INFORMATION & PROGRAM DETAILS
WHEN: | Saturday 20 May 2023 at 4PM (AEST). Duration: approx. 70 minutes (no interval). |
WHERE: | Church of All Nations, 180 Palmerston Street, Carlton VIC 3052. Google Map. |
LIVE STREAM: | Available for this event (purchase a Livestream ticket via the LOOK & LISTEN page to receive the link). All livestream viewing purchases will benefit the Scrub Choir and Music Therapy at Royal Melbourne Hospital. |
TICKETS: | |
PARKING: | Limited street parking in the area but there are two parking garages nearby. Click on links to see rates: Lygon Street Shopping Centre (entry: 333 Drummond Street). Elgin St Care Park, 215 Elgin St. Enter via Jimmy Watson Lane off Elgin St, near the corner of Lygon St. |
ABOUT THE CONCERT: The inaugural "Concert for a Cause" pays tribute to Essential Workers in health care, especially those who have worked at the 'coal face' throughout the Covid pandemic. Proceeds raised will benefit the work of our very special guests, the internationally renowned SCRUB CHOIR, Royal Melbourne Hospital Music Therapy, founded in 2020 and directed by Dr Emma O'Brien OAM. [Read more about the instigation of Scrub Choir HERE]. The two choirs will perform separately and together, presenting an eclectic program of classical, folk and pop/rock music, addressing central themes of healing, mourning, love, compassion, friendship, gratitude, triumph and joy!
Program details are below on this webpage.[Coming soon: Download the program]
Note: this blog page is formatted for computer rather than phone screen.
FEATURED ARTISTS
THE TUDOR CHORISTERS
Conductor: Dr Kathleen McGuire, Music Director
Piano: Janette Patton, and Rehearsal Accompanist
David Carolane OAM Choralship Awardee 2023: Ruby Mansell
SPECIAL GUESTS
Founder and Director: Dr Emma O'Brien OAM.
Choir members will include:
Dr Ben Sutu
Greg Humble (psychologist)
Ruth Prosser (Finance)
Sarah Robertson (Head Radiographer)
PROGRAM
Acknowledgement of Country: Associate Professor Melissa Laird
Tudor Choristers | Dr Kathleen McGuire, Music Director | Janette Patton, Piano
Factum est silentium (1618) music by Richard Dering (c.1580–1630) edited by Kathleen McGuire (2023). Text: Apocalypse 8:1, 12:7, 5:11.
Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|
Factum est silentium in caelo, Dum committeret bellum draco cum Michaele Archangelo. Audita est vox millia millium dicentium: Salus, honor et virtus omnipotenti Deo. Millia millium minestrabant ei et decies centena millia assistebant ei. Alleluia. | There was silence in heaven While the Archangel Michael fought against the dragon. The sound of thousands of voices were heard, saying: Salvation, honour and power be to invincible God. Thousands assisted him and millions worshipped him. Alleluia. |
Let my love be heard (2014) music by Jake Runestad (20 May 1986 - )
Words from "A prayer" by English poet Alfred Noyes CBE (1880 - 1958)
Angels, where you soar
Up to God’s own light
Take my own lost bird
On your hearts tonight;
And as grief once more
Mounts to heaven and sings
Let my love be heard
Whispering in your wings
The water is wide - traditional Scottish folk song, arranged by Adriano Secco (2007)
Words, based on O waly waly (wail, wail):
The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
And neither have I wings to fly
O, go and get a little boat
To carry o'er my true love and I.
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking he was a trusty tree
But first he bent and then he broke
So did my love prove false to me.
There is a ship, she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not so deep as in love I am,
I know not if I sink or swim.
Oh love is warm when it is new,
And love is sweet when it is true,
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew.
Ubi caritas et amor (2000) music by Morten Lauridsen (February 27, 1943 - )
Notes about the text: Before the liturgy reform of Vatican II, this was the eighth (and final) antiphon for the rite of the Washing of the Feet on Maundy Thursday (= Holy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter). Antiphon, Mode 6, in the Liber Usualis, p. 675. Nowadays it is the offertorium on Maundy Thursday (Graduale Triplex, p.168). The original hymn was very long; only three verses are used in the rite [and Lauridesen has set only two of the verses]. Its author is unknown, though the hymn is thought to have been written in France in the 10th century. (From CPDL, accessed 6 May 2023).
