Cambridge choirs to perform in Canberra

A divine harmony of young voices to warm a cold Canberra winter: Two acclaimed choirs from Cambridge will bring a feast of music both old and new to Canberra.

The 24 members of Christ's College choir with their conductor, David Rowland, began their extensive tour with a concert at Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, on June 29 and will give one or two concerts almost every day until the tour finishes at St Peter's Church in Melbourne on July 14. With such a schedule it's fortunate the choristers are young and fit and find their program of morning travel, some afternoon leisure before rehearsal and an evening concert, manageable. On this self-funded tour they are hosted by parish families. "It's really nice to be staying in houses," Maisie Hulbert, one of the choristers, says. She is one of the six sopranos who together with five altos, five tenors and six basses make up the choir. Two organ scholars and the conductor complete the group.

This is a middle-commitment choir which means that at home in England they perform three times a week, rather than every day as do some choirs, such as the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. They sing two evensongs a week in their college chapel and also in top London venues such as St Martin-in-the-Fields and St John's, Smith Square, as well as giving concerts in a number of English Heritage houses.

"The Chapel is the most central part of choir routine," Hulbert says, "but two of my favourite concerts have been performing Mozart's Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields and a carol concert at St John's, Smith Square. We'll have copies of our latest CD, Christmas from Christ's, which was released in November last year, for sale at our Canberra concerts."

David Rowland toured to Canberra as conductor with a choir from Christ's College in July 2011. "He's brilliant," Hulbert says. "He's been with the choir for 32 years, but of course there's a new student intake every year so the singers change every year. He chooses who will sing solos at each concert and we take turns. I'll be the soloist in the Leighton work, A hymn of the nativity, that will be in our first Canberra concert."

The Sunday concert will be made up of works by British composers: Gibbons, Parry, Howells, Leighton and Walton.

"The two short Walton pieces, A Litany and Set me as a seal, have really interesting harmonic language, "Hulbert says, "and the Leighton is a Christmas piece beginning with quite an extensive soprano solo. Howells' Requiem has a mixture of English and Latin text and is a very emotionally charged piece.

"The Monday concert is mainly European music by Durufle, Saint-Saens, Poulenc, Faure and Rheinberger but there are also pieces by Tallis, Purcell and two pieces by Britten."

It was almost six years ago that Stephen Layton, widely recognised for his passion for choral music, last brought a choir from Trinity College, Cambridge, to Australia.

"Given the wonderful cities and venues we will be performing in over the three weeks we are in Australia I would love to come back every year," Layton says "(but) the challenge of a tour of this length is the logistics of flying a large group with so many flights between cities.. We are delighted to be a part of Musica Viva International Concert Season and hope we can come again soon!"

This choir is a mixed choir of 30 fresh young voices and has the accolade of being named the fifth best choir in the world by Gramophone magazine. Similarly to Christ's College Choir only some of the choristers study music but specialise in a range of subjects and the choir changes every year. "Usually about 10 people leave at the end of each academic year and are replaced by new students at the start of their Cambridge studies," Layton says.

For the Canberra program Layton has chosen a mix of the old and the new.

"It consists of music for which both I and the Trinity College Choir are associated: the music has either been written for me or for the Choir ... music that we want to bring to a wider audience. I feel it is important to share the great tradition of which we are fortunate to be a part, but also to continue to celebrate new choral music, given the quality of music being written around the world," he says.

Of the two newest works one, Hymn of Ancient Lands, has been commissioned for Musica Viva by Mary and Paul Pollard from a very young Australian composer, Joe Twist; the other, The Wings of the Wind, has been commissioned from Trinity College Choir's own Senior Organ Scholar, Owain Park. "(The fact that Park) was signed by Novello for publication at the end of his first year of undergraduate study gives you some idea of the high regard he is held in," Layton says.

"The majority of the program is a cappella for this particular concert but we are also bringing with us two stalwarts on the English Choral Tradition with organ: Elgar Give unto the Lord and Howells Te Deum (Collegium Regale).

Layton's high regard for the music of Finland and the Baltic States is reflected by his choice of Rautavaara's Evening Hymn and Ekteniya, Estonian composer Arvo Part's Bogoroditse Djevo and Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds' The Heavens' Flock. There are also works by Byrd, Tallis and Purcell and O sacrum convivium, a piece by American composer Steven Stucky who died in February this year.

Layton says his favourite piece is the Messe by Frank Martin – "a piece I have known and sung since childhood and is therefore deep in my consciousness. I have had the opportunity to work from the manuscript score which is another reason I feel such an affinity with this piece."

What is it that makes the Choir of Trinity College so outstanding?

"It's the commitment of the young people who are at a turning point in their lives and who dedicate their energies and focus to the choir," Layton says. "It helps that the students are, at this stage of life, for the most part making music without the worries of an economic world. There is the freedom of young, developing musicians to communicate with listeners."