Ensembles

Sydney University Symphony Orchestra

The Sydney University Symphony Orchestra was founded by Donald Peart in 1948, then named the 'Pro Musica Orchestra'. Based in the Department of Music, the orchestra welcomes players from all over the University and also from outside it. Most players in the orchestra are studying for their Bachelor of Music or higher degrees in performance at the University of Sydney, while others are continuing their music experience simultaneously studying towards non music-related degrees. In this environment the orchestra provides an atmosphere both seriously committed to music-making and social interaction, through which the studies and concert practice of music students can be shared with the University and the broader community.

The annual Concert Series of the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra presents concertos featuring soloists in senior years of the Bachelor of Music degree, explores the central symphonic repertoire and contemporary music for orchestra, allowing the Music Department's composition students a platform for their work to be premiered and rehearsed, an important procedure and experience in the development of a young composer. The latter takes place annually in a workshop facilitating interaction between composers and performers, providing the opportunity for composers to liaise with players, direct questions to the performers and conductor and for the players to meet fresh Australian compositions by living composers and peers. With prominent Australian composers Peter Sculthorpe, Anne Boyd, Ross Edwards and younger professional composers, John Peterson, Kirsty Beilharz, Matthew Hindson, Paul Stanhope, Nick Vines and Jane Stanley associated with the Music Department as academic staff or alumni, the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra has been exposed to some ground-breaking music with the added advantage of collaborating with the composer.

The experience of learning concerto repertoire has presented an important occasion for senior performance students, often a highlight of their studies, when most performers have the unique opportunity to prepare and perform a concerto with the orchestra, whether for accordion, bassoon, piano or violin. This process is also significant orchestral experience for the players who benefit from the challenge of accompanying, hearing outstanding performers and sometimes preparing more unusual repertoire such as Berg and Barber Violin Concerti, as well as familiar and popular works, for example Elgar's Cello Concerto, Ravel and Gershwin Piano Concerti, Bruch Violin Concerto and Ibert Flute Concerto.

Over the years, conductors of the orchestra have included Eric Gross, Peter Platt, Ben Macpherson, Nicholas Routley and Colin Piper. Most concerts take place in the Great Hall, University of Sydney while the orchestra rehearses, currently on Monday evenings, in the Old Darlington School at Sydney University.

Enquiries: SUSO website or SUSO President Andrew Luboski

THE RENAISSANCE PLAYERS

Australia's longest established professional early music group has brought new life to ancient music for more than 30 years. Under the direction of its founder, Winsome Evans, the Renaissance Players have attempted to capture the freshness and vitality of early music so that it can be as appealing today as it was when it was first heard. The name was chosen to demonstrate the ensemble's particular function of giving new life, rebirth, to music of the past and the present.

Combining a painstaking research-based attitude to the history of performance with an imaginative approach to hypothetical reconstruction the group has been prepared to take more risks than most other ensembles in trying to untangle the thorny challenges of lost performance traditions of music. In addition to their regular concerts, the Renaissance Players have presented performances of medieval liturgical dramas, Renaisssance and Baroque operas. They have also recorded dozens of radio broadcasts and provided film and TV scores, as well as releasing numerous CDs of medieval secular songs, dances of Spain and France and traditional Sephardic music.

SYDNEY CHAMBER CHOIR - SCC

Widely recognised as one of Australia's finest choirs, Sydney Chamber Choir celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2000. The Choir performs a wide range of choral music from the 12th to the 21st centuries. The Choir's repertoire includes Renaissance and Baroque music, well known masterpieces of recent centuries, and contemporary Australian works - the latter often commissioned and premiered by the Choir. The Choir has been a pioneer in Sydney performances of Bach and Handel using eighteenth century instruments and authentic performing techniques.

The Choir presents an annual series of concerts based at the University of Sydney and has toured widely in NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland. The Choir has performed with The Australian Opera (now known as Opera Australia) in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Haydn's Nelson Mass, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Holst's The Planets, and Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette. The Choir was a regular participant in the Horizons festival of Australian music. The Choir is also active in music education, having given numerous master classes and performances for schools, as well as lecture-demonstrations on specific areas of early music for the University of Sydney's Continuing Education Program.

Sydney Chamber Choir has been recorded and broadcast many times by 2MBS-FM and the ABC and has released recordings for Tall Poppies, MBS, ABC, Move Records and EMI. The Choir has also recorded soundtracks for several feature films, performed in many festivals and toured widely in the eastern states of Australia.

The Sydney University Musical Society - SUMS

The Sydney University Musical Society is the undergraduate choir of the University of Sydney. Founded in 1878, it is the oldest and largest secular choir in Australia. It has acquired an enviable reputation in the Sydney music scene, and is regularly invited to perform with Sydney's principal professional choirs. This has been achieved even though it has NO AUDITIONS. SUMS sings many varied and diverse pieces, performing its major concerts (usually three series per year) in the Great Hall of the University and other prestigious venues. SUMS also sings wherever and whatever anyone wants us to – in shopping centres, ferries, to drunken students in Manning Bar.

Enquiries: (SUMS President) Nadine McDonald

Gamelan Kyai Kebo Giro

The establishment of a student gamelan group initially led by Iwan Natapraja, was followed by the formation of Kyai Kebo Giro gamelan in 1992 by Sarah Weiss. The repertoire of the ensemble is based on the Central Javanese classical tradition, but they also perform and premiere new pieces for gamelan written by Australian and Central Javanese composers.

When Sarah left Sydney in late 1998 to take up a position at the University of North Carolina, her student, Vi King Lim, became director of the group. From 2000 to 2001, Kyai Kebo Giro has been directed by, Aline Scott-Maxwell. She has encouraged composition students in the ensemble to compose new works for the group, and in the last two years the ensemble has premiered five student works for gamelan.

The instruments, were acquired in 1985, and are owned jointly by the Centre for Performance Studies at Sydney University and the Australian Museum. The group rehearses every week in the Old Darlington School where all the instruments are permanently housed. Regular performances both on and off campus, feature an extensive repertoire of both traditional and new work.

Sekaa Gong Tirta Sinar

Sekaa Gong Tirta Sinar (Tirta Sinar Gamelan Club) perform both traditional and modern, sacred and secular Balinese musical forms including the prevalent gong kebyar and gamelan gong, as well as gamelan palegongan, semar pagulingan and balaganjur. The group formed in October 1992 when the Australian Museum in Sydney acquired a new gamelan gong kebyar, commissioned & built at the Gabeleran foundry in Gianyar (Peliatan village), Bali. Since its foundation, S G Tirta Sinar has met on a weekly basis for large & small group practice sessions, firstly at the Australian Museum (1992 - 1997) where it was housed on permanent display, and now at the University of Sydney's Department of Music faculty. The founding leader & director of SG Tirta Sinar is Gary Watson (a Masters graduate in music from the University of Sydney) who made regular vists to Bali to study with his teacher, the late celebrated gamelan composer & performer Bapak I Wayan Gandra of Peliatan village. This tuition has helped maintain the authenticity of music learned & performed by the group here in Sydney. SG Tirta Sinar is available for professional engagement at public, private & corporate functions. Gary may also be booked as a teacher & facilitator for hands-on gamelan workshops at the Old Darlington School with school groups (recommended for Year 7 to 12 students of Music, Indonesian & Asian Studies). The group rehearses every Wednesday at the Old Darlington School, University of Sydney. Prospective members are always welcome to attend. Please go to CONTACT page to email Gary for further information.