The 45th Intervarsity Choral Festival: ADELAIDE, 21 January—6 February 1994

Patrons: Dame Roma Mitchell (Governor), Sister Deirdre Jordan, William Scammell
Chorusmasters: Timothy Sexton, Kynan Johns
Accompanists: Monica Laczofy, Nerissa Pearce
Camp Venue: Dzintari Camp, Normanville
Participants: AUCS, FUCS, MonUCS, MUCS, MuscUTS, MUS, PUCS, QUMS, SCUNA, SUMS, TUMS
FIBS: MANIFESTO (Monumental, And Necessary Information For Excellent Singers To Observe)

COMMITTEE

Convenor: Catherine Campbell
Secretary: Andy Turner
Treasurer: John Yesberg
Camp Officer: Joanna McWaters
ConMan: Christie Anderson
Fundraising: Theresa Veith
Librarian: Celia Brissenden
Publicity: Kathy Pope
Social Secretary: Alison Hansen
Transport & Billeting: Bill Jackson, Louise Tunbridge
Sponsorship: Craig Wilkins

CONCERT 1

8pm, 1 February, Adelaide Town Hall
Conductor: Nicholas Braithwaite
Soloists: Richard Greager, Rosemary Gunn, Robert Dawe
Program: Elgar The Dream of Gerontius
Notes: With the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Review: Elizabeth Silsbury, “Dream run for massed choir”, Advertiser, 3 Feb. 1994: 24. “For the past week, about 200 students … have been in camp in Adelaide for their annual wallow in the joys of massed choral singing. The ambitions of this juggernaut are unbounded and are often greeted with some scepticism by experienced choristers. Learn Gerontius, one of the most weighty tomes in the repertoire, in a week? Somehow, nearly always, they get themselves to respectable performance standard by the grace of their enthusiasm, their seemingly inexhaustible energy and the self-servicing adrenaline that the whole exercise stimulates … The choir … vanquished the sceptics. Rock solid at all times … the singers produced an impressive mass of well-balanced sound … What the choir lacked in tone and diction was more than compensated for by the soloists … Overall, the event was a near-perfect match of needs and resources.”

CONCERT 1

8pm, 5 Feb., Elder Hall, University of Adelaide
Conductor: Timothy Sexton
Soloists: Vanessa Benger
Program: Górecki Totus Tuus, Ralph Middenway Lamentations of Jeremiah, Copland In the Beginning, Sarah Hopkins Past Life Melodies, Adams Choruses from "The Death of Klinghoffer".
Notes: Piano: Nerissa Pearce. Also solo works for koto and for organ. Koto: Dr Kimi Coaldrake; Org; Matthew Atherton.
Review: Raymond Chapman Smith, “Solemn succession of choral works”, Advertiser, 7 Feb. 1994: 13. “The 150 voices of the 45th Intervarsity Choral Festival Choir concluded their annual songfest with the usual blend of enthusiasm and amateur esprit de corps. A long program … did not so much flash past as proceed solemnly in a succession of relatively house-trained 20th century works … Totus Tuus sounded sincere and disciplined in its quiet iterations from the big choir … [A] little Oz music was given its place in this concert with the aptly tortured harmonic drift of Ralph Middenway’s Lamentations of Jeremiah being handled with care, if not complete assurance, by this lot of young singers. Sarah Hopkins’ little piece Past Life Melodies, produced a performance of euphonious conviction and assurance. The tonal simplicity of Copland’s In the Beginning gave the choir its first chance to really let rip.”

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