Voyces concert a window into fabulous Aussie music

Voyces is a group of 30-or-so young things directed by Dr Robert Braham and dedicated to high quality choral music. Five years in and Voyces has the hallmarks of a well-established group with a loyal following – their Saturday night concert at Government House Ballroom sold out! What really sets them apart is their emphasis on music by Australian composers and their concert was a window into the fabulous music currently being written for choral groups.

Vocyes. photo Nik Babic

The concert opened with a lively version of Waltzing Matilda by Ruth McCall, of Song Company fame. A chant in Aboriginal dialect set up a rhythmic dance feel which contrasted with spooky harmonies for “And his ghost can be heard...”. The choir sang with energy and proved themselves adept at harmonic overtone singing, a vocal technique requiring the singer to manipulate their vocal cavity to produce multiple sounds from the harmonic series. It gave an otherworldly feel and was part of the melting pot of ideas McCall drew on in this quirky piece.

The concert covered a wide variety of poetry including Henry Lawson’s On the Night Train, set by Joseph Twist who also wrote an haunting Lament using Latin text from Giacomo Carissimi’s oratorio Jephte and underpinned by a rhapsodic cello solo performed by Anna Sarcich.

Poetry by Perth’s Kevin Gillam was the inspiration for Iain Grandage’s Wheatbelt, a depiction of the troubled beauty of a rural landscape. The use of percussion and onomatopoeia to depict insects, wind and birds created an evocative sound world offset by the denseness of close harmonies. Printing Gillam’s lyrics in the program notes would’ve deepened the experience even further. Hush had similarly clever use of vocal percussion with Grandage’s characteristic fast rhythmic text settings bursting into soaring lyrical melodies.

As the program continued it became clear that the choir have a penchant for strong, enveloping soundscapes. Dan Walker’s Vast Sea. Sleeping Mother had a rocking string quartet accompaniment amplified by percussion, piano and long unsion vocal lines to create the vast rolling of the sea. Walker’s Hooves of Fate was the group’s first commission in 2015 and Walker’s bold nine-part choral writing and the pounding of hooves conveyed by the percussion packed a hefty dramatic punch. Until now the choir had been singing with a clean, contained quality but after interval the repertoire demanded more and Braham drew a broader, more symphonic choral sound from the group.

Ben Van Tienen’s accessible harmonic language in Across the Dark matched the direct whimsy of Leunig’s poetry. A tongue in cheek tango about the dangerous animal known as Australian politics (excellent piano accompaniment by Ann Clarke) had the audience chuckling while the thick homophonic sound of Lonely Mother Earth made a powerful lament. Van Tienen’s I Carry Your Heart With Me and Matthew Orlovich’s effervescent Butterflies Dance (which suffered occasional pitch issues) were gentle interludes. The concert concluded with the choir at full throttle for Orlovich’s dense setting of Judith Wright’s poem Night. A didgeridoo solo by Steve Richter established a weighty pulse and the piece unfolded with the ponderous density of Wright’s ‘great tree’ as four percussionists added their layers to the choir, creating a stunning orchestral density.

Voyces debut album Hush 

It’s clear Voyces like their concerts to be a vivid aural experience and the good news is now you can take it home with you; the concert marked the launch of their debut album Hush, featuring the all-Australian repertoire we heard at the concert in a crisp, warm recording.

The Hush album is available from www.voyces.com.au, iTunes, Spotify and Google Play.
Voyces next concert is Tundra on September 16th. 

Celebrity Soft Spot Robert Braham and Voyces

Robert Braham has been conducting Perth choirs for decades with the kind of magic that can extract joyful, enthusiastic singing even from teenage school boys. His new ensemble Voyces is attracting attention for its clean, fresh sound. They have performed at the opening of the 2016 Perth International Arts Festival,  collaborated with artists the calibre of Emma Matthews and Sara Macliver and built a reputation for commissioning Australian composers. Voyces' debut album will be launched this week at a concert called Hush.

Robert Braham. Photos Nic Babic Photography

What music gets your heart racing?

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto springs to mind but virtuosic jazz playing is just as good. Wycliffe Gordon on trombone is a current favourite but I always come back to Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra where everyone is a virtuoso player.

What calms you down?

