Choir of St James’: Capitivity & Freedom
The Choir of St James’, directed by Warren Trevelyan-Jones, performs Capitivity & Freedom, music for Lent by William Byrd, Philip Moore and many others, exploring themes of captivity and freedom, personal struggle and renewal.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in a Nazi concentration camp in April 1945, only weeks before the camp was liberated. Philip Moore’s sensitive settings of excepts from Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison capture the author’s faith and doubt, hope and despair. Similarly, the whole gamut of human emotion is on display in Byrd’s setting of Savonarola’s meditation on Psalm 51 Infelix ego as the Italian priest endured horrific torture and faced imminent death.
Preceding the concert at 3:00pm is the St James’ Institute event, Captivity and Freedom in the Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dr Katherine Firth presents a seminar on the theologian’s writings, which invite us to ask what captivity really means, and what it is to have freedom.
Following the concert at 6.30 pm, is Cocktails in the Crypt, a fundraising event for the St James’ Organ Appeal.
The Choir of St James’, directed by Warren Trevelyan-Jones, is one of the finest choirs in Australia and one of the oldest musical establishments in Australia, linked to the earliest days of the colony of New South Wales; some of its early members were convicts. The Choir maintains a schedule of regular weekly choral services, Sunday Cantata Services, Orchestral Masses, and its own Subscription Concert Series. It has a large and varied repertoire and is committed to supporting new Australian works, including compositions written by past and present members of the Choir. Past collaborations include working with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players, The Tallis Scholars, The King’s Singers, Opera Australia, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Baroque Brass, The Australian Haydn Ensemble, and soloists Yvonne Kenny, Greta Bradman and Teddy Tahu Rhodes.
The Choir also undertakes a comprehensive programme of recording, broadcasting and touring, interstate and overseas. In 2018, it returned to Gallipoli and sang at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service, as well as performing to critical acclaim at the Coriole Music Festival in Adelaide, and in Hobart at Festival of Voices.
Tickets $50/$45
Bookings: (02) 8256 2222 or visit www.cityrecitalhall.com
The St James’ Institute presents Captivity and Freedom in the Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Saturday 6 April 2019, 3:00pm-4:30pm, St James’ Hall, Level 1, 169-171 Phillip Street, Sydney.
Tickets $30/$25 (free for SJI Subscribers) | To book visit sjks.org.au/institute, email registrations@sjks.org.au or call (02) 8227 1305.
Cocktails in the Crypt | A fundraising event for the St James’ Organ Appeal, following the Concert – 6:30pm
Tickets $30 | To book, visit cocktailsinthecrypt.eventbrite.com.au, email stjamesfdnorganappeal@gmail.com or phone 8227 1300
