Intervarsity Choral Festival (Australia)

Last updated

Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival
GenreChoral Festival
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Rotates between Australian cities
Inaugurated1950
Previous event Adelaide
Next event Brisbane
Participants80–200
Website www.qiv2020.org.au

The Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival is an annual event in which members of university choirs from all state capitals of Australia and the national capital Canberra meet for two weeks to rehearse, socialise and perform combined concerts. The Festival also serves as the annual conference of the member choirs of AICSA, the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association

Contents

Overview

The festival is hosted by the AICSA choirs in a particular city on a rotational basis, the roster being maintained by AICSA's governing body, the Australian Intervarsity Choral Council (AIVCC). Most IVCFs have involved between 100 and 300 festival participants (choristers), who perform one to three concerts over the course of about two weeks, often accompanied by a major symphonic orchestra.

An example is the festival in 2008. IVCF was hosted by the Sydney University Musical Society [1] in association with other university choirs including Macquarie University Singers, [2] and the Music Society of the University of Technology (Sydney), [3] and performed a concert of English works including Thomas Tallis' 40-part motet Spem in Alium and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music , [4] and one of Australian works including a commission from Anne Boyd [5] (see Promotion of Australian Composition below).

Recent festivals

History

The first Australian InterVarsity Choral Festival took place in 1950 when the Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) hosted the Melbourne University Choral Society (MUCS) for a week-long rehearsal camp culminating in a combined concert. Other university choirs joined over the years, with all State and Territory capitals (except Darwin in the Northern Territory) having at least one member choir by 1973. The IVCF has since become the largest regularly occurring choral festival in Australia.

From 1975 on, when the 26th IVCF performed Verdi's Requiem in the then recently opened Sydney Opera House, IVCFs have striven to perform large-scale works to high standards with professional orchestras where appropriate and available. The 37th IVCF (Brisbane, 1986) was the first to work with its state's peak professional orchestra, the then Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the major work on the program being Herbert Howells' Hymnus Paradisi . Two years later (1988), to celebrate Australia's bicentennial, the 39th IVCF collaborated with the Sydney Philharmonia and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Charles Dutoit to perform Mahler's Symphony number 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand"), again in the Sydney Opera House.

More recently, the 55th IVCF (Perth, 2004) took part in the Perth International Arts Festival [7] to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Antonín Dvořák by performing his Stabat Mater with the Prague Chamber Orchestra [8] under Australian conductor Graham Abbott.

Promotion of Australian composition

IVCFs have a long if intermittent tradition of performance of works by Australian composers. At least sixteen performances since 1962 have included works commissioned by the festival, including Blue Gum Forest, composed by Matthew Orlovich for the 60th IVCF in 2009, Missa Pacifica by Anne Boyd, commissioned for the Sydney IVCF in 2008, and David Cassat's "Flesh to Stone" for semichorus and divisi main chorus, commissioned by the 56th IVCF (Melbourne) in 2005.

Many other InterVarsity Choral Festivals have included premiere performances of works, including Paul Stanhope's "Pirramimma" for three choirs and string ensemble, performed in 2007 in Brisbane through a collaboration between the 58th IVCF and the Bonyi International Youth Festival.

Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association
AbbreviationAICSA
Formation1973;50 years ago (1973)
PurposeMusical and social
Region served
Australia
Membership
University choral societies and student choirs
Website www.aicsa.org.au

Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association

The organization behind the IVCF is the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association (AICSA), which is a non-profit that represents each of the affiliated local choirs, with a purpose of encouraging choral music within tertiary academic settings. While officially formed in 1973, organizational cooperation to create the IVCF has existed since 1950. Since being officially formed, AICSA has acquired an increased role. Today, besides assisting in the organisation of the festival, it sponsors a database catalogue of music held by individual choirs, archives at the National Library of Australia, and internet resources via aicsa.org.au. [9] [10] The newsletter Erato was published 3-5 times a year from 1971 to 2012. [11]

Member societies

Melbourne University Choral Society (a founding member) singing Carmina Burana Mucs-carmina-burana-375x260.jpg
Melbourne University Choral Society (a founding member) singing Carmina Burana

As of September 2012, member societies were:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Williamson</span> Australian composer (1931–2003)

Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffaele Marcellino</span> Australian composer (born 1964)

Raffaele Marcellino is an Australian composer.

The Australian Children's Choir (ACC), founded in 1976, is a mixed-voice children's choir based in Melbourne, Australia, and consisting of some 200 boys and girls aged 5 to 20 in six different training ensembles. The choir has developed a strong reputation for its refined performances, varied repertoire and the production of fine young musicians, many of whom have gone on to pursue successful musical careers.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s largest choral organisation. It presents its own annual concert series in the Sydney Opera House the City Recital Hall, and other venues in New South Wales, as well as serving as chorus for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Bennett William Macpherson is an Australian conductor who received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for his services to music as a conductor and choirmaster.