There are some wonderful current composers of choral music and vocal solos. Henryk Gorecki’s  Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (No. 3, Op. 36) for soprano and orchestra is just the ticket but on the a cappella choral side the works of Ola Gjeilo, Paul Mealor and others are both rich and calming at the same time. These and other modern choral composers know how to write so expressively for choir. Voyces will do some Ola Gjeila in their September concert.

What do you sing along to?

Symphonies mainly. I think this comes from my time as a horn player, especially the Romantic repertoire. Of course I cannot help but sing along with the symphonic choir repertoire; Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the works of Vaughan Williams. The list would be long. It is what I conducted for 14 years with the Perth Oratorio Choir.

What was your original vision behind the creation of Voyces choir?

The original vision behind Voyces was a youth aged choir who would sing a lot of contemporary classical music and especially Australian composers. After the WA Youth Music Association choir finished up a group of ex Trinity College boys who were members of the WAYMA Chorale wanted to start a new choir. It was based in St Joseph’s Church in Subiaco for a while and so was called the St Joseph’s Chamber Choir. Now we are based at Trinity College but still have our annual Christmas concert at St Joseph’s. The age of the choir has also expanded.

The choir membership has always been based on selecting highly trained musicians who get what it is to sing quality choral contemporary music. They don’t all have to be highly trained singers but they do need to have good musical skills and be quick learners. We love presenting quality modern choral works that our audience will enjoy. Sometimes that involves breaking down the traditional choir model of stand and sing. At our Spin concert, last year, we had several pieces where the choir moved around the stage while singing with images projected onto a screen and one piece where we started in the auditorium with a dramatized political narrative and ended on stage with some very intense singing. You can pretty well guarantee that the audience will hear works they have never heard before at a Voyces concert. Always interesting but also accessible. With our June 10 concert the program will be all Australian works including works for choir, percussion and strings. Every piece is novel and musically wonderful.

Voyces sing Night by Matthew Orlovich, 2016.

How are you preparing for the Hush concert on June 10th at the Government House Ballroom?

The preparation for the concert is tied in with the preparation for the recordings. The choir is doing such detailed work for the recording that it is ideal for concert preparation. The difference is we mainly sing concerts from memory but record with the scores so we have yet to test how the memorization is going. I am sure with all the recording time the memory work will almost take care of itself. Fingers crossed.

Voyces will also release an album as part of this concert – why did you decide to make an album?

Our public has been asking about a CD recording for quite a while now. It is time I think to put some of the repertoire down that we think defines who we are as a choir. We were also very keen to record ‘Hooves of Fate’, a work we commissioned from Australian composer Dan Walker as well as other pieces that we either premiered, or, were versions of compositions that have not been recorded.

Voyces has commissioned and performed a significant amount of new choral music in the five years since its inception. Why is it important to be singing music by contemporary Australian composers?

There are wonderful young and established Australian composers writing choral music. There are also a multitude of good choirs in Australia these days. They should be championing Australian music. I  love building the relationship between a choir and a composer. It is a very personal thing having music written for your choir. It also comes with great challenges and ultimately  (even with an open conversation between the composer and yourself) the end result can still be full of wonderful musical surprises. I have never been disappointed with a commissioned work. You have to trust but also be prepared to take a risk. 

At Trinity College we commissioned Paul Jarman to write a work for the Senior Chorale for our USA tour. Paul warned me that it was not what our original intentions had been but thought I and more importantly the boys would love it. He even left a section open to workshop with the boys over a weekend. By the end of the weekend the boys owned and knew the piece. It was a great hit. If anyone has a youth male choir try it. It is called ‘Let Go of My Hand’.

Mark Applebaum says music should above all else be interesting. What do you think is the most important role of music?

That is the million-dollar question. Music is tied up with life, with the evolution of humans since before language. It is a part of every culture. It represents the extremes of emotion, it lifts us and it calms us. It is a great discipline to be involved with for there are so many skills in the art of music making. It lights up more of the brain than most other human activities so it has to be mentally healthy as well. It is something we all should have in our lives at some level. I think it was the great conductor Zubin Mehta commenting on an orchestral concert in the middle east who said something like: while the audience is absorbed in the music they at least have peace in their lives. It is a nice thought.

