|
The Australian bass, Andrew Fysh, began his singing career over forty years ago in Hobart as a treble at St David’s Cathedral. He graduated from University of Tasmania (1985), The University of Melbourne (1987), University of Canberra (2002), Monash University (2003).
Andrew Fysh has considerable experience as both chorister and soloist throughout Australia. Church music has featured throughout his career: in 2004-2006, while living in London, he sang with the Choir of the London Oratory, England’s pre-eminent Catholic church choir, and on return to Australia he joined the Choir of St James’ Church, Sydney, with whom he still sings on occasion.
In Canberra, Andrew Fysh is a founding member of the Clarion vocal quartet with Tobias Cole, performing monthly at the National Portrait Gallery, and sings with Coro. Coro's program of Renaissance polyphony, 'Music by Numbers', which he devised and co-directed, was named by the Canberra Times as one of the top five concerts of 2015. His particular interest lies in Renaissance and Baroque music, nurtured through fourteen years as a permanent member of Melbourne’s acclaimed Ensemble Gombert, directed by John O’Donnell, with whom he has toured Europe (2004, 2006, 2015) and North America (2009).
Andrew Fysh has been engaged as a guest artist with The Song Company on multiple occasions, most recently at the 2014 Canberra International Music Festival as bass soloist in J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 130 and W.A. Mozart's Requiem. Among three Song Company recordings in which he appears, the 1996 world-premiere release of Heinrich Schütz' Der Schwanengesang, recorded in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, received Soundscapes magazine’s ‘Editor's Choice’ award.
Andrew Fysh is a founding member of the Bach Akademie Australia, directed by Madeleine Easton, which launched to critical acclaim in 2017 at sold-out performances in Sydney and at the Canberra International Music Festival. At the 2017 Festival, he appeared in Bach Akademie Australia's performances of ‘Bach on Sunday’ and George Frideric Handel's Israel in Egypt. He has been bass soloist with the Canberra Bach Ensemble (CBE) since its relaunch in 2016.
Other solo engagements have included J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) (St Mary’s Cathedral and St James’ Church, Sydney), W.A. Mozart's Requiem (Festival of Voices, Hobart, and St James’ Church, Sydney), and Canberra Choral Society's performances of G.F. Handel's Messiah (2015), H. Schütz' Weihnachtshistorie (2016), J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) (2018), and W.A. Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Nelson Mass under the direction of Graham Abbott (2018).
In October 2018, Andrew Fysh joined again Bach Akademie Australia for performances in Sydney and appeared with both Bach Akademie Australia and Clarion at the 2018 Canberra International Music Festival. On Good Friday, he joined other soloists from the Choir of St James’ in a performance of Arvo Pärt's Passio at the Tapestry of Sacred Music festival in Singapore. He was bass soloist for the Canberra Bach Ensemble’s 2016-2017 and 2018 cantata series, including two performances of the solo cantata Ich habe genug BWV 82. He was very pleased to be invited to add another three cantatas to his repertoire, as he pursues his ambitious quest to perform all of J.S. Bach's cantatas (or, at least, as many as possible!).
In 2019, Andrew Fysh again joined Bach Akademie Australia for performances of Lenten and Easter cantatas in Sydney, and appeared with both Bach Akademie Australia and Clarion at the Canberra International Music Festival. In the latter part of 2019r, he again appeared as bass soloist with Canberra Bach Ensemble in a program that included J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243), joined Bach Akademie Australia in Sydney for a program of Christmas cantatas, performed Benjamin Britten's A Boy was Born with Ensemble Gombert, and presented a program of solo and trio Christmas cantatas by Stradella, H. Schütz and Charpentier with Adhoc Baroque in Canberra. He was planned to perform with Canberra Bach Ensemble at the Bachfest Leipzig in June 2020. He currently lives in Canberra. |
