Sydney Philharmonia Choirs continues to present audiences with programs of imagination and scope, bringing together key choral works, contemporary gems and a new Australian commission in 2019.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Photo © John Feely

The season begins in February with An Evening with Brahms, led by acclaimed English choral conductor Simon Halsey. Dispensing with orchestra, the 120-strong Symphony Chorus of the SPC will perform a rarely heard piano four-hands arrangement of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, performed by pianists Claire Howard Race and Marlowe Fitzpatrick. Soprano Emma Pearson and baritone Sam Roberts-Smith open the evening with songs and duets by the same composer, also to piano accompaniment.

SPC’s young adult choir, VOX, explores the experience of childhood in March with Wonder, conducted by its Music Director Elizabeth Scott. In keeping with their commitment to new works, the program is an entirely contemporary one, featuring composers Nigel Westlake, Karl Jenkins, James MacMillan, John Rutter, Martin Wesley-Smith and Eric Whitacre, as well as arrangements of songs by Sting and Stevie Wonder.

Next year’s Easter Saturday concert promises to be even bigger and better than in previous years, which have seen the Symphony Chorus and Chamber Singers join forces...