Voyces with Sara Macliver at St Joseph's Church Subiaco

You have a soft spot for choral music – why the voice?

Choirs were not my first choice of music making. I sang at school but mainly played orchestral music through university. Eight years in the orchestral pit with the Western Australian Arts Orchestra playing for opera in particular was a great education watching conductors and singers interact. My first real conducting work was in music theatre. From there I took on the Perth Oratorio Choir and discovered a whole world of large-scale choral music. So getting into choral work happened slowly at first and was paralleled by conducting opportunities. 

Your day job is director of music at Trinity College. The only time most Aussies practice communal singing (!) is at the footy – how do you go about teaching school boys to sing?

There is a great culture of singing at Trinity established over many years. Boys need to be given the chance to sing with other boys and the more the merrier. If you can get them through the vocal transition successfully they progress from loving their treble voices to loving their mature voices. They love bold sounds, they love rich harmonies and they love rhythmic interest. And if they love it they bring their mates. If you can build a culture where the whole senior school sings then developing expressive choral singing in teenage boys is just a refinement. It is always hard work but once they are hooked with quality repertoire there is no turning back. We also make sure the younger boys get the opportunity to hear the older boys. Aspiration means a lot in a boys’ school and a bit of competition never hurts.

Voyces perform Tanguendo by Oscar Escalada with 

dancers Geoff Hendrikse and Jelena Martinovic, 2016.

The choir will be heading to Choralfest later this month. What will your role be there?

Voyces is a guest choir at Choralfest. It is our second venture to the Australian National Choral Association festival. We will sing two separate programs of Australian music from our CD along with other fine Australian choirs. It is a great chance to network for the choristers and conductors and there will be wonderful international people there to work with and learn from. It is not often that choirs of this level actually get together and sing to a choral community so it is a real buzz. Always a bit of pressure but that will sharpen the performance.

Where did you learn the skills to direct a choir?

On the job would have to be the best answer to this question. Attending master classes and symposiums, observing and discussing conducting with other conductors and then implementing changes to what you do over many years. It is an ongoing process. Recently I attended the Vancouver Chamber Choir conductors’ symposium working with Jon Washburn. It was an intense week working with a professional choir but it was highly motivating.

Can you describe the unique sound of Voyces?

It is the sound of young, switched on musicians who love what they do. It is fresh, clean and always exciting.

Robert Braham

What is your favourite place in Perth?

I love our back garden. It is such a calming place to sit and enjoy. I have always loved the view of the city from Kings Park. It must be one of the best city views in Australia. I also love the combination of the old and new in some of Perth’s architecture – like St Mary’s Cathedral and of course the Mt Lawley strip for Saturday morning shopping.

Do you have a soft spot for anything else in life or is it all about the music?

I love art especially pastels and used to do quite a bit of drawing. Maybe it is something I will get back to when life is not so hectic. The gym has become quite addictive in recent years. I am also a sucker for good Nordic Noir and BBC dramas. Of course there is always the cricket.


Thank you to Robert Braham for participating in the Celebrity Soft Spot series. Voyces will launch their debut CD at the Hush concert on June 10th. For more information about upcoming concerts go to the Voyces website or check them out on Facebook.

June Gig Guide

June is a rich month of music for all the ages; dive in and enjoy! 

It is particularly action-packed  for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra who will present four mainstage orchestral concerts plus the explosive energy of Education Week with its multiple concerts for children and their families. 

On June 2/3rd WASO have a colourful program planned with Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun plus winner of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition Ayako Uehara  making her WASO debut performing Bartók’s Piano Concerto No.3. On the 9/10th the guest artist is Stefan Dohr, principal horn from the Berlin Philharmonic, performing Strauss' Horn Concerto - WOW! Then the world of jazz takes over with concerts on the 16/17th with leading Australian stage and screen stars in a modern and audacious take on all-time swing classics from Sinatra to Bublé. On the 30/1st Chopin expert Louis Lortie Plays Chopin’s Concerto no 1 in a program which also includes Dvorak's Seventh Symphony 

This year for Education Week (19-25th) WASO has invited award winning British composer and music educationist Paul Rissmann us for a week-long musical adventure exploring gorgeous children's books across a variety of  interactive programs. The concerts include school shows Sir Scallywag and the Golden Underpants, The Beat of Your Feet and The Lion Who Loved  plus a Conductor Masterclass with Ben Northey. The Rusty Orchestra is also back with a concert on the 24th June featuring community musicians playing alongside WASO players in a concert with the biggest amount of heart you're likely to hear.

