The 28th Intervarsity Choral Festival: CANBERRA, 20 August-3 September 1977

Patron: Dr H.C. Coombs, Sir John Crawford
Chorusmaster: Brian Hingerty
Camp Venue: Rosnel Guest House and others, Bundanoon
Participants: SCUNA, NEUCS, NUMS UNCS, MMM, QUMS, TUMS, FUCS, MonUCS, SUMS, MUCS, AUCS, PUCS, LaTUCS

COMMITTEE

Convenor: Rik Allen
Secretary: Janet Spry
Treasurer: Alison Whish
ConMan: Richard Dixon, Ann Hoban
Publicity: Christine Kallir
Librarian: Laurel Burns
Camp Officer: Robert Taylor
Transport/Billeting: Alison Currie
Social Sec: Robyn Bennett
Fundraising: Colin Loughhead
Participants’ Secretary: Robi Bennett
General Ass: Rosemary Mattingley, Phillip Linford

CONCERT 1

3pm, 28 August, University House, ANU
Conductor: Brian Hingerty; Judith Clingan; Bevan Leviston; Nicholas Routley; Brian Hingerty; Bryan Dowling; Charles Coleman, Faye Dumont
Program: Gregorian chant “Victimæ paschali laudes”, “Cantemus Domino”, “Alleluia: Pascha nostrum”; Morley Sweet Nymph, Viadana Missa sine nomine (Kyrie), Bartók Ritornelle, Holst If you love songs, Schubert The Lord is my shepherd; Henry VIII Pastime with good company, Josquin Guillaume, Bevan Leviston Choral Study No.12, Toch Geographical Fugue; Janequin Le chant des oiseaux, Lassus La nuit froide et sombre, Sermisy Puisqu’en amour, Lassus Sauter, danser, Debussy Trois chansons de Charles d’Orleans; Gregorian chant “Dies iræ”; Britten Choral Dances from ‘Gloriana’, Poulenc Four Christmas Motets; Spirituals “O Mary”, “Honor, Honor”, “Dis Ol’ Hammer”, “Ain’t Got Time to Die”, Simon & Garfunkel Flowers Never Bend in the Rainfall, Victor Young When I fall in Love, Kirby Shaw Opus I.
Notes: Afternoon Prom. Concert. Result of workshops during camp.

CONCERT 2

8pm, 3 September, Auditorium [Llewellyn Hall], Canberra School of Music
Conductor: Brian Hingerty
Soloists: Margaret Sim, Lois Bogg, William Bamford, Barry Skelton, Geoffrey Brennan, Bryan Dowling
Program: Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Virgine (1610)
Notes: Orchestral arrangement by Andrew D. McCredie. Supported by the Peter Stuyvesant Trust.
Review: Ken Healey, “Wonders of a rarely-heard masterpiece”, Canberra Times, 5 September 1977. “At interval on Saturday night I was still looking for things to praise about this year’s Intervarsity Choral Festival performance. Fortunately, by the end of the evening there had been enought moments of satisfying performance to warrant the encouraging remarks that I had come hoping to utter. The annual festival, held in a different capital city each year, and preceded by a week’s intensive rehearsal camp (this year at Bundanoon) is not comparable to any other musical event I know of … But with a moment’s thought, I find it far more to the point to remember the towering chorus ‘Lauda Jerusalem’ just before interval, and the exultant sound of the choir in full voice at the beginning and end of the final ‘Magnificat’ …The girls had the purity of tone of trebles, the men sang with … strength and an almost religious fervour, dispelling much of the dullness that had gone before … I applaud the visit of this festival to Canberra, and thank the organisers for giving us the change to savour some of the wonders of a rarely-heard masterpiece".
Rob Goodrick, “Monteverdi’s Flying Vespers”, Canberra Programme, n.d. “Although they seemed under-rehearsed at times[,] and there were the odd unwanted syncopations and wobbly attacks, the presentation was on the whole a great success … The small choir which sang in the Sonata on ‘Sancta Maria ora pro nobis’ and elsewhere … was particularly good … All in all[,] however, it was an effective performance of a magnificent work and a fitting conclusion to the Intervarsity Festival”.

OTHER COMMENTS

Also Individual items concert at camp on 22 August.

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