• SIV1975

The 26th Intervarsity Choral Festival: SYDNEY, 17 August-31 August 1975

Patron: Roger Woodward
Chorusmaster: Peter Seymour, John Nickson
Accompanist: Jim Bonnefin
Camp Venue: Chevalier College, Bowral
Participating Choirs: SUMS, UNCS, Unichant (UNSW), Pro Musica (USyd), MMM, AUCS, FUCS, TUMS, UWAUCS, MUCS, MonUCS, Ex-UCS, QUMS, NUMS, SCUNA, OtagoMusUnionChoir, AuckUSingers, CanterburyUMS, VictoriaUMS

COMMITTEE

Convenor: David Goodwin
Secretary: Ruth Marshall
Treasurer: Clarke Gerber
ConMan: Ian Callender
Publicity: Malcolm Middleton
Librarian: Edmund Perrin
Transport: Ella Du Rooy, Viv Nicoll
Billeting: Cheryl McCaffery
Billeting: Neil Nicoll
Social Sec: Lindsay MacDonald
Dogsbody: Helen Vines
Liaison: Rosie Vines
Minutes Sec: Anne Stevens
Maestro Collaboratore: Prof. Sir Peter Platt
Camp Mother: Mrs May Gerber

CONCERT 1

7.30pm, 24 Aug., Clubbe Hall, Frensham School, Mittagong
Program: Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem (SUMS); Azzaioli Due Villotti del fiore, Victoria Jesu dulcis memoria, Grimbert (arr.) En Passant par la Lorraine, Cossetto (arr.) Moya Diridika (Unichant); Zangius Exultate justi (Ex-UCS); Campian Never Weather-beaten Sail, D’Alisida Ave Maria, D. Byers Ave Maria (OMUC); A. Scarlatti Exultate Deo (FUCS); Lassus Mon coeur se recommende à vous, Wilbye Adieu, Sweet Amarillis, Byrd Haec Dies, Eric Gross Psalm 22 (Madrigal group conducted by Peter Platt); Ford Now I See Thy Looks Were Feigned, PDQ Bach ed. Schickele The Seasonings (excerpts), Rossini The Carnovale (TUCS); Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream (UWAUCS); Victoria O quam gloriosum, Hoggard (arr.) adapted by John Nickson Sentimental Journey, John Nickson (arr.) Cotton Song (QUMS); Josquin Missa Pange lingua (Kyrie and Gloria, SCUNA); Schütz Cantate Domino (UNCS); Tallis Sermone Blanco Angelus (AUCS); John Taverner Dum transisset Sabbatum (MonUCS); Vaughan Williams In Windsor Forest (part, MUCS); “Mavoureen”, “George Jones” (barbershop quartet from UWAUCS).
Notes: “A Concert by Individual Choirs”

CONCERT 2

8pm, 30 Aug., Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Conductor: John Nickson, Peter Seymour
Soloists: Nance Grant (replacing Pearl Berridge at two days notice), Lauris Elms, Raymond McDonald, Grant Dickson
Program: Gaudeamus igitur, John Nickson Festival Jubilate (commission), Verdi Requiem
Notes: Australian Youth Orchestra. Presented as part of Rostrum ’75.
Review: Fred Blanks, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 1975, p.7. “Healthy and massive tones of awe faithfully reflected the head-count of performers in Verdi’s Requiem … some 340 singers from the 26th Intervarsity … the 76-member Australian Youth Orchestra … and one conductor, Peter Seymour, labouring like a windmill in the grip of inspiration. One felt consistently that the performers rose to the occasion, not (as often happens in this kind of musical socialising) that the occasion fell to meet them. Having begun the concert, held under Rostrum ’75 with the premiere of a fine-crafted, robustly attractive, unaccompanied Festival Jubilate … the choir optimised Verdi’s dramatic contrasts … by ascending thrilling climaxes and hushing its pianissimos with disciplined refinement."
n.d., n.p. “Combined intervarsity choirs from all over Australia sang lustily and made a joyful noise under conductor Peter Seymour … But there was a lot wrong with the performance as a whole. The lights and shades were missing … It is probably inevitable when so many choirs come briefly together like this. But if the flesh was weak the spirit showed itself as only too willing."
Brian Hoad, “Catching up with the times”, Bulletin, 13 September 1975, p.59. “Youthful optimistic exuberance reached its peak in, of all things, a mammoth performance of Verdi’s Requiem. The Australian Youth Orchestra and the 240 members of the Intervarsity choir … managed to send up to heaven something of a challenge to the Recording Angel to open up those pearly gates, rather than a supplication of mercy.”

OTHER COMMENTS

Steering Committee: Robert Kay, Ruth Marshall, David Goodwin, Edmund Perrin, Mark Kotowicz. Prior to camp, workshops around Sydney: Ewan Matapradja “Indonesian music”, Winsome Evans “Early Music”, Peter Platt “Madrigal Singing”, John Nickson “Improvisation”, Bryan Dowling “Choral Singing Technique”, Basil Potts “Change Bell Ringing”, Brian Hingerty “Choral Conducting Technique”, Rick Best “Jazz”, Warren Fahey “Folk Music”, Helen McKinnon “Voice Production and Singing Style”, Steven Hall “Opera for People Who Don’t Like Opera”, Orff Schulwerke, organ crawl, and chamber music group.