If you have children come with us on Sunday 25th - we will be checking out the family concert The Beat of Your Feet, about a music-loving dog and cat and their musical adventure to find the Greatest Orchestra in the World. The concert is a mix of music, illustrated projections and audience participation, based on the book Stan and Mabel by Jason Chapman with vocals by Libby Hammer. 

Meanwhile the rest of the music community has some lovely offerings this month, including two particularly stunning vocal concerts: the Giovanni Consort singing French Chansons on the 4th, and   Voyces on the 10th celebrating their fifth anniversary with a concert of all-Australian music and the launch of their debut album Hush.

On the 11th there is a a triple whammy with the Darlington Trio offering Brahms, Musica Viva launching their national tour of the Pacifica Trio (including a world premiere by Nigel Westlake) and the experimental trio The Necks presented by Tura New Music.

Perth Chamber Orchestra (the little sister of Perth Symphony) is performing an intriguing concert in Midland on the 14th called Steampunk Mozart, which promises industrial-inspired music, food, wine, a sound installation and the magic of Mozart conducted by Jessica Gethin. Then in larger form the Perth Symphony Orchestra will also perform on the 27th with the WA Academy of Performing Arts Gospel Choir in a concert dedicated to the music of George Michael.

Also on at WAAPA this month is the second and third year students performance of 42nd Street opening on the 17th. 

Freeze Frame debuts with nineties grunge La Boheme

I just had to squeeze in one more review this month to make sure everyone heard about the debut opera by Freeze Frame Opera. WA’s new opera company promises to be to opera what 20/20 is to cricket: shaking up the opera experience with shorter, more accessible and exciting operas. The company, founded by soprano Harriet O’Shannessy, has generated much attention in Western Australia and tickets to their debut production of La Boheme sold out before the four-night season opened. Judging from the response on Thursday’s opening night the audience were not disappointed.

Puccini’s verismo opera depiction of 1830’s Parisian Bohemian life was condensed to 90 minutes and updated to the nineties. Director Rachel McDonald emphasised the grittiness and grime of the world of Mimi and Rodolfo.

Paul O'Neill (Rodolfo) and Harriet O'Shannessy (Mimi).
Photos c John Marshall, Terriffic Pictures

 Designer Robbie Harrold’s apartment set was filthy with its pizza boxes, dirty dishes, microwave popcorn and a derelict plastic Christmas tree taking me back to the student common room during my university days. The banter between Rodolfo and his three student flatmates involved food fights, beer, and bongs. Every inch of the small stage at the Camelot Theatre was used and the action often spilled into the audience. In Act 2 the theatre was transformed with a disco ball and fairy lights (Geoff Glencross) into Cafe Momus where Musetta was a singer and Rodolfo and his friends made a rowdy audience, provoking the owner and graffitiing obscenities on the chalk board. Musetta poured an entire bottle of champagne over herself during her titillating ‘Quando me’n vo’, much to the disbelieving delight of the audience and the agony of her ex-lover Marcello.

Lachlan Lawton (Schaunard)

Large sections of the opera were cut by music director Tommaso Pollio including the street scenes from Act 2, the orchestral opening to Act 3, the role of Alcindoro and most of the repeats within arias. But the relationships remained intact, and that is the edifice on which La Boheme hangs. Pollio performed Puccini’s condensed score from a baby grand piano, sounding clean, bright and with moments of real tenderness. I admit to being surprised by how well this worked; rather than feeling like the orchestra was missing, the piano instead enhanced the intimate cabaret/music hall feel.

Within all of this colour and energy the tumultuous relationship of Mimi and Rodolfo took centre stage thanks to immersive performances by Harriet O’Shannessy and Paul O’Neill. O’Shannessy’s Mimi was shy, sweet and sung with creamy depth, although her diction was missing some consonants. Her whisper-soft phrases in the tragic final act were golden hued. O’Neill also made great use of the intimate acoustics, reining in his quite voluptuous tenor for moments of candid vulnerability, particularly in his duet ‘O buon Marcello’. The famous tenor aria ‘Che gelida manina’ was sung with seemingly endless breath supply and magnificent lingering top notes.

