This December, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Brandenburg Choir rung in the holiday season with their highly anticipated annual Noël! Noël! concert series in Sydney and Melbourne, including special performances in churches for an unmissable acoustic experience. The season concluded with a series of concerts held over the weekend at the inner city Recital Hall.
The concert was a delight with its mix of traditional chamber music, rarely performed festivepieces and timeless chorales, audiences will enjoy an uplifting program featuring classic carols O Come All Ye Faithful and Stille Nacht.
Further program highlights included excerpts from Vivaldi’s choral masterpiece Gloria, one of the most popular pillars in the Baroque repertoire, and Italian composer Monteverdi’s monumental opera L’Orfeo.
Performing with the Brandenburg Choir as a featured soloist was soprano Astrid Girdis, a participant of the Brandenburg Mentorship Program and student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The Mentorship Program fosters the next generation of Baroque instrumentalists and choristers, pairing outstanding young musicians and composers with members of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.
Co-founder & Artistic Director Paul Dyer said: “Noël! Noël! is an unapologetically Australian take on a Christmas tradition that we have delighted in presenting each summer for 25 years.”
The concert ended on a high note with Dyer half directing the orchestra and choir, and the other half directing the audience as we sang along to ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’.
Photography by Keith Saunders