Joseph Edward Twist is an Australian composer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who resides in the United States.

Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus (MGLC) was founded in Australia in 1990 by a gay performer and activist, Lawrence McGuire (1966). The chorus was first named 'AL sounds', due to its part affiliation with the Foundation. In April 1994, the name was changed to Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus, reflecting the chorus's organizational independence and a desire to further challenge stereotypes.

William Barton is an Aboriginal Australian didgeridoo player. He was born in Mount Isa, Queensland on 4 June 1981 and learned to play from his uncle, an elder of the Wannyi, Lardil and Kalkadunga tribes of Western Queensland. He is widely recognised as one of Australia's finest traditional didgeridoo players and a leading didgeridoo player in the classical world.

John Rodgers is a Brisbane-based Australian composer, improviser, violinist, pianist and guitarist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney University Musical Society</span> Australian university choir

The Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) is an undergraduate choral society at the University of Sydney. Founded in 1878, it is one of the oldest secular choirs in Australia, and the oldest Australian University Choir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Brumby</span> Australian composer and conductor

Colin James Brumby was an Australian composer and conductor.

RMIT Link is a division of RMIT University around student life and historically was an unincorporated entity, the campus union of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was formed in 1968 and currently consists of the following branches: Arts and Culture, Sport, City Fitness, "Recreation", "Orientation and Transition" and Administration.

Clare Maclean is a New Zealand composer. She received her formative musical training under Gillian Bibby at the Wellington Polytechnic. She then moved to Australia, where she studied composition in Sydney with Peter Sculthorpe. Singing with the Sydney University Chamber Choir under the direction of Nicholas Routley introduced her to the intricate Renaissance polyphony that affected her early compositions.

Andrew Keith Wailes is an Australian conductor and music director. Winner of the Australasian International Choral Conducting Competition in Brisbane in 1999, he is the current artistic director and Chief Conductor of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Melbourne University Choral Society, and music director and Conductor of the Box Hill Chorale. From 1999 to 2020 he served as artistic director of The Australian Children's Choir, and for a decade was Director of the Australian Catholic University Melbourne Campus Choir. He is a former president of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association, and is a former Artistic Administrator and artistic director of The Chamber Strings of Melbourne.

Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (RMP) is a 120-voice choir and orchestra in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1853, and is reportedly Australia's oldest surviving cultural organisation. The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic is Australia's oldest musical organisation that has been continuously existing for over 150 years. Among its programmes, there have been large-scale concerts celebrating classical composers including Bach, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic is managed under the direction of Andrew Wailes, the artistic director of the orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canberra Choral Society</span> Choir in Canberra

The Canberra Choral Society (CCS) is an auditioned symphonic choir in Canberra, Australia, and has become one of the most innovative and exciting choirs in the nation's capital. The choir is known both for traditional choral repertoire, and for surprising audiences with new music, new venues, and new ways to experience old favourites. Members range in ages and abilities, and are passionate about working towards performances that capture the impact and energy of the music while maintaining the clarity and subtlety required for excellence in every performance.

Bernadette Eileen Cullen is an Australian dramatic mezzo-soprano who has performed in Australia, Europe, and Asia.

Carl Crossin OAM is an Australian choral conductor, educator and composer. He is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the University of Adelaide. He was a director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music in the University of Adelaide in 2010–14.

Melbourne University Choral Society (MUCS) is a 120-voice choir in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.The choir is affiliated with the University of Melbourne, but is also open to non-students who are willing and able to perform to the choirs standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Ellis (composer)</span> Australian composer, conductor (born 1964)

George Ellis is an Australian conductor, composer and orchestrator. He presents concerts for international events with a broad range of styles from classical to pop/rock and jazz as well as presenting orchestral concerts for young audiences. He also lectures in conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a regular presenter of Sonic Journey for ABC Radio Sydney’s program with Simon Marnie.

References

  1. Sydney University Musical Society, Australia.
  2. Macquarie University Singers, Australia.
  3. Music Society of the University of Technology (Sydney) Archived 21 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine , Australia.
  4. SIV2008, Australia. Archived 19 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. SIV2008, Australia. Archived 19 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "65th Brisbane Intervarsity Choral Festival". 65th Brisbane Intervarsity Choral Festival. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  7. "Prague Chamber Orchestra: UWA Perth International Arts Festival 2004 - Perth, Western Australia". UWA Perth International Arts Festival. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  8. PKO – Prague Chamber Orchestra, Czech Republic.
  9. "Introduction". Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association. Archived from the original on 4 April 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  10. "Search of the National Library of Australia. "Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association"". National Library of Australia . Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  11. Australian Inter-Varsity Choral Societies (1971), Erato, Templestowe, Vic, retrieved 22 January 2013
  12. "AICSA Members". Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

Further reading

Coordinates: 27°29′50.81″S153°00′47.72″E / 27.4974472°S 153.0132556°E / -27.4974472; 153.0132556