The 43rd Intervarsity Choral Festival: HOBART, Saturday 18 January–Saturday 1 February 1992

Chorusmaster: John O’Donnell
Accompanist: Marian Bissett
Camp Venue: Scotch Oakburn College boarding houses, Launceston
Participants: AUCS, SCUNA, FUCS, MUS, MUCS, MonUCS, PUCS, QUMS, SUMS, TUMS
FIBS: DEBRETT’S (Deliciously Evocative Book Regarding Etiquette: Tantalisingly, Tintinnabulatively Stylish)
Mascot: Aloysius (a small teddy bear)

COMMITTEE

Convenor: Christopher McDermott
Secretary: Lavinia Savell
Treasurer: Simon Beswick
ConMan: Charlotte McKercher
Publicity: Susan Williams
Librarian: Philip Legge
Camp Officer: Louise Le Mottee
Transport/Billeting: Helen Verrier
Social Secretary: Antony Logan
Social Secretary: Stuart Watson
Fundraising: Beth Coombe
TUMS Liaison: Daniel Clode
Consultant on Etiquette: Sally Leary

CONCERT 1

Thursday 23 January 1992, 8pm, St John’s Church, Launceston
Conductor: John O’Donnell
Programme: Giovanni Gabrieli: Nunc dimittis à 14; Plaudite, psallite, jubilate Deo omnis terra à 12; Buccinate in neomenia tuba à 19; Canzon per sonar in echo XII toni X vocum; Claudio Monteverdi: 1610 Vespers: Nisi Dominus à 10; Lauda Jerusalem à 7; Ave maris stella à 8; Michael Praetorius: Resonet in laudibus à 7; Hosianna in der Höhe à 8; Christus ist der selig macht à 8; Gott der Vater wohn uns bei à 8; Giovanni Gabrieli: Canzon per sonar VII toni VIII vocum; Heinrich Schütz: Alleluja. Lobet den Herrn à 16 (Psalm 150)
Notes: with University Brass Ensemble, Organ: Robert Smith

CONCERT 2

Friday 31 January 1992, 8pm, Hobart City Hall
Conductor: John O'Donnell
Soloists: Jane Edwards, Penelope Sharpe (sopranos), Lynette Richardson (alto), Gerald English, Simon Biazeck (tenors), Andrew Fysh, Craig Miller (basses)
Program: Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610)
Notes: Chamber orchestra drawn from members of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Harpsichord: Geoffrey Lancaster; Theorbo: Roger Glanville-Hicks
Review: I.K. Harris, “A graduation on the grand scale”, Mercury, Wednesday 5 February 1992, p.19.
“AS the climax of the 43rd annual festival, an amassed choir of more than 100 singers drawn from musical societies of 10 universities, with six soloists and an orchestra of 20 conducted by the eminent musicologist and musician John O’Donnell, performed Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro della Biata [sic] Vergine in Hobart’s unprepossessing barn-like City Hall … The very large choir delivered the words crisply, rhythms brisk and accurate, and with a high degree of dynamic and tonal variation; a memorable performance voted as excellent by the large audience.”

STORIES & LINKS

Preview Articles: Christine Middap, “University singers to gather for choral festival”, Examiner, ?16/17 January 1992; Shirley Apthorp, “Vespers caps choral festival”, Mercury, Thursday 30 January 1991, p.29.
Publicity Sing: Brisbane Street Mall, Wednesday 22 January

The Launceston concert on 23 January 1992 was followed by the infamous PCP known as Snogfest, held at the Royal Oak Hotel; shenannigans continued to occur well after the Royal Oak had closed its doors and $4000 worth of alcohol consumed. Five singers occupied an upstairs shower block at the Scotch Oakburn boarding houses and provided an exhibition of bare flesh for those on the lawn below (including some interested local spectators from the nearby Elphin Road). For more information, please see Laudate by Peter Campbell, pages 73 to 74.

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