The 1st Intervarsity Choral Festival: SYDNEY, 28 May-2 June 1950

Camp Venue: Methodist Crusader Camp, Otford
Participating Choirs: SUMS, MUCS

COMMITTEE

SUMS President: Colin Russell-Jones
SUMS Secretary: Peggy Bradhurst

CONCERT: 1 June, Great Hall, Sydney University
Conductor: George Faunce Allman; Ron Penny
Soloists: Ann Thompson, David Barwell
Program: Bach Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death (SUMS); Bach organ works; Bach Sheep May Safely Graze (chorale, MUCS); three folk songs (MUCS); three carols (SUMS); Bach Peasant Cantata (MUCS)
Notes: Piano: Ruth Ockenden (MUCS)
Review: M.L. [Martin Long], “University Choirs in Bach Works”, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June 1950. “The concert … was the main event of the present inter-University music festival. The Sydney choir … has strengthened its males sections since its last public performance … [h]owever, the singers still tended towards a rather pedestrian thoroughness; they failed to rise to the strenuous and elated sections of the cantata. The Melbourne singers had the disadvantage in numbers, and certainly lacked the technical dexterity of the Sydney choir. But they attacked the ‘Peasant’ Cantata with a verve and spontaneity that brought them much nearer the spirit of the music. It was altogether a delightful performance of a work that has more good tunes in it than “Oklahoma!”.

OTHER COMMENTS

During camp, SUMS performed Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and MUCS presented an act from their University revue. Preview by Tom Farrell, “University students hold festival of music in the open air”, Daily Telegraph, 1 June 1950, p.6. Overview article: “First Inter-University Music Festival in N.S.W.”, Australian Musical News, vol.41, no.1 (July 1950), p.7.