Concerts

Upcoming concert

On Thursday October 20th, 2011, we will be performing 'French Kiss' in the Holme Refectory. Featuring French and English songs, winners of FrenchSoc's poetry competition, Zane Banks on classical guiter, and eight kilos of cheese, this is sure to be a wonderful night out.

Start time: 7pm

ACCESS $10
Concession $15
Adult $25

Past concerts

The Madrigal Society has featured in the following concerts:

In May of 2011, we presented 'Tales of Love and Adventure' in the main common room of the Women's College. The performance featured a variety of pieces with stories about jilted lovers, drunken monks and a fierce spanishman, to name a few. The concert also featured renaissance poetry, highlighting the use of storytelling as entertainment in that era.

In October 2010, we performed 'Prophecy and Profanity: Sacred and Secular Faces of Early Music' in the main common room of the Women's College. The repertoire was chosen to showcase the variety of sources from which the madrigalists drew their inspiration; from the worldly to the divine.

In May 2010, we presented 'Songs for the Lewd and the Lovesick; an evening of song about love, lost love and the pursuit of potential lovers. We performed works from the 14th to the 16th century, in the spirit of keeping alive the passion, poetry and humour of the early madrigal.

Our 10th anniversary concert 'Sidere Musica Eadem Mutato' in October 2009 brought back a choir of alumni, as well as the society's founding president, David Yardley, to sing together with the current society.

The first concert for 2009 was called 'An die Musik: a brief history of German music'. The programme featured composers of the German Renaissance, including Schutz, Scheidt and Hassler. The major work in the program was a cantata by Buxtehude, 'Das newgeborh'ne kindelein'.

In June 2008, the Society put on 'Sogno Transalpino' in the Holme Building Refectory, bringing together a cappella music from all corners of Europe. Some pieces were reflective and nostalgic in mood "L'emigrant" while others were more upbeat and optimistic "To shorten winter's sadness".

In October 2007 we performed Gabriel Faure's "Requiem in d minor", and Antonio Vivaldi's "Gloria", in collaboration with the Sydney University Symphony Orhcestra (SUSO). In addition to full choir and orchestra, our concert also featured the Great Hall's magnificent organ and solos performed by some of Sydney's leading young vocalists.

In June 2007 we performed Canta sol per amore, a collection of songs about love (and lack thereof). The title came from Josquin's piece "El grillo", about a cricket who sings only for love (and likes to drink). In this concert we branched out slightly from our typical secular repertoire, singing Tallis' "Nunc dimittis" and Lotti's stunning "Crucifixus".

We regularly feature in the end-of-year Chancellor’s Medieval Banquet, accompanied by the University Organist Amy Johansen where we give a concert of Christmas-themed music to a packed audience in the Great Hall. We sing both well- and not-so-well-known pieces, such as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and Eustache Du Caurroy's "Noël".

In 2006 the Society performed two a capella concerts, Lament and Exultation and Since 99. The repertoire for both consisted primarily of madrigals, celebrating our love for the music we've been singing since our foundation in 1999. Each concert also premiered a composition by one of our own choir members — Cliff Kerr's "Snowy Evening" in first semester and Karina Aivazian's "Inside This Heart of Mine" in second semester.

In second semester 2005, we presented the Mozart C minor mass, K427, in collaboration with SUSO.

Early in 2005, our concert Eclectica showcased a wide range of madrigals and other songs, secular and sacred — including music in seven different languages! With repertoire from this concert, we were awarded an Honourable Mention in the McDonald’s Performing Arts Challenge (formerly the City of Sydney Eisteddfod).

The first semester of 2004 culminated for the Society in our concert Oriana and Ariana, held in the Refectory of the Holme Building at the University of Sydney on Thursday, 10 June 2004. In second semester, also in the Refectory, we presented Orazio Vecchi's madrigal comedy "L’Amfiparnaso".

Our major production for 2003 was Offenbach's opera "The Tales of Hoffmann", which was performed in the York Theatre at the Seymour Theatre Centre in September as part of Verge, the University of Sydney Union's Performing Arts Festival. The production was conducted by Jennifer Condon and directed by William Evans. Anthony Phillips was the Producer and Kelly Fisher and David Gal the Executive Producers.

In 2002, we performed a concert entitled Sweet Adieu, which was held in the Holme Refectory. The concert showcased the choir as a whole as well as some smaller groups formed for the occasion, singing music both ancient and modern.

We performed Henry Purcell's opera "Dido & Aeneas" as part of the University's Sesquicentenary Celebrations in 2001. The performances, held in the Great Hall at the University, were conducted by David Mackay. The production was directed by Kelly Fisher and produced by David Gal, with Michelle Imison as Associate Producer.