Christmas Adjacent (Elder Conservatorium Chorale)

The Elder Conservatorium Chorale finished the year with a Christmas concert in the beautiful acoustic of St. John's Church, Halifax Street, last Sunday 24 November.

In a concert curiously titled Christmas Adjacent, the 65-voice Chorale (conducted by Associate Professor Carl Crossin and accompanied by Karl Geiger on piano and organ) presented a varied program of mostly Christmas music across a wide range of styles, and including music by Palestrina, John Tavener, Richard Rodney Bennet and Vaughan Williams. Our newest member of the Conservatorium staff, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, sang the baritone solo in Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the concert however, was the fact that four of the works were by student composers (Kayla Hinton, Kristopher Man and Charlie Wells) – all premiere performances – and some of the music was conducted by student conductors (Willow Barrett, Kayla Hinton, Jo Wei En Loh, Jordan Newsham, Tim Shephard and Charlie Wells).

The concert was a wonderful opportunity for Chorale to shine but it was also a rich display of the wealth of the Conservatorium's student creative talent.