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Solander - Sydney Chamber Choir

Event

Solander - Sydney Chamber Choir

  • Date: Saturday, 12 February 2022, 7:30pm
  • Venue: The Governors Centre — 558 Cleveland St, Moore Park, NSW
  • Tickets: $75 AUD and parking is $12 paid at entry from Cleveland Street, Moore Park — Tickets can be purchased online

Event Details

You are invited to experience the World Premiere of an exciting new Australian composition. Solander, a musical celebration of the great Swedish botanist, Daniel Solander (1733-1782) who accompanied Cook on his first Pacific voyage. It will be performed by the Sydney Chamber Choir directed by Sam Allchurch. Composer Kate Reid, text and lyrics Rodney Fisher and Kate Reid, narrator John Gaden.

Via the composer, Kate Reid: I was first drawn to the story of Daniel Solander, the highly acclaimed Swedish botanist and talented linguist, after many visits to Sweden, where I had the opportunity to appreciate the diversity of its people, the splendid landscape and the extreme winters - vastly different from the world that I was used to on the other side of the earth.   This song cycle is written in celebration of Solander’s important contribution to scientific discovery and the great courage and commitment it demanded from him.   

It begins with Solander’s childhood in the north of Sweden.  It opens with a gentle reference to the indigenous people of northern Sweden, the Sami, singing a lullaby. It goes on to follow him on his two-year journey to Australia on the Endeavour as assistant to Joseph Banks in 1768.  It concludes with a farewell to Solander, where we hear the same Sami motif return in the final bars.

There are seven movements for a combination of voices, ranging from two soloists to full SATB choir.  The only instrument is a vibraphone played by Claire Edwardes.  The movements are linked by a narrative spoken by John Gaden.  Rodney Fisher has provided the beautiful narrative and many of the lyrics.  

I have been moved to respond to Solander’s life story and to acknowledge, through my music, this extraordinary individual whose work, in spite of its significance and its relevance here, remains relatively unknown in Australia today.

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website

Featured Australian Works

Solander : SATB choir with accompaniment by Kate Reid and Rodney Fisher — World premiere
— performed by Sam Allchurch and Sydney Chamber Choir

Featured artists

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