Latin text | English translation |
|---|---|
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur. Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero. | Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ's love has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him. Let us fear, and let us love the living God. And may we love each other with a sincere heart. |
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Simul ergo cum in unum, congregamur: Ne nos mente dividamur, caveamus. Cessent jurgia maligna, cessent lites. Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus. Amen. | Where charity and love are, God is there. As we are gathered into one body, Beware, lest we be divided in mind. Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease, And may Christ our God be in our midst. Amen. |
Keep your lamps (1982) traditional African American spiritual
Arranged by André J. Thomas (born 15 August 1952)
Words:
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, the time is drawing nigh.
Children, don't get weary 'til your work is done.
Soon our journey will be over, the time is drawing night.
Vive l'Amour traditional 19th century English song, arranged by Kathleen McGuire (2018). Words by Kathleen McGuire and Audrie Sexton, adapted from "Vive la compagnie".
Come gather good people and join in a song. Vive la compagnie.
We sing it with gratitude all the day long. Vive la compagnie.
Refrain: Vive la vive la vive l'amour, vive la vive la vive l'amour,
Vive l'amour, vive l'amour, vive la compagne.
A friend on your left and a friend on your right. Viva la compagnie.
In love and good fellowship, let us unite. Viva la compagnie.
We're singing our hearts out to tell everyone. Viva la compagnie.
How much we appreciate all your have done. Viva la compagnie.
SCRUB CHOIR | Director: Dr Emma O'Brien OAM
I'll stand by you (1993) by Billy Steinberg, Chrissie Hynde, and Tom Kelly
Song mash up arranged in 2021 by Emma O'Brien and Craig Pilkington, featuring:
Count on me by Bruno Mars
COMBINED CHOIRS
Deep Peace (1988) music by Bill Douglas (born November 7, 1944). Text: traditional Gaelic blessing. Flute: Su Rogerson.
Words:
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and starts pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace to you.
Pastyme with good companye (c. 1513) by King Henry VIII (1491 – 1547)
Words (in modern English):
Pastime with good company I love and shall unto I die; Grudge who list, but none deny, So God be pleased thus live will I. For my pastance Hunt, song, and dance. My heart is set: All goodly sport For my comfort, Who shall me let? Youth must have some dalliance, Of good or ill some pastance; Company methinks then best All thoughts and fancies to digest: For idleness Is chief mistress Of vices all. Then who can say But mirth and play Is best of all? Company with honesty Is virtue vices to flee: Company is good and ill But every man hath his free will. The best ensue, The worst eschew, My mind shall be: Virtue to use, Vice to refuse, Shall I use me.
ABOUT THE TUDOR CHORISTERS
The Tudor Choristers was founded in Melbourne in 1962 by David Carolane OAM and has been directed by Dr Kathleen McGuire since 2017. Specialising in unaccompanied music, the choir has performed for many of Australia's leading concert organisations including the ABC, Musica Viva, the Victorian Arts Centre, and the Victorian Arts Council. In its 60+ year history, the Tudor Choristers has been heard on radio broadcasts and appeared on national television and in feature film. Performances under such notable guest conductors as Sir David Willcocks and Philip Ledger, and tours of New Zealand and North America, have confirmed the Tudor Choristers' ranking as one of Australia's preeminent choral ensembles. Recent achievements include winning the A Cappella Choirs section of the Boroondara Eisteddfod (2020), producing a Christmas CD: Sing Nowell! (2021) and several videos, launching regular livestream performances, and touring to New South Wales in 2022 in celebration of the choir's 60th (Diamond) anniversary.
The Tudor Choristers Inc is an incorporated association under the Victorian Associations Incorporations Act 1981 and is governed by a committee according to its Rules. The choir is also a member of the Australian National Choral Association. Website: https://www.tudorchoristers.org.au
JOIN THE CHOIR
Do you read music and sing harmony confidently? We encouraged interested singers to experience an open rehearsal prior to auditioning. We usually rehearse on Wednesday evenings in Hawthorn. Visit our website for more information or speak with our Front of House team at the concert.
Choristers aged 18 to 30 at the time of joining are eligible to apply for a Choralship. More information about becoming a Tudor Chorister is available here: Interested in joining the choir?
SEASON '23
NEXT EVENT:
YULE IN JULE™- YE OLDE MIDWINTER BANQUET, Sat 15 July, Main Hall, Mission to Seafarers, 717 Flinders Street, Docklands. Enjoy a 3-course rustic feast, fully licensed bar, Tudor Choristers performance, emcee Andy Payne, plus music and dancing from special guests: The Courtly Arts Performers of Victoria. Prizes for best audience costumes (optional)! Seating is limited. BOOK NOW.
SAVE THE DATES:
ELIZABETH THE GREAT - MUSIC OF MAJESTY commemorating the end of second Elizabethan era with music created for royal occasions. Sun 1 October, St George's Anglican Church, East Ivanhoe.
