Song Company pushing the boundaries of choral music in 2019

Why is The Song Company's 2019 season titled Above Beyond?

The vocal ensemble's artistic director, Antony Pitts, says it is because "we're trying to push past some of the normal boundaries of what we do in terms of collaboration and the scale of things".

The repertoire in 2019 spans more than 1000 years and includes melodic 1980s pop, a collaboration with metal band The Omnific, 19 new Australian a cappella compositions and the music of the Eton Choirbook.

The last of those will form the basis of the first concert to come to Canberra. Treble Helix Unlocked (Wesley Uniting Church, Friday, March 1, 7.30pm) presents music from the turn of the 16th century with the singers standing around to read the vocal lines from a facsimile of the 500-year-old Eton Choirbook which comes from the royal froundation Eton Chapel. The program includes a setting of the Magnificat by William, Monk of Stratford and Richard Davy's setting of the St Matthew Passion, the earliest polyphonic version by a named composer.

"It's glorious early Renaissance polyphony," Pitts says.

There is also a 13-part canon, Jesus autem transiens, by Robert Wylkynson, who is in charge of the choristers of Eton.

Combining an old genre with a much newer one is the basis of Power Chords Attached (The Street Theatre, Saturday, May 11, 7.30pm).

"It's an unusual collaboration [with] two young bass guitarists from Melbourne," Pitts says.

Matt Fackrell and Toby Peterson-Stewart are members of the melodic metal band The Omnific and their playing will be alongside plainchant and 12th century organum from Paris. Pitts went to one of their gigs and says, "I was impressed by their sheer musicality."

He adds, "We'll create new music together."

Mind Over Matter (The Street Theatre, Friday, August 23, 7.30pm) is a chamber opera written by Pitts about two lifts and a computer virus. It will be performed by five singers, two speakers, and four hands at one piano.

It harks back to pop music of the 1980s and '90s and Pitts says "There are a lot of tunes and catchy harmonies". The program will begin and end with arrangements of some classic hits including Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out.

Finally, Nineteen to the Dozen (Wesley Uniting Church, Friday, October 25, 7.30pm is "a contemporary tapestry of new commissions from 19 Australian composers".

"There's also music from about the last 1000 years, from all over the place."

The commissioned composers include Canberra's Dan Walker as well as Alice Chance and Chris Williams, among others. They were asked to fill a segment of time with sounds that draw on the heritage of The Song Company’s first 35 years and also look forward to its future.

Their pieces will be stitched together and have two things in common: they are all a cappella and there are no words.

"It's noises, sounds, and harmonies the human voice can make."

Commissions from Australian composers playlisted against miniature masterpieces from each of the last 12 centuries.

Pitts says “I start with the beauty of the music and the power of the story. I aim to give audiences of all backgrounds a way into understanding and enjoying musical worlds that may be far from their cultural comfort zone.

"Above Beyond is our next exciting step in The Song Company’s quest to rejuvenate and empower the Australian vocal landscape, by finding the alchemy between some of our finest national singers and composers, and shaking it up with the unexpected.”