CHRISTMAS CONCERT
VOX CALDERA specialist chamber choir, resident at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium, in Lismore. directed by Nicholas Routley, is known as one of our area’s premium choral ensembles.
And it has become tradition at The Music Estuary to have VOX CALDERA presenting a Christmas concert.
This years program features ‘Gloria’ in a setting by Francis Poulenc characteristic for its dramatic shifts between solemnity and lightheartedness.
Vox Caldera Chamber Choir
GAYNOR MORGAN, SOPRANO
Hamsa Arnold, ORGAN
Nicholas Routley, Director
DATE & TIME
SUNDAY, 14 DECEMBER
3:00 – 4:30 PM
TICKETS
GENERAL $25
CONCESSION $20
Children Free
PROGRAM
MICHAEL PRAETORIUS 1571-1621
Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Josquin des Prez 1450-1521
Agnus Dei from Missa L’Homme Arme
Gabriel Fauré 1845-1924
Pie Jesu – Soprano Solo
HEINRICH SCHüTz 1585-1672
Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Frieden fahren
ANDREW CARTER b. 1939
Toccata on ‘Veni Emmanuel’ – Organ Solo
Tomás Luis de Victoria 1548-1611
O Magnum Mysterium
Adolphe Adam 1803-1856
Cantique de Noël – Soprano Solo
SAMUEL BARBER 1910-1981
Sure on this Shining Night
Francis Poulenc 1899-1963
Gloria
Nicholas ROUTLEY, DIRECTOR
Nicholas was the founder director of the Sydney Chamber Choir for 30 years. During his time there he commissioned and premiered many Australian compositions, including works by Ross Edwards, Clare Maclean, Martin Wesley-Smith, Vincent Plush, and others.
He is now active in the Northern Rivers as a pianist, composer, and conductor. As a pianist he has partnered a series of great singers, including Hartley Newnham, Gaynor Morgan, Gerald English, and Lorina Gore. He has conducted many orchestras in Australia, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and orchestras in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Italy. His compositions include a clarinet concerto for David Thomas, a guitar concerto for Adrian Walter, and a cantata for baritone solo, choir, 2 pianos and percussion.
He is currently completing his three opera cycle on the Indian epic, Mahabharata.
GAYNOR MORGAN, SOPRANO
Gaynor studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Dram, London, and went on to complete the Guildhall Post-Graduate Opera Course under Johanna Peters. Gaynor also studied at the European Opera Centre in Belgium with the aid of scholarships from the Countess of Munster Trust.
Gaynor made her UK debut for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, singing Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro under the direction of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. She was then invited to make her Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut in the same role in 1991 under Sir Andrew Davis. At Glyndebourne, Gaynor also covered several major roles in the Festivalincluding Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, Zdenka in Arabella and Mrs Frestln in the World Premiere of The Electrification of The Soviet Union.
Gaynor performed roles throughout the UK with English Touring Opera including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Miss Wordsworth, Albert Herring, Papagena in Die Zauberflote, Nannetta Verdi’s Falstaff, under Ivor Bolton and Stephen Barlow. Norina for the Cheltenham Festival. For Music Theatre London, she sang Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at the Kammerspieltheater in Hamburg. Gaynor made her debut in France with Jean-Claude Malgloire and the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing singing Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte in Massy, Brest, and San Brieuc.
As a concert solist Gaynor has performed at major concert venues throughout the UK including the World Premiere of Elgar’s The Spanish Lady with Bryn Terfel at St John’s Smith Square, London. She has also sung the soprano solo in Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (recorded for BBC Radio 3).
Gaynor’s recordings include Milhaud’s Les Malheurs D’Orphee for ASV label with the Matrix Ensemble under Robert Ziegler and Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro for Auvidis Astree under Jean Claude Malgloire in Paris.
In 2005, Gaynor made her Australian Operatic debut with Opera Queensland in the role of the Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw. She also covered the role of the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze do Figaro, singing the final performance in the season. She has since covered the role for Opera Australia in Melbourne and Sydney. Other roles for Opera Queensland include Praskowia in Merry Widow, and First Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute.