Tudor Choristers' beloved annual Christmas celebration this year features A CEREMONY OF CAROLS by Benjamin Britten, plus Christmas and other seasonal music. As always, the audience will be invited to join in the singing of traditional carols.
Program details are below on this webpage, or you can download the program via this link:
Timpani: Declan Acton
Harp: Sarah Frances
Treble: Ben Fullarton
Conductor: Dr Kathleen McGuire, Music Director
Organ: Janette Patton
And introducing the first recipient of the David Carolane OAM Choralship:
Hannah Thiele
PROGRAM
PART 1: EVOKING PEACE
A Ceremony of Carols opus 28 (1942) by Benjamin Britten (80th anniversary, composed on board a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean from the United States to the UK during World War II)
Soloists: Ben Fullarton (treble); Hannah Thiele (soprano). Harp: Sarah Frances.
1. Procession (Gregorian antiphon to the Magnificat at Second Vespers of Christmas)
2. Wolcum Yole! (Anon. 14th century)
3. There is no Rose (Anon. 14th century)
4a. That younge child (Anon. 14th century)
4b. Balulalow (James, John and Robert Wedderburn (1548), 1561
5. As dew in Aprille (Anon. c. 1400)
6. This little Babe (Robert Southwell, 1561?-1595)
7. Interlude
8. In freezing winter night (Robert Southwell, 1561?-1595)
9. Spring Carol (William Cornish, 14? - 1523)
10. Deo Gracias (Anon. 15th century)
11. Recession (Gregorian antiphon to the Magnificat at Second Vespers of Christmas)
Do you hear what I hear (1962) by Gloria Shayne and Noël Regny, arranged for men's voices by David Maddux (60th anniversary of the piece, originally composed in response to the Cuban missile crisis; Australian premiere of this arrangement)
Silent Night - Stille Nacht. Music by Franz Xaver Gruber. Words by Joseph Mohr. English
words adapted from the translation by John F. Young. Arranged by Kathleen McGuire (2022).
A tribute to the World War I Christmas truce of 1914. (Learn more HERE).
(audience words)
A Ukrainian Prayer by John Rutter (2022). Composed in response to the Russia-Ukraine, which commenced in 2014 and escalated on 24 February 2022.
Soloist: John Campbell (tenor)
PART 2: A MERRY CHRISTMAS
O clap your hands (1662) by Orlando Gibbons (400th anniversary)
Hark! The herald angels sing Music by Felix Mendelssohn, adapted by W.H. Cummings (1831-1915). Descant and organ arranged by David Willcocks. Words by Charles Wesley et al.
In the bleak midwinter arranged by Gustav Holst
Deck the hall - Word by Thomas Oliphant (1862). Traditional 16th century Welsh melody (160th anniversary of the words)
Movement III: Vivace e ritmico from Gloria (1974) by John Rutter
O come, all ye faithful by John Francis Wade, arranged by David Willcox
A merry Christmas arranged by Arthur Warrell
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 pre-eminent 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.
Are you interested in joining the choir? Open rehearsals are usually held three or four times during the year, followed by auditions. Choristers aged 18 to 30 are eligible to apply for a Choralship. More information about becoming a Tudor Chorister is available here: Interested in joining the choir?
The Tudor Choristers Inc is an incorporated asssociation 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
ARTIST BIOs
SARAH FRANCES is a passionate and accomplished harpist, having obtained a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the University of Melbourne. She has performed as principal harpist in several orchestras, and toured internationally. She is also an enthusiastic educator, teaching privately and on staff at various primary and secondary schools.
Sarah also pushes the boundaries of harp playing with her creative arrangements and innovative use of sound and electronics, taking inspiration from a range of different styles of music including jazz, classical, contemporary, Celtic and pop-rock. Through all this, and by regularly sharing her music with the local community, she aims to make harp music more accessible to people of all different walks of life.
BEN FULLARTON - Treble - started his singing career as a treble in the Wangaratta Cathedral Choir where he was a soloist and eager chorister. Upon returning to Melbourne in 2019, he joined the All Saint’s Anglican Church treble line. As a cherished chorister, he has been awarded the Len Eddy Scholarship and is a frequent soloist during services. He had his debut as a concert soloist performing with mezzo-soprano Alexandra Mathew in 2022. He also starred on stage in Roberts McCubbin Primary School’s 2022 production of ‘Moana’, singing as part of feature ensembles. He is delighted to sing with the Tudor Choristers, continuing a family tradition and association with the choir. Ben's grandmother is a current Tudor Chorister, his mother was formerly a Tudor Chorister, and Ben's father was a frequent organist for the choir in the 1990s and again in 2022 at the 60th anniversary performances, as well as serving as music director 2004 to 2006. With a very bright future ahead, Ben has been accepted into the Voices of Melbourne, commencing in 2023.
HANNAH THIELE - Inaugural awardee, David Carolane OAM Choralship - was born in Berlin, and moved to Australia at an early age. She began learning the piano at the age of 4, and added the cello soon after. She completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours in Cello at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music while singing with the Choir of Christ Church Saint Laurence. She then found a home with the Rostock Motet Choir in Germany, with whom she went on to tour northern Germany and Denmark and perform with the King’s Singers. Hannah also enjoys performing with various ensembles on the cello.
Hannah is a qualified teacher, and has taught Music and Languages in various capacities since 2011. She has a passion for helping people and sharing her love of learning. In addition to English, Hannah speaks German and French, and she is working on her Mandarin skills. She loves bushwalking and enjoys going bouldering. She’d like to thank the Tudor Choristers for their warm welcome and is excited for the upcoming concert!
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); in 2023 she will be a guest conductor at the inaugural Flinders Fringe Festival and the Out and Loud and Proud Choral Festival at Sydney WorldPride. In additional to freelance conducting and composing, she is a full-time 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: Declan Acton
Concert Manager: David Sharp
Photographer: Paul Nieuwenhuizen
Designer - concert flyer, program and season brochure: Melissa Laird
Rehearsal materials: John Craick
Music Librarian: Kay Matthiesson
Carols - words for audience participation
Silent Night
1. Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
'Round yon Virgin Mother and child,
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
2. Silent night, holy night.
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
3.Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia:
Christ the Saviour is born,
Christ the Saviour is born.
Hark! The herald angels sing
1. Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn king
Peace on earth and very mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With th'angelic host proclaim:
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn king.
2. Christ, by highest heav'n adored,
Christ, the everlasting lord.
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the God-head see,
Hail th'incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn king.
3. Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn king.
In the bleak midwinter
1. In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone
Snow had fallen snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long.... ago.
WOMEN'S VOICES ONLY
2. Angels and Archangels may have travelled there
Cherubim and Seraphim throng'd... the air
But only his Mother in her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved with... a kiss.
MEN'S VOICES ONLY
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man, I would do my part
But what I can I give him? Give... my heart.
ALL
Snow had fallen snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long... ago.
Deck the hall
1. Deck the hall with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la.
'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la (etc.)
Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la...
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol, Fa la la...
2. See the blazing yule before us, Fa la la...
Strike the harp and join the chorus, Fa la la...
Follow me in merry measure, Fa la la...
While I tell of Yuletide treasure, Fa la la...
3. Fast away, the old year passes, Fa la la... Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa la la... Sing we joyous all together, Fa la la... Heedless of the wind and weather,
Fa la la la la, la la la la!
O come all ye faithful
1. O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,Christ the Lord!.
2. God of God, Light of Light,
Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, begotten, not created:
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
3. Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God in the highest:
O come, let us adore him; O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
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.