SING NOWELL! featuring Bach's Magnificat (300th anniversary). Tues 12 Dec, Our Lady of Victories Basilica. Fri 15 Dec, St George's, East Ivanhoe.
ARTIST BIOs
RMH SCRUB CHOIR was first launched in 2020, in response to the Covid pandemic, to lift staff morale at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
As staff at the Royal Melbourne Hospital prepared for the coming pandemic in March [2020], the hospital's head of music therapy, Emma O'Brien, identified a gap in workplace morale and thought music could help."We could see the staff needed extra support," Dr O'Brien said. "It's a privilege to work here but it's also very stressful. "Someone mentioned that pub choir had become couch choir, and they said 'could we do something like that?'. I said, 'what a great idea!'." At that moment, when nurses and doctors were more focussed on PPE guidelines than basslines, the hospital's unofficial "scrub choir" was born. (Reported by Paul Sakkal in The Age, September 10, 2020)
The Royal Melbourne Hospital Scrub Choir was established in 2020 by the head of RMH music therapy Dr Emma O’Brien OAM in response to the stressors of the pandemic. It is a novel healthcare worker-led hybrid (virtual/live) choir that embraces music making for wellbeing. All Scrub Choir projects engage healthcare workers broadly across the organisation and have a far-reaching impact on the wider community. "Scrub Choir has quite frankly saved me on the hardest of my days" Mya Cubitt RMH ED doctor. Scrub Choir has released music videos of classic popular songs and composed their own music. The music video clips are on YouTube, across social media and music streaming services. The RMH YouTube site has a Scrub Choir playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEGuWjNfEfLwRpbtzAOxA71wUvlBhSNTW.
All the visuals for the music videos are created in-house and edited by Emma through healthcare workers’ eyes. They are ‘Count On Me’ (May 2020), ‘I’ll Stand By You’ (Sept 2020), ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ featured on ABC TV special (Dec 2020), ‘Gratitude’ - an original song about the pandemic experiences of healthcare workers (July 2021), and their first global project in which Scrub Choir invited international healthcare workers to sing in a joint arrangement of the songs ‘What A Wonderful World’ and ‘Stand By Me’ (Dec 2021) and their end-of-2022 music video ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart’. Scrub Choir has also performed live at many significant events, including Music from the Homefront (April 2021), and The Rising Festival (June 2022). Scrub Choir sound is mixed by Craig Pilkington of Audrey Studios. Together, Craig and Emma approach all Scrub Choir projects through a wellbeing lens.
The choir's most recent project is an even bigger Global Scrub Choir collaboration, with healthcare workers from Brazil, Japan, Norway, South Sudan, UK and Zambia. Commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), Global Scrub Choir performed a unique multilingual version of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ for WHO's flagship Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Geneva, highlighting the need for organisations to focus on healthcare workers’ wellbeing. The music video was launched with a live performance in Geneva at the WHO 75th anniversary convention. It was so successful, a small contingent, plus Global members with Dr Emma, were invited by WHO's Director General, Dr Tedros, to return to Geneva for The World Health Assembly, on May 21st. The power of music has gone global with Scrub Choir performing in Carlton, Victoria, Australia, whilst simultaneously rehearsing in the morning in Geneva Switzerland for the 21st.
The generous support of donors allows RHM Music Therapy to make a positive impact on patients, friends and families through genuine musical connections. This can range from playing a favourite song at a patient's bedside, to helping a young mother in cancer services write special songs for her children, or just bringing a smile to those who wander through the hospital.
All donations to RMH Scrub Choir and Music Therapy to improve patients' quality of life and recovery through music. Proceeds from today's concert will benefit the Scrub Choir and Music Therapy via RHM Foundation.
DR EMMA O'BRIEN OAM is the Founder and Head Music Therapy and RMH Scrub Choir at The Royal Melbourne Hospital & NorthWestern Mental Health. She is an internationally renowned innovator in the role of music in wellbeing, specialising in facilitating the creation of original songs with individuals and communities. She is a singer, performer, music therapist, composer, researcher and entrepreneur. Her qualifications from the University of Melbourne include BMus (Honors in Performance), Graduate Diploma in Music Therapy, Master of Music (Music Therapy), and PhD (Music Therapy and Songwriting). Emma attended the Victorian College of the Arts for post graduate performance studies after her bachelor's degree, but deferred the course to study voice in the UK with Audrey Langford.
In 2012, Emma was named in The Age Melbourne Magazine as one of Melbourne’s Top 100 provocative, passionate and powerful people. Emma was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Australia Day Honours for her service to community health through music therapy programs.