Sam Roberts-Smith conveyed a tormented Marcello with a relaxed vocal delivery and mellow buttery tone. Naomi Johns was a gutsy Musetta, stealing the show in all the right ways whenever she was onstage. Paull-Anthony Keightley’s philosophical Colline was a grounding presence and foil to Lachlann Lawton’s drugged, somewhat callous Schaunard.

The cast and director took many liberties with the libretto but the condensed form and colloquial translation did the job of keeping the audience abreast of the banter and poetry unfolding onstage. And the poetic moments were heart wrenching, as out of the filth and anarchy shone humour and compassion, sung with immense beauty and committed acting. Opera at its best!

This review first published in Limelight magazine May 2017.

Trouble in Tahiti up close and personal in Perth's western suburbs

There was a moment on entering Lost and Found’s production of Bernstein’s Trouble and Tahiti when I hesitated. I was walking through a stranger’s house and instinctively turned to greet Dinah in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Then I remembered this was just a set and hurried past a boy at the kitchen table to take my seat in the patio.

This is the magic of Perth opera company Lost and Found: they present opera so physically and emotionally close to the audience that the work takes on an (often uncomfortable) personal resonance. Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess likes to plumb the psychological depths of opera and so Bernstein’s exploration of a loveless marriage is set in a suburban home in Perth’s affluent western suburbs where the lure of white goods and ‘silver screens’ is just as potent as it was in 1951.

Sam and Dinah have a picture perfect life but despite their possessions and accomplishments they are trapped in a dysfunctional marriage. From my seat on the patio I could see wilted roses in a vase, Junior (Rory McLaughlin) immersed in headphones and a screen and Dinah in the kitchen, the squeak of her sneakers on the polished floorboards the only noise in the otherwise deafening silence.

Helen Sherman (Dinah) with Christopher Tonkin (Sam) in the background. All photos c Kristoffer Myhre

Tyler Hill’s set design included stacks of removalist boxes - a catalogue of unused possessions and also an innovative backdrop for the vocal trio (Bernstein’s “Greek chorus born of the radio commercial”) who functioned as removalists. Kieran Lynch, Curtis Novacsek and Rachel Singer were dressed as tradies and crooned close harmonies, jazz rhythms and sugar-coated lyrics with velveteen smoothness while ticking off items required to live the American dream: ‘Sheridan sofa, Chippendale chair, bone chinaware, real solid silver’.

The entire 45 minute opera unfolded in the living room which converted to Sam’s office, the street and a cinema. Pianist Christopher van Tuinen accompanied from the adjoining lounge, his clean technique and tender phrasing creating subtle background atmosphere. The audience sat in raked seating in the patio with the double doors to the starkly lit home (lighting by Devon Lovelady) creating a cinema screen of sorts.

One of Lost and Found’s strengths has been its casting of local world class singers. This year the company has toured a production to Victoria (and Paris in 2018) and seems to be spreading its wings, which perhaps explains the use of internationally-based singers for this show. It is disappointing for the local talent but there was no argument that Sam and Dinah were magnificently cast.

Sam was sung by Australian baritone Christopher Tonkin who is resident principal with Hannover Staatsoper and Dinah by mezzo soprano Helen Sherman who splits her time between the UK and east-coast Australia. Tonkin’s creamy baritone and sweet falsetto were a treat to listen to in close proximity while his chiselled features and contemptuous body language gave an extra arrogance to ‘There’s a Law’, sung after winning a hand ball tournament and while leaning against the patio door dressed in nothing but stars and stripes swimmers.

Tonkin (Sam) singing There's a Law

Sherman’s secure delivery, crisp diction and fast vibrato could also melt into moments of tearful fragility. Her Island Magic tribute to the Pacific islands was sensational, sung cabaret-style in a camilla dress complete with a bubbling volcano (courtesy of a champagne bottle and some aspirin) around which she sashayed with riotous extravagance.

