MUCS' Next Concert:

A Baroque Odyssey

Highlights from Handel's opera Acis and Galatea, Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, Vivaldi's Gloria in D major, Carissimi's Jephte, and Durante's Magnificat.

Featuring:
Siobhan Stagg, Kari Lyon: Sopranos
Peter De Jager: Continuo

Melbourne University Choral Society
Vivaldi String Quartet
Conducted by Andrew Wailes

Sunday, 6 June 2010, 2 PM, BMW Edge, Federation Square.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $18 for students/concessions. You can get them by contacting tickets@mucs.aicsa.org.au, or call 0423 784 182, or from any MUCS choristers.

Tickets are also available at door from 1 PM (unless sold out prior).

OFTEN heard as part of a composite choir, the Melbourne University Choral Society branches out on its own several times a year and on Sunday presented a program of four works, two of them Vivaldi favourites while more arcane material preceded interval.

Carissimi's Jephte is an early oratorio concerning a proto-Greek tragic situation from the Old Testament. Sopranos Siobhan Stagg and Louisa Hunter-Bradley negotiated the three female solo lines without much stress except on Hunter-Bradley's lower register; Robert Macfarlane gave his plangent tenor to the title role; and bass Nicholas Dinopoulos brought animation to some brief narrative contributions.

The choir responded with alacrity to conductor Andrew Wailes, moving smoothly through their responsibilities in the work's fast-moving narrative flow, the solid alto corps an impressive presence at exposed points.

More workmanlike performances came in the following Magnificat attributed to Pergolesi although some attention was distracted by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra strings. They made a satisfying, energetic sound in full orchestra passages, yet both sets of violins were found wavering in leaner-scored passages.

A genial program-filler came with the Vivaldi Two-Trumpet Concerto, Wailes accommodating to his soloists who handled the bouncy, high-pitched writing with fair success.

The afternoon ended happily with a striking reading of the composer's Gloria, Hunter-Bradley relishing the opposed emotional worlds of the two concluding alto arias.

Here, the benefits of having a solid force of young tenors shone through, the MUCS young men producing a clear and unstrained contribution.

Review Source

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Visit our official tour website for an archive of our unforgettable 3 weeks trip in Europe (15 Jan - 4 Feb).

Video clips from our past performances:

• Rachmaninov's Bogoroditse Devo
• 'Dona nobis pacem' from Haydn's Nelson Mass
• The final moments of Karl Jenkin's The Armed Man

Enjoy!

Come and attend MUCS rehearsals at Saint Mary's West Hall (near the corner of Elgin and Swanston Sts, on Tin Alley). We rehearse every Wednesday from 6:45pm to 9.30pm. MUCS is a non-auditioned choir and always welcomes new members. Click here for more detailed information about joining MUCS. We are happy to answer any queries you may have. Just click here for details on how to contact us. We hope to see you there!