CHRISTMAS COLLECTIVE

Soak up the festive spirit as some of Darwin’s most angelic voices unite to present some Christmas musical treats.

WORDS TIERNEY WHITE

LOCAL CHOIR VOCALECTIVE returns to the acoustic setting of Darwin Memorial Uniting Church to present their end-of-year concert, Christmas Cantata, featuring Rheinberger and Mendelssohn’s Christmas Cantatas, plus some Christmas carol classics. 

Under the artistic direction of Michael Loughlin, the chamber choir was co-founded in 2018 with his wife and singer Fiona Wake, growing over the years to feature 30 wonderful local singers. Loughlin says they look forward to their Christmas concert each year, but it can be tricky to trim down the set list.

“There is only a narrow window of opportunity to perform Christmas music, and yet there is so much. As always with Vocalective, it’s a balance between what our audience might like and what is rewarding for the choir to sing,” he says. 

Although the evening is set to be festive and enjoyable for the audience, Vocalective doesn’t shy away from the curly ones. 

Rheinberger’s The Star of Bethlehem is a festive piece, full of great melodies, last performed by the choir back in 2021. Fiona Wake is the soloist, and the music is perfectly suited to the season. 

Felix Mendelssohn’s Christmas Cantata is a multi-movement vocal work for choir and soloists, with six short movements that runs for about 15 minutes. 

“Mendelssohn, a child prodigy, was fantastic at composing melodies, with great harmonies to go with them. With a mixture of solos, by Leonie Thomson and Callum Bowles, and choir numbers, this Christmas concert is a great opportunity to present this work to our audience, and the only time it would be heard is this time of the year,” Loughlin says. 

An interesting connection is that Loughlin’s third-great-grandfather George Perry, composer, organist and violinist, was concertmaster as Mendelssohn conducted his re-vamped oratorio Elijah in 1847. 

The second half of the program features Christmas carols by renowned composers including Margaret Sutherland, James Mac- Millan, Will Todd, Bernard Rose, Sarah Quartel, plus a few others. Bernard Rose and Loughlin’s father George were close friends at the Royal College of Music in London in the 1930s, so it’s special that Vocalective performs one of Rose’s carols. 

Celebrate the silly season and even sing along, as this special seasonal concert by Vocalective is sure to lift your Christmas spirits.

Christmas Cantata - Vocalective Concert
WHEN FRI 12 DEC | 7.30-9.30PM 
AT Darwin Memorial Uniting Church 
COST $40 | $35 CONC $20 CHILD 
INFO facebook.com/vocalective.singers

_{Image: Paz Tassone.}