Manly Warringah Choir is delighted to be taking part in the Australian Premiere of Granados’ recently found work, The Song of the Stars. The performance will take place at the Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Tuesday March 24th at 7.00pm.  The work is the subject of research by Lecturer at the Conservatorium, Carolina Estrada, and will be performed again on Saturday May 9th as part of the Choir’s own concert at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel, Manly.

Although entry to the performance on March 24th is free, audience members are encouraged to book in advance and to make a donation towards the funding for Carolina’s research.

For full details of the performance on March 24th, click here.

For details of the performance and links to further details of Carolina’s research project, click here.

For an article on how the music was lost and then was found again, click here.

Last Thursday’s rehearsal focused on Granados’ Song of the Stars. The choral score is intimidating at first sight (three choirs and sub-divisions within each voice), but it made a lot more sense once we had sung it through a few times.

The piano part at the concerts will be played by Carolina Estrada, who is researching Granados’ lesser known works at the Sydney Conservatorium.  She came to give a flavour of the piano part, and to assist our pronunciation of the Catalan text.

Thank you to Choir member Linde Macpherson for sourcing more information on the piece and a translation of the text.

Noteworthy Issue 10 has been published, with topical articles on the music for the next concert, reflections on singing Messiah, a concert review and other items of MWC interest.

If you have not received a copy by email, you can download it here.

Last night’s rehearsal was notable for many things.  Two stand out for me. Firstly, it was good to have Carolina Estrada present, not only to guide us through unfamiliar pronunciation of the Catalan text, but also to tell us something of Granados’s life and what she feels he was expressing in the Song of the Stars.

Secondly, so as to create the two choirs required for the Song of the Stars, we were all moved around – what a shock!  I am used to sitting in the front row, where  I get quite cross when Carlos stops beating time and people behind me carry on singing.  Last night I was relegated to the back row, and guess who carried on singing when Carlos stopped conducting – yes, of course, it was me.  I simply had not realised how with your head in the score in the back row you do not see Carlos’ arm movements from the corner of your eye, as you can in the front row.  So, maybe we should allow ourselves to be moved around more often, so as not to get too set in our own ways.

Rehearsals for our next concerts started on Thursday January 22nd. The Choir was at full strength with around 70 current members plus two prospective members.  It was great to be back singing again, and to catch up with old friends.

Haydn’s Mass in a Time of War proved to be a piece with lots of colour and contrast.  In keeping with much good music, it looks straightforward, but in reality there were some changes in key which challenged the sight-reading skills of even some of our our more experienced singers.

Next week (January 29th) we will get to know more about the two Spanish pieces, Song of the Stars by Granados and Song of the Birds by Casals, when Carolina Estrada  from the Sydney Conservatorium comes to introduce them to us and to share something of her research into how they came to be composed.