About the Choir
The Oriana Chorale is one of Canberra's leading a cappella choirs. It was founded in 1977 by Roger Wellman who directed it until 1988. Its directors since then have included some of Canberra's most distinguished musicians such as Christopher Lyndon Gee, Bengt-Olov Palmqvist, Piroska Varga, Richard McIntyre, Sally McRae, Rowan Harvey-Martin, Tobias Cole and its current director David Mackay.
Oriana maintains a high reputation in Canberra and has won particular acclaim for its innovative programming, recognised by a Canberra Critics' Circle Award in 1991. It has given the Australian première performances of several works: Schnittke's Requiem in 1991, his Concerto for Choir in 1993, and Pärt's Miserere in 1992. In 1994, the Chorale performed the première of The Lunar Hare by Stephanos Malikides with the Canberra New Music Ensemble. The Chorale's première Australian performance of Rachmaninov's The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in 1998 was widely acclaimed, and later repeated for ABC FM's Sunday Live. Under the direction of Piroska Varga, Oriana recorded this work on CD.
In 1998, the Oriana Chorale presented The Century of the Republic, an imaginative presentation of choral music and the spoken word from seventeenth-century England. A similar program in 2001, Vale Victoria – A Commemoration of Queen Victoria's Reign through Music and the Spoken Word, marking both Australian Federation and the Queen's death, drew in part on rarely performed Australian works held in the National Library. In 2003 At the Court of Elizabeth I commemorated through sung and spoken performance the 400th anniversary of the end of the Queen's long reign. More recently, in November 2005, Oriana commemorated the end of the Second World War with music written to reflect on war, including Australian music and Pärt's Berliner Mass, and with spoken works by Australian and other war poets.
On Anzac Day 2000, at the reopening of the Hall of Memory of the Australian War Memorial following its restoration, the Oriana Chorale gave the première performance of They are here by Anthony Briggs, commissioned for the occasion by the ABC. The ceremony was broadcast live by ABC FM. The Chorale has sung They are here at the Memorial on several subsequent occasions.
In August 2005 Oriana presented a choral workshop conducted by the prominent Sydney conductor Brett Weymark and its own director at the time, Sally McRae. Attended by singers from Oriana and many other Canberra choirs, the workshop culminated in a concert, Voyage to the New World, whose varied program included Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, and Barber's Sure on this Shining Night, as well as works by the Australian composers Butterley and Orlovich.
In 2006, the Oriana Chorale took part in a joint concert with the choir of California State University Fullerton and gave three concerts, Kings’ Musick – choral music from the English court, Northern Lights – choral music from Finland and Scandinavia and A Venetian Christmas – choral music for the Christmas season from the Venetian school.
The Oriana Chorale celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its foundation with a concert comprising a selection of music from past concerts including favourite works by Victoria, Palestrina, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Vaughan Williams. Later in the year it gave highly-acclaimed performances of Vigilia by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara and An Australian Summer, a program of recent Australian choral works and poetry. The latter concert was chosen by W.L. Hoffmann of The Canberra Times as one of the “top 10 music performances in Canberra in 2007”.
In March 2009, Oriana took a new approach, singing a Choral Cabaret in Gunning Court House, the National Portrait Gallery and the Pialligo Estate Winery.
The Chorale normally presents three major concerts each year, often with associate artists. Oriana's other engagements have included performances from time to time at the Australian War Memorial, several live broadcasts for ABC FM and the memorial service in 2001 to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks in the US.
In 2008, our concert of music from the Renaissance was presented in association with two other Canberra choirs and our performance of Messiah at the end of the year was in association with the University of Canberra Chorale. In addition, the Oriana Chorale commissioned Australian composers Matthew Orlovich and Calvin Bowman each to compose two Christmas carols. The four new carols were premiered in the National Museum of Australia.
In 2009 Oriana Chorale presented concerts with notable variety. In March, it participated in an outstanding performance of Peter Sculthorpe’s Rites of Passage for the Canberra International Music Festival, which took place in the excellent acoustics of the Fitters’ Workshop, Kingston in the presence of the composer. This wonderful piece, first performed at the opening of the Sydney Opera House, was conducted by Roland Peelman. In September, Oriana Chorale was joined by The Resonants for a brilliant matching of Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, both conducted by Tobias Cole.
The year finished on a high note, in combined performances with the University of Canberra Chorale, conducted by Tobias Cole. The program consisted of Venetian Christmas music, including works by Giovanni Gabrielli, Heinrich Schütz, Claudio Monteverdi and Antonio Vivaldi.
In 2010, Oriana presented a varied season of music under its new Music Director David Mackay. In March, Songs of Sundrie Natures explored the world of Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and their contemporaries through music and the spoken word. As part of the Canberra International Music Festival, Oriana appeared with the Song Company under Roland Peelman to perform Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Virgine. In its October program, Alabaster, the choir performed 20th and 21st-century repertoire by Copland, Barber, Jackson, Howells, Pärt and others. In reviewing this concert, the Canberra Times described Oriana's performance as 'disciplined, courageous and joyful.'