Composer, Writer & Broadcaster
Music for mixed choir and male choir, with and without instruments in response to words by Les Murray, David Malouf and Gwen Harwood, C.P. Cavafy, Sappho and St John of the Cross.
Please click work titles for more information and resources (audio, sheet music, program note etc.) about individual works in this category.
This is a work in progress. Each song has words by a different Australian poet. Individual songs have different and variable instrumentation.
1. Gone (Jordie Albiston)
2. The New Summer (David McCooey)
3. Hymn of the Garden (John Kinsella)
4. dark cloud (Ellen van Neerven)
5. Isolation Hymn (Judith Bishop)
6. Rain Hymn (Judith Beveridge)
7. Ultraviolet (Stephen Edgar)
8. Our Mother's Heart (Kate Fagan)
Text: David McCooey
Commissioned by the Arts Foundation of St George's Cathedral, Perth
First performance by the Choir of St George's Cathedral conducted by Perry Joyce, Joseph Nolan (organ), St George's Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia, 16 December 2018
SATB (includes solos for all voices)
Commissioned by St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, St Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane, St George's Cathedral, Perth, St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne and Father Arthur E Bridge for Ars Musica Australis
First performance by the Choir of St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, conducted by Graeme Morton, Andrej Kouznetsov (organ) St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, 13 December 2015
Arrangement of American Spiritual
Text:
Traditional
for six voices: SSAATB or SSATBarB
First performance by Choir of St John's Cathedral conducted by Graeme Morton, St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, 13 December 2015
Text: freely adapted by the composer from the poem by C.P. Cavafy
Commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
First performance by Sydney Philharmonia Symphonic Choir conducted by Graham Abbott,
St Patrick's Cathedral, Parramatta, NSW, 20 July 2012
1. The Averted (Les Murray) - available separately
2. Death, an Ode (John Forbes)
3. At Night on the Beach (Judith Wright)
4. Sleep (David McCooey)
5. Spring (Maria Takolander)
6. The Highest Form of Love (Barbara Blackman)
7. Hear the Bird of Day (David Campbell) - available separately
Commissioned by Father Arthur E. Bridge for Ars Musica Australis, Barbara Blackman, The Song Company, Penny LeCouteur and Greg Dickson
First performance by the Song Company conducted by Roland Peelman, Canberra International Music festival, Albert Hall, Canberra, 17 May 2013
SATB choir, percussion ensemble and recorded voices
Commissioned by Wingecarribee Shire Council with financial assistance from the Regional Arts Fund, an Australian Government initiative supporting the arts in regional and remote Australia
First performance by Combined Choirs of the Southern Highlands (drawn from the Berrima Singers, Highlandaires, Serendipity, Singing for Leisure, SHACappella, Southern Highlands Sing Australia, Southern Highlands Voices in Harmony, WENCHes), ANU DRUMatiX, conducted by Andrew Ford
This is a version of the radiophonic piece, suitable for live performance.
'Chimney-sweepers' (Fear now more...) from Elegy in a Country Graveyard is available separately for SATB choir and voice and piano.
Commissioned by ABC Radio, funded by the NSW Ministry for the Arts in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
First performance by the Berry Court House Choir and the Southern Highlands Concert Band, Daryl Pratt (percussion), conducted by the composer, Kangaroo Valley Hall, Arts in the Valley Festival, Kangaroo Valley, NSW, 22 April 2007
A version of this work is available for voice and piano. See also videos and resources about the radiophonic work Elegy in a Country Graveyard.
Text: from Act IV of Shakespeare's Cymbeline
First performance by the Gotlands Körförbunds Kör conducted by Ingvar Stagling, St Mary's Cathedral, Visby, Sweden, 27 September 2009
Text: Poems by David Malouf, Thomas Shapcott and Gwen Harwood, together with folk poetry/songs from Malaysia, the Pueblo people of the south-west United States and the Finnish Kanteletar.
Chamber choir SSSSAATTBB (can be sung be 10 solo voices)
Commissioned by the Adelaide Chamber Singers with financial assistance from the Music Board of the Australia Council
First performance by Adelaide Chamber Singers conducted by Carl Crossin, St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide, 10 December 2005