RUBY MANSELL - 2023 awardee, David Carolane OAM Choralship - has a Bachelor of Music from the Melbourne Conservatorium, where she trained as a coloratura soprano. She went on to pair her love of music with her interest in psychology, recently completing a Master of Music Therapy at Melbourne University. As a music therapist, Ruby works with people in hospital and community settings to address various goals, using music as a tool to achieve them. She is passionate about the role music making can play in community building and wellbeing and has previously worked with REWIRE's Musical Memories Choir to support people living with a diagnosis of dementia and their loved ones. Ruby is excited by the opportunity to sing with the choir, utilise her accumulated skills, and to build choir leadership skills under the mentorship of Dr Kathleen McGuire.
If you would like to make a financial contribution to support the David Carolane OAM Choralarship Program, please CLICK HERE. The generous support of donors helps the Tudor Choristers to continue to honour David Carolane's vision, work and joy in seeing young people become enthralled in the earlier music traditions.
JANETTE PATTON is a pianist, organist and flutist. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Music degree and works as a piano teacher and accompanist in several Melbourne schools. Her vast experience includes serving as the organist at Trinity Uniting Church and as guest artist (and occasional rehearsal conductor and accompanist) for the Tudor Choristers and Star Chorale. Janette accompanies students for University, VCE and AMEB examinations and is the regular accompanist of Victoria Chorale.
Dr KATHLEEN McGUIRE, Music Director of the Tudor Choristers, has conducted the choir since 2017. A non-indigenous Australian, born on the land of the Boon Warrung people of the Kulin Nation, Kathleen has enjoyed a stellar career of four decades in seven countries, conducting orchestras and choirs on international stages including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Sydney Opera House. She earned her doctorate in conducting at the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA), Master of Music with Distinction at University of Surrey (UK) as a Rotary Ambassadorial Fellow, Graduate Diploma in Education at Monash University, Graduate Diploma in conducting at the Victorian College of the Arts and BMus in composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. She studied conducting with Robert Rosen, Nicholas Braithwaite, Theodore Kuchar, Dr Joan Catoni Conlon, Dr Owen Rees, Nicholas Conran and Robert Spillman, and received mentoring from Simone Young AO, Marin Alsop, Christopher Martin, Sian Edwards and David Carolane OAM. Kathleen lived in the USA for eighteen years, including a decade as Artistic Director and Conductor of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and eight years as the Principal Conductor of the Community Women's Orchestra. In San Francisco, “Kathleen McGuire Day” was designated on two occasions by mayors of San Francisco. She was named “Local Hero” by ABC-TV, and The American Prize awarded her work several times in the Professional Composer Division. Her compositions and arrangements are published by Wirripang, Shawnee Press and Hal Leonard Music. She is a Board Director of the international Women's Philharmonic Advocacy, a member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia (MAGA) and the Music Honors Society of Pi Kappa Lamba (US). Kathleen returned to Australia in 2013. In 2022 she was a guest conductor at the Festival of Voices (Tasmania) and in 2023 she was the guest conductor at the inaugural Flinders Fringe Festival and then at the Out and Loud and Proud Choral Festival at Sydney WorldPride. In additional to freelance conducting and composing, she is a full-time Senior Lecturer in Education (Music) at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University. (Kathleen's Website)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
See complete list in the PDF program document
Front of House: Kay Kilham, Paul Nieuwenhuizen, Joy Sharp (Manager, Front of House & Tickets), Jack Stringer, Lea Stringer
Livestream Operator: Ben Carroll
Concert Manager: David Sharp
Photographer: Paul Nieuwenhuizen
Designer - concert flyer, program and season brochure: Melissa Laird
Rehearsal pianist: Janette Patton
Rehearsal materials: John Craick
Music Librarian: Kay Matthiesson
SING WITH THE TUDOR CHORISTERS in 2023
Rehearsals are usually held on Wednesday evenings in Auburn, with occasional rehearsals in other locations/days (e.g., Saturday mornings once a month in Brunswick). In 2023 we are also planning some rehearsal "camps" and a trip to Hobart in July for the Festival of Voices.
New singers are auditioned several times each year. Open Rehearsals are scheduled to provide an opportunity to "try out" the choir. There would then be an audition, which involves singing a short a cappella solo of your choice (30-60 seconds), a straightforward sight-reading exercise, and a brief interview. The next Open Rehearsal will be held in early February 2023. If you are interested in attending, please contact us via email or telephone or speak with the Front of House Manager at a performance. Also, singers aged 18 - 30 have the option to apply to enter the Choralship Program.
Further details are available on the Tudor Choristers' website.