Listen to The Human Spirirt on Australian Digital Concert Hall ARTShub Music review: The Human Spirit Matthew Collins | 27 September 2023 Sydney Chamber Choir’s latest concert was given the theme of ‘the human spirit’ and, in a night of expressive choral work, beckoned the audience to engage in a blend of contemporary works that run the gamut of human emotion and bring to life the spiritual and sacred that lies within us all. Read the full article classikON The subtle splendour of Sydney Chamber Choir Heidi Hereth | 26 September 2023 It was a positive sign of the continuing creativity of the ..read more

classikON The sumptuous sound of Sydney Chamber Choir Daniel Kaan | 26 March 2023 The restrained conducting by Sam Allchurch of the Sydney Chamber Choir showed an intense musical focus which was reciprocated by the choir and instrumentalists. The SATB wind consort was made up of Renaissance instruments, a cornetto, alto, tenor and bass sacbutts and a positive organ.  The program was based on repertoire from the late Renaissance/early Baroque, as well as modern compositions, all for double choirs or for a large number of vocal parts. So a sumptuous texture was the order of the day. Read th ..read more

State of the Art Light and Shade (Review) Aryan Mohseni | 22 November June 2022 As is often the case with the Sydney Chamber Choir, this concert presented music of vastly different periods in such a way as to emphasise continuity over change. In this case, it was the music of the early Baroque in Germany – including Franz Tunder and, of course, Heinrich Schutz – and the more contemporary – John Rutter and our very own Brooke Shelly. Read the full article classikON Sydney Chamber Choir, from the depths of Shade to the joy of Light Daniel Kaan | 2 November 2022 In the interest of full disclosur ..read more

State of the Art Innocence & Experience (Review) Aryan Mohseni | 29 June 2022 Old coalesces with the new. The program for this concert traversed temporal extremities – from music of the ars nova and ars subtilior which took hold of the Low Countries in the early Renaissance, to contemporary Australian choral music. It gave an opportunity for audiences to reflect on some essential similarities between these art forms, despite their apparent separation in time. Read the full article classikON Sydney Chamber Choir’s crisp rhythmic brilliance Jacqui Smith | 26 June 2022 What a treat to be abl ..read more

State of the Art Haydn’s Creation (Review) Aryan Mohseni | May 3, 2022 Haydn’s Creation is a spectacular oratorio that is not often performed in Australia. It is demanding from the perspective of both interpreter and performer. But this is precisely the sort of challenge that the Australian Haydn Ensemble relishes. With the aid of Roland Peelman’s innate musicality, the Ensemble, in conjunction with the 33-member Sydney Chamber Choir directed by Sam Allchurch, gave a performance that will be hard to match. Read the full article classikON A sustained ovation for The Creation Allan Holley | May ..read more

Photo: Wei Jiang classikON Review: Twist’s triumphant Australian Song Cycle Pepe Newton | November 21, 2021 It’s not every day you find yourself musically swept into a warm deep ocean looking up through a smack of jellyfish, or launched into a wheeling chattering flock of lorikeets as they careen over a rainforest valley, but from my seat in the Independent Theatre on Saturday evening I was genuinely transported by Joe Twist’s world premiere of An Australian Song Cycle, commissioned and performed by the Sydney Chamber Choir. Read the full article Limelight Garden of the Soul (Sydney Chamber ..read more

Australian composer Joe Twist. Photo by Pascal Halim Joe Twist writes about his An Australian Song Cycle in Limelight The work traverses a comprehensive and contrasting array of Australian voices over the last century, with each movement drawing on poets such as Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, Judith Wright, Michael Leunig, Les Murray and Oodgeroo Noonuccal. These poems are rich with distinctly Australian imagery, perfect for a choral setting, with each exploring different elements of our natural surrounds. Scored for choir, piano and cello, I’ve tried to highlight these musically. For Banjo Pa ..read more

Photo: Pepe Newton/classikON Sydney Morning Herald Standing ovation for major contribution to Australian choral music Peter McCallum | March 15, 2021 In his new Requiem, Paul Stanhope has interspersed and, in some cases, replaced the words of the traditional Latin Requiem with poems by five women. As Stanhope notes, the choice of female poets was not pre-planned but the end result of an instinctive set of decisions. The result is a work of nuanced expressive variety alternating between ritualised sorrow and reflection reminiscent of Britten’s War Requiem. This is a major contribution to Austr ..read more

Sydney Arts Guide Sydney Chamber Choir and the Muffat Collective: Handel’s Messiah @ City Recital Hall Paul Nolan | 18 March 2020 Sydney Chamber Choir drew upon its solid tradition of delivering polyphonic music from the Baroque and much earlier to present such moments with fluid, virtuosic ease. There was a wonderful swoop to such choruses and we once more  enjoyed the signature smooth delivery of counterpoint from this choir’s selected voices. This concert was one of the last in Sydney prior to closures of venues and cancellations for health reasons. We were fortunate to have heard it a ..read more

With three weeks to go until our performance of Handel's Messiah, we spoke to our four soloists to get their insights into why this extraordinary work continues to connect with singers and audiences alike. Amy Moore, soprano Lyric soprano Amy Moore moved to Australia from the UK in 2015. An accomplished soloist and ensemble singer, Amy enjoys a broad repertoire, with a particular focus on Baroque and contemporary music. She performs with Bach Akademie Australia, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Brandenburg Choir, Cantillation, and is a member of the Choir of St James King Street. She ..read more