a dazzling hymn of joy and praise blending the virtuosic choral writing of his native Germany with the passion and drama of Italian opera. What an extraordinary achievement: youthful exuberance combined with outstanding musical ability!

And Bach was only 22 when he wrote Christ lag in Todesbanden, a richly solemn journey from darkness to resplendent light, exploring the mystery of life and death itself in intricate counterpoint and soaring melody.

Pēteris Vasks’ Prayer, draws on prayers of Mother Teresa in an ecstatic invocation of the power of love to overcome misery and despair. Never previously performed in Australia, it is paired with the newly commissioned Why do we exist? by popular Australian composer, Iain Grandage.

ARTISTS
Sydney Chamber Choir
Orchestra of the Antipodes
Jonathan Grieves-Smith – Conductor