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The Sydneian Bach Choir was formed in 2000 as part of the Sydneian Festival Choir, in order to raise money for local charities through fundraising concerts. Although their repertoire is wide and varied, the fifty voice Bach Choir uses the choral music of J.S. Bach as its touchstone. In residence at Sydney Grammar School, the choir performs the closing work of the Sydney Grammar School Bach Festival, including J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) and B Minor Mass (BWV 232). They have also performed the music of Heinrich Schütz, Tavener, Felix Mendelssohn, Whitacre and many others, and gave the Australian premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's Rayok as part of a new music festival at the University of Sydney. Each year, the choir commissions new works from Australian composers, including Anna Jacobs, Richard Charlton and James Humberstone.
In combination with the Sydneian Festival Choir, they have performed several large works for choir and orchestra, including the Johannes Brahms' Requiem and Orff's Carmina Burana. The Bach Choir sang Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Nova Chamber Orchestra in 2003, and performed the Monteverdi Vespers (1610) as part of the Organ Festival inaugurating Sydney Grammar School's new Mander organ.
In December 2004, the Bach Choir travelled to Venice, where they performed sections of the Monteverdi Vespers at San Marco; to Leipzig, where they performed in J.S. Bach’s churches; and to America, where they met with renowned Bach expert Christoph Wolff of Harvard University. The choir recently joined forces with the choirs of Sydney Grammar School in a programme of Mozart choral music for an SBS Television documentary aired in January 2006. |
