Music for Christmas

Saturday December 13th, 7:30pm at St George's College Chapel


Works include: Victoria Missa O Magnum Mysterium and Hildegard von Bingen Columba Aspexit


This stunning work explores the mystery surrounding this special time of the year. Sick of tinsel and commercials? Come and enjoy the sublime beauty of Christmas with the Giovanni Consort and revel in exquisite unaccompanied singing. We promise there won't be a reindeer or elf in sight!


Audio samples from this concert are available from this link

Review - Hymns to the Brittish Isles - Concert worthy of preserving

The West Australian
September 19 2008
Reviewer: Neville Cohn


With its intimations of blameless but dull music, a choral program with the prosaic title Hymns of the British Isles might well have been a turn-off for more adventurous concertgoers. In the event, both program and performance by the Giovanni Consort provided untrammelled listening pleasure.


St Paul's Chapel has excellent acoustics which enhanced the fine corporate tone of the choir. Simon Lawford presided over events, ever-attentive to the subtleties of tasteful and refined singing.


Britten's Choral Dances from Gloriana were given an exquisite reading. As well, the robust, macho quality of Rustics and Fishermen could hardly have been bettered. Tenor Andrew Sutherland's declamatory contributions were beyond reproach.


Gustav Holst's Hymns from the Rig Veda were as memorable for Marshall Maguire's harp playing as for the finesse of the sopranos and altos.


Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia was a model of its kind, with quality of harmonic tissue beyond reproach, as was diction. Much of the singing of the second section of the work had an aerial, spring-heeled dimension which was entirely appropriate. Has the Consort considered putting this on CD?


Its performance on Tuesday night certainly warranted preservation. Here, as in much of the program, Lawford brought a wealth of understanding to his direction and his brief linking commentary was an example for other more garrulous commentators.


To see the article as displayed in the paper, please follow the link: Review - Concert worthy of preserving

Hymns from the British Isles

Saturday August 30th, Perth College Auditorium and Tuesday September 16th, John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School St Paul's Chapel, 7:30pm


Works include: Britten Hymn to St. Cecilia and Holst Hymns from the Rig Veda.


This concert features two stunning pieces of music from the UK. Britten's masterpiece is a cornerstone of the choral repertoire. His depiction of the life and nature of this extraorginary woman demonstrates the wondrous variety of colour of the human voice set perfectly to the words by W H Auden.


Holst's collection of four pieces for Harp and upper voices shows this composer at his best. Don't miss the opportunity to hear this wonderful work accompanied by Australia's most acclaimed harpist, Marshall McGuire.


Pre concert talk by Geoff Lowe.

See newspaper review on this concert:


Review of Hymns from the British Isles - A Concert Worthy of Preserving


Audio samples from this concert are available from this link

Review - Body & Soul - Heart, soul of madrigals

The West Australian

June 13 2008
Reviewer: William Yeoman

A madrigal recital can be a bit like a village fete on TV's Midsomer Murders - seemingly innocuous and more than a little twee but scratch the surface and there's sex and death everywhere. This superb concert by Perth's premier vocal ensemble, The Giovanni Consort, was no exception.

True, there were fewer of those Italian Mannerist madrigals that conflate death with the orgasm than one might have wished. But by structuring his program around the theme of Body and Soul, conductor Andrew Sutherland was able to explore that troublesome dichotomy between the sacred and the profane without recourse to gimmicky innuendo or exaggerated pathos.

The European Renaissance madrigal was usually sung by unaccompanied voices and almost certainly one-to-a-part; The Giovanni Consort's dozen or so singers therefore adopted various configurations throughout the evening from solo and duo through five or six singers to full ensemble.

Taking a leaf from British ensemble iFagiolini's book, the Consort began its recital by singing Domenique Phinot's Lynote seated among the audience. This had the immediate effect of a greater intimacy that returned only towards the end of the evening when the singers arranged themselves in a semi-circle between the stage and the audience for a work Sutherland called "possibly the most beautiful piece ever written": Robert Ramsay's Sleep Fleshly Birth. One wished that the entire concert had been sung from here, such was the resultant warmth and richness.

In between these two-works were so many delights that it would be impossible to mention every one. Chief among them, though, was Claudio Monteverdi's delicious Anima del cor mio.

By contrast, Orlando di Lasso's hilarious Der Nasentanz, with its catalogue of noses, had many in the audience snorting with delight. Sopranos Sabra Poole-Johnson and Stephanie Parr also impressed with their ravishing duet Deux que le trait d'Amour, while young baritone Thomas Friberg performed the solo Mi Hart, My Mynde with great expressivity.

To see the article as displayed in the paper, please follow the link: Review - Heart, soul of madrigals

Body & Soul

Saturday June 7th, 7:30pm, Perth Town Hall

Works by Lassus, Monteverdi, Palestrina, Taverner, Janequin, Franck, Schein, Ramsay, and many more!

Fascinated with the human body, the Renaissance inspired texts and music that was intriguing and sometimes humorous. The skin, heart, nose, eyes and more intimate parts are all dissected and explored! The second half draws on a wealth of wonderful texts inspired by the human soul. Be prepared for music of unspeakable beauty.