Saturday 7 March 2026.

Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday)

Gloria – Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, 2026

Brett Wheymark, Artistic Director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, not only prepares his choristers to perfect readiness, he also analyses each hall in which the choir performs to achieve an innovative visual and a glorious acoustic experience for his loyal, dedicated fans. And for the season opener, Gloria: Vivaldi; Bach and Handel, the venue couldn’t have been a better option. On a balmy Saturday afternoon, the large wooden side doors at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay were flung open to allow a soft breeze and sparkling harbour glimpses. A perfect Sydney afternoon!

The Chamber Singers, as is often the case, were positioned around and amongst the audience as the excited pre-performance chatter filled the space, and then, the gentle surround-sound hissing began. This audience knew immediately it was the start of Deborah Cheetham Fraillon and Matthew Doyle’s, Tarimi Nulay – Long time living here, that introduces all their concerts – a mesmerising opening to the proceedings. They also knew it was time to listen, not talk. The choir group made their way to the stage, singing as they went – a stage positioned strategically in a corner of that vast magnificent space to magically create a “boom box” sound extravaganza. Wheymark genius!

After a short piece by Monteverdi, those famous opening bars of Vivaldi’s Gloria erupted. Trumpeter, Richard Fomison must have gasped at the cracking tempo set by Wheymark, as witnessed by his first attempt at the high semiquavers. But the band quickly gelled as the triumphant Glorias of the choir reverberated through the massive timber space. What a delight, those exhilarating repeated octave leaps, and Vivaldi’s genius in shifting the harmony by changing one note in the chord at a time, raising the excitement incrementally throughout the movement.

Beyond the famous part, more beauty from Vivaldi that is excruciatingly moving in the 2nd movement, “And on earth peace to men of goodwill”. And if that wasn’t enough Laudamas te, sung by sopranos Lauren Lodge-Campbell and Angela Brun took us to a whole new level of aesthetic bliss. And the joy just kept on coming. Gloria really deserves to be performed more often for the ‘other’ movements alone.

Brett Wheymark – Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, 2026

The next item on the program was JS Bach’s Cantata No. 12, Weeping, Wailing, Fretting, Fearing. You couldn’t find a more marked and fitting contrast to the exuberant joy of the opening work than this: Bach at his most introspective and contemplative reverence in hushed minor keys. And the volume went right down for the Alto (Hannah Fraser) Aria, Cross and crown are bound together, permitting the noises from outside to filter through the hall. Walsh Bay is a busy part of the harbour and the occasional helicopter fly-over and the steady ‘doof-doof’ of a passing party boat meant that the experience was weirdly morphing in to a post-modern experience. However, the intricate beauty of Bach can never be compromised and the fleeting distraction passed. It wasn’t until the final Choral, What God does, is well done, that we discovered a major key to transport us with a jolly buoyancy into the interval.

HANDEL’s Dixit Dominus was the final piece in the program, and it exploded into our ears with the Chamber Singers’ repetition of the word ‘Dixit’: an evocative plosive sound. We get the sense we are in for a bumpy night (thanks Bette Davis) with the text, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Well, it is the Old Testament. And if that’s not convincing enough there’s this: “He will judge among the nations, smashing their skulls; he will heap the whole world with corpses.” The 22 year old Handel took this as an invitation to cast musical fire and brimstone throughout the work, and the choir relished the challenge to deliver it. All the soloists also got to shine in this work, but it required a lot of movement on and off stage.

The orchestra was admirable throughout, but special mention has to go the basso continuo section of Organ (David Drury) and Cello (Anthea Cottee) who did a lot of the heavy lifting. it is always disappointing when a brilliant concert such as Gloria only gets a single performance, but it seems Brett Wheymark and the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs will not shy away from a lot of hard work to bring such joy and such beautiful music into our lives, a place where angels sing..