July 11th, 2003
A sell-out success!
Parishioners, friends and visitors were treated to a rare delight last Friday night, when the sonorous tones of the Choir of Christ College Cambridge (UK) thrilled a capacity crowd of 500 people at St. Francis of Assisi Church Paddington.
The Choir of Christ College, directed by Dr. David Rowland is currently touring Australia presenting 13 performances in all. The concert at St. Francis of Assisi featured many treasures from the christian music tradition including a cappella motets by 16th Century English composer Thomas Tallis, the Funeral Sentences of Henry Purcell, the inspired setting of Ps.117 "Lobe den Herrn" by J.S. Bach, Handel's "As Pants the hart" and the hauntingly ethereal "Requiem" by Herbert Howells (1892-1983).
Following rapturous applause at the conclusion of the performance, the choir presented a rather cheeky encore rendition in typical cambridge "close harmony" style of "Good Night Sweetheart". During the performance, the Choir Director also remarked to the audience that St. Francis Church had the finest acoustic and resonance in which they had Sung so far on their tour!
The organisers of the evening - Bernard Kirkpatrick and Sharon Johnson - wish to thank a number of people who helped to make this event such a success: to the hosts from Paddington and Edgecliff parishes who generously accommodated the UK choir; to Ben Lee for the wonderful native floral arrangements; to Dadoune & Claire McMahon, Claudia Roberts, Claire Johnson, Simone Degling, Rosanna Spaccavento and Jane Rawlings for front of house assistance; to Peter Kaukas, Edmond Park, Michael Dignan and Ken Brock for the after-concert clean up, to Peter & Toni Ryan who provided a post-concert non-stop champagne supper for the choir; and above all, to Fr Peter McGrath OFM for his permission to use the church for this event and his assistance with arrangements.
Your support contributed greatly to this occasion and was much appreciated. We hope to host other overseas choirs in the future.
Bernard Kirkpatrick
Director of Music