Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

History

The choir formed in 1920 as the Hurlstone Park Choral Society and gave its first "Glee Performance", conducted by Tom Downer, on 9 September 1920 in hut 13, Randwick Hospital. The program was listed as Come where my love lies dreaming, Great God of wonders, There is music by the river and Sleep, baby, sleep. The first public performance, also conducted by Tom Downer, was on 3 November 1920 at the Masonic Hall, Dulwich Hill and the program was listed as Come where my love lies dreaming, Great God of wonders, There is music by the river, Sleep, baby, sleep, Oh hush thee my baby, Moonlight, The bells of St Marys and God save the King. The earliest performances to have been noticed in the press were at the Masonic Hall, Dulwich Hill, in 1922 and at St Clement's School Hall, Marrickville, in 1923.

In 1922 the choir gave its first performance of a major choral work, 'Assisting Marrickville Choral Society' in Handel's Messiah. The next performance of Messiah was in 1927, and then annually in a sequence interrupted only in 1933 and 1943, until 2010.

Also in 1927, and continuing to 1939, the society entered Eisteddfods in various NSW locations, winning places on nine occasions. The prize money often had a significant bearing on the organisation's financial situation, which was always precarious. Interestingly, despite its financial situation, in 1961 the Hurlstone Choral Society felt able to make an unsolicited gift of £50 to its 'major rival', the Sydney Royal Philharmonic Society, which was 'broke and in danger of extinction'.

The choir changed its name to Hurlstone Choral Society in 1937, Sydney Philharmonia Society in 1969 and Sydney Philharmonia Limited in 1974. It employed its first professional manager in 1974.

During this time, Sydney Philharmonia has worked with many conductors, including Eugene Ormandy, Otto Klemperer, Sir Eugene Goosens, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Granville Bantock, Sir Bernard Heinze, Sir Thomas Beecham, Georg Schnéevoigt, Hans Vonk, Ward Swingle, Zubin Mehta, Christopher Hogwood, Edo de Waart, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, John Nelson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Richard Hickox, and Sir Simon Rattle. The current musical director and chorusmaster is Brett Weymark.

Sydney Philharmonia’s singing commitments have grown to the point where a typical year (2012) sees it perform 16 performances in its own concerts and 17 performances with the Sydney Symphony and Sydney Festival, while Vox gives 8 performances. Other commitments such as corporate events, awards ceremonies and the like mean that the organisation mounts around 50 performances a year.

Civic and community events

Sydney Philharmonia has taken part in many civic and community events such as the 1988 bicentennial celebrations and the opening ceremony of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano as part of an international video link. Two years later, in 2000, it performed in both the opening concert Symphony at the Superdome and the live, globally telecast opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics, singing the Australian national anthem and an excerpt from Hector Berlioz's Te Deum that accompanied the lighting and ascension of the Olympic flame.

Sydney Philharmonia took part in the 2001 centenary of federation celebrations in Sydney and Melbourne and the state memorial for former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. It performed with the Australian World Orchestra concerts in 2011 and the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular in 2012.

Non-traditional offerings

While Sydney Philharmonia has a long history of traditional classical-style choral concert presentation, it has in recent years gone considerably beyond this style in some of its concerts, with some notable success.

Touring

In 2002, Sydney Philharmonia was the first Australian choir to sing at the BBC Promenade Concert Series, performing Mahler's 8th Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle. In 2010 Sydney Philharmonia celebrated its 90th Anniversary with a return to London and a return appearance at the opening night of the Proms, again performing Mahler's 8th Symphony, this time with the BBC Symphony Chorus, Crouch End Festival Chorus and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek.

Sydney Philharmonia has also toured to other parts of the UK, as well as Japan, Korea, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle (NSW), Orange (NSW) and Perth.

APRA-AMC Classical Music Awards

The APRA-AMC Classical Music Awards are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australian Music Centre (AMC).

Helpmann Awards

The Helpmann Awards, presented annually, recognise distinguished achievement in the Australian performing arts.

Recordings

Movies and television