Baroque top of the pops from the Queensland Choir

BAROQUE top of the pops, still widely used today in everything from Eurovision to TV series such as Outlander, will have star billing when the Queensland Choir presents Baroque Brilliance at Brisbane's St Stephen's Cathedral on April 27.

The Queensland Choir’s musical director Kevin Power said Brisbane audiences have the chance to hear the original hits in all their power and glory when five outstanding young soloists perform with the choir and the Sinfonia of St Andrew's for the concert.

“Contemporary audiences and lovers of popular culture may be surprised to know that they can thank composers Bach, Handel and Charpentier for the theme music of films and TV shows such as The Crown, The Young Victoria and Outlander,” Mr Power said.

Baroque Brilliance will showcase uplifting and enjoyable classics including Handel's Zadok the Priest, Bach's Magnificat in D, Vivaldi’s Sinfonia in G, and the lesser known Te Deum in D by Charpentier, which was only rediscovered in 1953.

 “These gems of the Baroque era are part of the fabric of popular culture. Anyone who watches the Eurovision Song Contest will recognise Charpentier’s Te Deum, which is Eurovision’s signature tune and was originally written to celebrate a French military victory in 1692,” Mr Power said.

“Zadok the Priest has been sung at the coronation of every British monarch since Handel wrote it in 1727, and has featured in other royal weddings including that of Danish Crown Prince Frederik to Princess Mary.

“Movie-goers will find they know the works, which have featured in films and TV shows including The Crown, The Young Victoria, Outlander, and even, in modified form, The Mentalist.

The concert also offers the chance to hear outstanding up-and-coming young singers whose repertoires range from classical to pop. They are:

Soprano Irena Lysiuk, 25, of Kelvin Grove, a classically-trained soprano with more than 15 years of performance experience, who has also toured nationally and internationally with Brisbane pop groups Avaberee and Charlie Mayfair. Irene played the Pussycat in the new opera The Owl and the Pussycat at the CommGames Festival. She has also recorded an original album with Avaberee in Los Angeles and has sung with Opera Queensland.

Soprano Cassandra Wright, of Annerley, is a final year Bachelor of Music student at the Queensland Conservatorium and has sung with The Seven Sopranos, with the Townsville Barrier Reef Orchestra and has won numerous competitions including the Queensland Vocal Competition’s Lieder and Sacred sections in 2017. She was also the winner of the 2016 Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition.

Brisbane-based mezzo-soprano Melissa Gregory, of Mt Gravatt, is a first-class honours graduate from the Queensland Conservatorium and recently made her Opera Queensland debut in Mozart Airborne with Expressions Dance Company. She was the winner of the Conservatorium’s 2015 Elizabeth Muir Postgraduate Prize, has performed with the Song Company, the Bach Society of Queensland and was a finalist in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria Competition and the Wollongong Operatic Aria Competition.

Originally from Newcastle, tenor Phillip Costovski, of Nundah, is a Conservatorium student who has performed in various roles including Mayor Upfold in film director Bruce Beresford’s production of Albert Herring, the new opera Tales of Scheherazade alongside acclaimed Australian baritone Jeffrey Black, and will premiere the role of Henry in Paul Dean’s new opera Dry River Run as part of the Brisbane Festival.

Bass Oliver Boyd, from Collingwood Park, recently completed post-graduate studies in opera performance at the Conservatorium and plans to travel to Europe to continue his studies in Germany. Oliver has sung major roles in productions including the world premiere of Floods: A Travelling Opera, Bruce Beresford’s production of Britten’s Albert Herring, and in concert with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He has sung with ensembles around Australia and overseas and won awards including first prize and audience prize at the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic aria competition and was a finalist in the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto competition.

“Brisbane offers an amazing range of talented performers, many of whom have gone on to win acclaim internationally, and we are fortunate to be able to enjoy and share the experience as these young, rising stars showcase their talents to local audiences,” Mr Power said.

THE Queensland Choir presents Baroque Brilliance is on Friday, April 27, 2018, from 7.30pm at the Cathedral of St Stephen, Elizabeth St, Brisbane.

Tickets: $45-$55, available from 4MBS ticketing.

www.4mbs.com.au

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