We've had a couple of interesting projects recently: performing in Sydney as part of the Menage series with an 'early music meets sound art' programme; and our Advent concert with an emphasis on Spanish mediaeval and renaissance material, which got us fired up to investigate more of this repertoire for our forthcoming CD. Have a listen to Belial vocatur from the Codex Las Huelgas, recorded at the Advent concert in Canberra and try to imagine 100 Cistercian nuns indulging in illegal polyphony as the vocal lines belt around and bump into each other. Far too much fun.
The latest was our concert of music from German-speaking countries. Here we are, rehearsing in George's kitchen with Heinrich Isaac's evergreen number Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen:
And here's the George's kitchen clip of the PSC having a go at several versions of In Dulci Jubilo in rapid succession: Anon.,Praetorius, Buxtehude and Bach.
David has sung with a number of highly-regarded ensembles in Australia and overseas in Cambridge, UK, both as a counter-tenor and as a baritone. He held a choral scholarship with the renowned Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge in 2003-4 (under conductor Daniel Hyde), and sang under Edward Wickham in the Cambridge Medieval Music Group also in that year. In Australia, he has sung on scholarship with the choir of St James Church, King Street, under David Drury and with the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral. He also has performed with many other Australian groups, such as the Sydney Chamber Choir, including in their recent collaboration with UK-based group The Tallis Scholars.
As a composer, David's work is informed by Renaissance and Mediaeval music. Recordings of his solo performances, and recordings of performances of his compositions as well as the sheet music for his compositions and arrangements are freely available from his personal website, www.davidyardley.net.
David Mackay
tenor
David Mackay has performed as a conductor and soloist in Australia and the United Kingdom, including work with Opera Australia, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney Chamber Choir, the Sydney Chamber Orchestra, Nova Camerata, the choir of St James Church, King Street, the choir of St Simon Zelotes, Chelsea, and the Guys and St Thomas' Hospitals Orchestra and Choir. He was the founding Music Director of the Goodenough Chamber Orchestra and Voices in London, for whom he commissioned Kasper Cornish's oratorio The Wanderer, for baritone, chorus and orchestra.
He is also active as a composer. His first disc, The Bethlehem Road – also featuring compositions by David Yardley – was released in 2002. A second disc (working title Miniatures) is due for release during 2007.
In 2007, he appears with the Pocket Score Company, and sang the Evangelist in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion on Good Friday. He is the Musical Director of the Canberra Chamber Choir.
George Brenan
tenor
George Brenan has been singing in church and chamber choirs since the age of 8, when he started training as a treble with Brisbane’s Holy Trinity, Fortitude Valley. In more recent years he has sung with the choir of St James King Street in Sydney, and St Mary’s Kangaroo Point and St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane. Also in Brisbane, he performed in a number of recordings and national broadcasts involving ensembles such as the Quodlibet Singers and Canticum, and the specialist baroque ensemble Cantilena.
He has appeared as soloist in diverse works from the chamber music repertoire, including larger works by Schütz, Buxtehude, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Britten. A relatively new arrival in Canberra, he has performed most recently with the Canberra Handel Choir. He has a particular interest in the pre-baroque, and post-20th century repertoire from north-eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Ian Blake
bass
Ian enjoys folk music, early music and electronica, and his own music often shows traces of all three: he has worked as a composer for theatre, film, chamber music, dance and public art projects, while his production and sound engineering skills have earned him a Gold Disc and an ARIA nomination.
Originally from London, Ian made his Covent Garden debut at the age of 13, but hasn't had a gig there since: however, his subsequent career has been varied and far-ranging... mainly in the folk and world music scene with, amongst others, Pyewackett, Andrew Cronshaw, June Tabor, Michelle Shocked, and the Mellstock Band; in venues from Alaska to Zanzibar. Since moving to Australia, Ian has toured extensively with Eric Bogle and produced two of Eric's CDs at his Canberra studio.
Ian has produced award-winning records for children, many for the ABC: his multi-instrumental abilities and arranging skills have contributed to some classics, notably with Mike Jackson.
In 2005 he received an ACT Creative Arts Fellowship and is now pursuing a PhD in composition and sound art at the Australian National University. He was awarded the 2006 National Folk Fellowship which led to a live/electroacoustic piece based on material from the children's folklore collections at the National Library, performed at the 2007 National Folk Festival.
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 162 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001
Where traditions are not so rare; Sea, country and works scent the air; A multitude of monuments, Planted tubs and patterned pavements.
The longish pedestrian malls; The remnants of defensive walls; Historic buildings are a gauge Of the respect for heritage.
Wheat, rape and pines in the fields; Estuaries guarded by shields; Long sandy beaches and wide scenes; Romantic-ruin go-betweens.
Rivers in parts licked by trees, Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries, And crossed by practical delights - Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.
Fine churches headed at Durham; Football kits ad infinitum; Kept castles - one for study; Masonry behind masonry.
And, with moulding-works out that way, It’s somewhere for a longer stay..?
!Wichtig! Unser neues Album „Rebels & Rovers“ erscheint am 24.07.2009 im Handel. Wir laden alle herzlich ein, beim Preview auf Radio Corax am Mittwoch, dem 15.07.2009 um 20.00 Uhr live dabei zu sein. Livestream unter: www.radiocorax.de.
Un placer encontraros aqui y disfrutar de vuestro magnifico trabajo. Un fuerte abrazo desde Extremadura, España, de vuestros amigos de Aulaga Folk. Juan Carlos
Un petit coucou en passant sur ta page Nous sommes ravis de te compter parmis nos amis ! Myspace est un fabuleux moyen pour découvrir diverses passions et projets.
Nous présentons un hommage à Georges BRASSENS Tu peux nous rendre visite, laisser un petit message et présenter ta page à nos amis.
Hi and thanks for the friendship! We go back in the studio and do the final sessions in our deconstruction of John Dowland’s galliards in December. Material from the September sessions up on the site right now. The Black Bile Galliards/Stefan Östersjö and Natasha Barrett
Hi, thank you for the invitation. Your music is very nice, your voices splendid and "work" very well together. The result is really impressive ! Hope we might ear you "live" one of these days. All the best, Michel
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