Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

A concert of three contemporary Australian choral works on religious themes by composers Nicholas Buc and Christopher Willcock. The Mary MacKillop Mass is an exciting symphonic work by Nicholas Buc for choir, symphony orchestra and soloists. With words selected to represent various chapters of Mary’s life, interspersed with the words of the traditional Mass, this concert work reflects the teachings, personal struggles and beliefs of the extraordinary woman who recently became Australia’s first Saint.

A tireless champion of education, as well as the fearless protector of the poor, the weak, the homeless and the oppressed, Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne, and died on August 8th,1909. Excommunicated, and later welcomed back to the Church, Mary was canonised on 17 October 2010 at the Vatican, as Saint Mary of the Cross.

Journey of the Wise Men is an exciting cantata describing the story of the prophesy of the Messiah, the journey of the fabled Magi to Bethlehem, and Herod’s slaughter of the innocents. Buc’s imaginative orchestration and breadth of compositional styles provides a gripping setting for this highly dramatic text, which will be complemented by Christopher Willcock’s beautiful yet haunting Five Days Old, based on the Christmas poem by Francis Webb.

Performers: Andrew Wailes conductor, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Melbourne University Choral Society, Box Hill Chorale, Nicholas Dinopoulos baritone

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on 0412 158 247 or by email to tickets@mucs.aicsa.org.au

Featured Australian Works

	Five days old : for SATB choir and orchestra (1998) by Christopher Willcock
	Journey of the Wise Men by Nicholas Buc
	The Mary McKillop Mass by Nicholas Buc