It was unclear whether Sam and Dinah were moving into or out of their house; rather they seemed to be waiting in between. The coldness of their home with its stark lighting and boxed possessions was a powerful metaphor of the uncertainty of their relationship. The kernel of the opera thus became the ‘talk’ Sam initiated in the final scene, where any hope of resolution was quickly avoided by his suggestion they go to the movies. Sam’s silver screen substitution for intimacy couldn’t be clearer to the audience watching with voyeuristic fascination from our cinema seats on the patio.

Trouble in Tahiti runs until May 20th. Tickets are sold out.

Women of Note at Bassendean Library and RTRFM

The public speaking gigs just keep rolling in and I'm loving it!

Bassendean Library have asked me to present at their Literary Salon on Wednesday 17th May - think musical soiree with High Tea, stunning music and scandalous stories from Australia's women composers. It's the perfect event to take your mother to for Mother's Day! I have also invited some local friends as Bassendean is just down the road from us in Guildford.

I'm heading into RTRFM tomorrow, book under my arm, to promote the Literary Salon. Tune in to 92.1FM at 10:10am to hear me chatting on Artbeat about Women of Note and why women composers are so inspiring and intrinsic to Australia's music history.

"Everything I've ever wanted to do would've been easier... had I been a boy. But never mind, I never paid much attention to it, I just marched in and there I was." Peggy Glanville-Hicks

"The world at large thinks a woman can't be creative. A woman can contribute in a special way. I don't think women want to write the same type of thing as men, but their contribution is no less important."  Margaret Sutherland

The Literary Salon is 6-8pm Wednesday 17th May at Bassendean Memorial Library. This is a free event but places are limited. Go online to book or contact baslib@bassendean.wa.gov.au 9279 2966 

The surprise highlight of the St George's Cathedral Choral Classics

St George’s Cathedral was strung with microphones for the first of four concerts throughout the year which will be broadcast on ABC Classic FM. It’s a testimony to director Joseph Nolan and the Cathedral Consort’s national reputation as a world class choir grounded in the crisp purity of the English choral tradition. The 21-piece Consort performed a program of choral classics spanning the 16th to 21st centuries with Faure’s Requiem as the centrepiece. The pews were reversed so the ensemble could perform from the Narthex on Friday night in close proximity to Stewart Smith in the organ loft.

Two 16th century works opened the program: Victoria’s Alma Redemptoris Mater with its intervals of open fourths and fifths so perfectly tuned the harmonics prickled my skin, and the dense polyphonic energy of Gibbons’ O Clap Your Hands.  Nolan conducted with pulsing energy although the section entries were not as precisely in unison as usual.

Smith’s striking organ chords gave a Gothic darkness to the opening of Faure’s Requiem and the work was rich with dramatic poise, notably the velveteen smoothness of the Amen concluding the Offertorium and the swell of sound to illuminate ‘et lux perpetua luceat eis’ in the Agnus Dei.

But the work wasn’t the musical centrepiece I was expecting. I missed the warmth of the orchestral accompaniment; the organ registrations were brittle, phrases clipped short and the rippling accompaniment to Sanctus (famously scored for harp and violin) felt too fast and mechanical. The soloists were tentative: baritone Andrew Foote warmed into the baritone role in his second solo and Edward Micro’s treble was pure and rounded but on the edge of cracking.

Instead William Walton’s The Twelve emerged as the highlight of the program. The biting harmonies and dramatic word painting of Walton’s anthem and mini cantata were sung with vigour and unity. Foote delivered a splendidly declamatory solo and Smith exploded into brillante organ arpeggios. The Consort sung with immaculate diction and rhythmic precision and the ensemble soloists were excellent, particularly the beautifully delivered soprano duo.

The spotlight on individual Consort singers was also the highlight of Charpentier’s Te Deum, providing a rare chance to hear the different timbres within this well-blended ensemble. The organ sat more organically in this arrangement. In fact the entire second half of the program was pristine, concluding with a setting of Ubi Caritas by Perry Joyce (a tenor from the Consort) which was a warmly mellow contrast to Handel’s Zadok the Priest where the choir sang with enormous volume underpinned by Smith’s virtuosic organ semiquavers.

Tune in to ABC Classic FM to hear the broadcast of this concert on Friday 12th May at midday.


This review first published in Limelight Magazine May 2017.