Above: Artistic and Music Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Brett Weymark. Featured image: Brett Weymark conducts the Chamber Singers, Sydney Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and soloists at Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct. Photos: Keith Saunders.
To begin the 2026 season, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs served up a compelling concert of Baroque church music. Bound to please fans of traditional choir and vocal music, the programme launched this year with a loved Vivaldi work, a well-known work by Handel full of choral fireworks and an exquisite early cantata full of beautiful, inimitable text setting by JS Bach (the church cantata from 1714, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen BWV 12)
Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major RV589 is well known for its exciting opening movement. The same can be said of Handel’s Dixit Dominus (Psalm 110) HMV 232 setting. The chance to hear these favourites alone would draw a crowd of Baroque music fans.
To render these blockbusters of religious fervour and exciting Baroque word painting, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs used its smallest but agile choir, the Chamber Singers. This group of virtuoso choristers were joined by an orchestra of just thirteen early music experts and five fine soloists comfortable in Baroque gesture whether it be in opera, oratorio or church music.
The choir and orchestra were joined by an impressive duo of sopranos (Lauren Lodge-Campbell and Angela Brun) and three other much-seen and loved soloists on national stages (Hannah Fraser– mezzo soprano, Richard Butler-tenor and Andrew O’Connor-bass-baritone). This calibre of soloist added their clear storytelling and controlled colourisation of these exciting and very emotional texts to the Chamber Singers’ breathtakingly technically flawless, well-coloured interpretation – with its emphasis on depth of emotion and impact as led by Brett Weymark OAM.
Above (l to r): Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark OAM, mezzo-soprano Hannah Fraser, tenor Robert Butler and bass-baritone Andrew O’Connor. Photo: Keith Saunders.
These high-calibre Early Music forces were taken far from the air-conditioned comfort of the Sydney Opera House or historic church. This concert took place in the mid afternoon time slot at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay- not in the Neilson Nutshell or any theatre space but on the main ground level pier floor, with timber beams from floor to ceiling throughout the space and the performers on a constructed stage at the corner closest to the water.
These classics lured the audience out of their comfort zone to enjoy the integrity and excellence of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ sharing of key Baroque composers’ developing voices with us via their adept and fit vocal display.
Drama and good stories or promotion plus proclamation of faith need to make the most of shape, pace and contrast. In these works we are spoiled for extremes of all three. Movements with repetition were given the embellishment we expect from this target era- both in contrast of volume, ornamentation and articulation. This choir dazzled whenever it sang with clear hushed volume. The building of textures to very large climaxes gave results we would expect of larger forces, pleasingly resonant in the vintage timber wharf downstairs space.
Tempo choices for well-known movements such as the opening to the Vivaldi Gloria and the Dixit Dominus were very keen. The good balance of voices and instruments in this new venue and cutting-edge diction ensured the music and message did not lag in the space or by modern interpretaion of familiar, important music and liturgical or biblical moments. Polyphony plus extended filigree were safe in the minds and voices out at the edge of the wharf. Orchestra members are to be commended for the lithe tapestry provided for the words to bounce off.
Above: (l to r) Lauren Lodge-Campbell and Angela Brun. Photo: Keith Saunders.
The Vivaldi and Handel works possess moments of ecstatic praise in the Trinity, the Lord’s power and defence of all against evil to be communicated to listeners. This smaller choir reached some reverberant climaxes and soaring, clean, complex textures-as in the ‘Judicabit in nationibus’ judgement day section from the Dixit Dominus. The lilt achieved in this venue that maintained a dance-like momentum in Vivaldi’s ‘Domine Fili Unigenite’ setting and similar chorus entries showcased the interpretive skill and joy of all involved.
Bach’s cantata, bookended by the more raucous works, was unknown to myself prior to this concert. This performance cemented it as a happy new favourite of the immense canon. Its Bachian layering, as in the vocal part overlaps of the opening chorus’ word painting tempted us to grab the detailed concert programme and enjoy the Baroque shapes so well delivered here. The highly emotional text was set including the use of JS Bach’s signature soloist and instrumental pairings were great to discover as far back as BWV 12.
Hardworking oboist Aaron Reichelt and orchestra eased us into the intimate intensities of this cantata (that speaks repeatedly of Christians’ pain and that. of the crucified Christ) in a measured Sinfonia with long, well-chiselled lines. His accompaniment of Hanna Fraser’s da capo aria, which like other narratives from her in the Dixit Dominus and the ‘Domine Deus, Agnus Dei’ in the Vivladi Gloria was adroit excellence and a lesson in depth and stillness.
Above: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Chamber Singers sang in the downstairs space of Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct. Photo: Keith Saunders.
Tenor Robert Butler’s pairing with Richard Fomison’s trumpet chorale in his cantata aria ‘Sei getreu, alle Pein’ was nicely nuanced, as was his leading through chant the forces in a prelude to the Vivaldi work proper. His flexible, smooth tone was the first voice we heard in the wharf space. In the Bach cantata this tenor and trumpet discussion of faith and christian love of Christ followed Bach’s somewhat signature move of allocating these model feelings to the bass voice. The aria ‘Ich folge Christo nach’ before the tenor aria was delivered in Andrew O’Connor’s signature smooth, clear and accessible style, with excellent phrasing and a secure, relevant emotional focus.
Soprano soloists stunningly crowned the glory of the Handel work with amazing control shown to conquer the difficulties in Handel’s duet as well as solo writing . Throughout the programme this upper voice team delivered complex filigree smoothly and with impressive, inexhaustible placement of the filigree.
Joined by fellow soloists the sopranos attacked the Baroque masters’ challenging writing with apparent ease. Like the expertly varied choral moments, we heard across the works quality renditions of Baroque text setting effects from composers giving their all for the Church. The legacy of these works is well preserved here by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in a novel venue choice. Their 200-year comittment to fine concerts continues boldly to begin 2026.
