I don’t know where to begin. Last Spring, when we planned this trip, we wanted to include the Sydney Opera House on our itinerary. And what better way to see it than to attend a performance? There were two rock performances, one outside on the steps (Guy Sebastian, if that means anything to you), for December 11. A ballet that had been sold out since last March. And some kids’ choir performance. Kids, yes, but it’s in the main venue and any music is OK as long as we get to experience the Opera House firsthand.
What a mind bending, awe inspiring and inspirational show it was. The show, titled “Gondwana Choirs presents Voices of Angels 2023 – Mystery of the Stars,” turned out to be a Christmas concert put on by kids from, I’d guess six years of age through high school.
The Gondwana Choirs are teen singers, 56 of them, from all over Australia who are selected to come together for two weeks of choir study. They were the foundation of the performance, accompanied by an eight-piece orchestra (adults) and a piano. There were other choirs from around Sydney made up of 34 middle schoolers, and another “training choir” of 221 and 34 grade school kids. Close to 400 in all.
The singing was phenomenal. The program ranged from traditional religious carols (O Holy Night, We Three Kings) and secular choral works to modern (Blackbird by Paul McCartney). Each piece was song by some combination of choirs. And each change of music – uninterrupted by applause – involved a complex choreographed movement of kids from one position to another, all in seemingly random order, no one standing in a line. Changes in lighting accentuated one choral group or another. Middle schoolers in upper ranks of seats would suddenly appear and start singing.
There were two songs performed by the SCC Young Men’s Choir. They were joined by other members of the Gondwana Choir to perform intricate, multi-harmony pieces. One especially effective piece was sung without a conductor. All 56 kids, spread across the entire stage, sang as their adult leader walked off to the wings. They never missed a beat.
The show stealer was the performance by the grade schoolers along with all the other choir members. They paraded in, again in a complex maneuver, wearing holiday hats, to sing Frosty the Snowman and Sleigh Ride. Frosty was reimagined by the pianist to be “Frosty the Snowman-An Inconvenient Truth,“ and included lines, written by the pianist Luke Byrne, such as:
Bad luck Frosty Snowman we’ve got
Different plans you know
We’re gonna put you in the squishy machine
And make a Frappuccino!
But who cares about climate change, we
Like our SUVs.
Just put the air conditioner on and turn it
Down a few degrees.
Ah! That’s better.
Sleigh Ride included a snowball fight among the middle schoolers. As if these kids had ever seen snow before.
The other amazing aspect of the evening was the quality of the acoustics in the Opera Hall. Someone at intermission told us that the hall had recently been modified and that the acoustics are much better than before. To me, every note and every voice was crystal clear and projected throughout the hall.
For Blackbird, the Beetles song, the Gondwana group formed a circle around the orchestra. Half the singers had their back to the audience. The other half were blocked from view by the kids in front. And of course, the orchestra was completely surrounded. Nonetheless, the music they produced was perfectly projected by the hall’s acoustic design.
The hall was packed, not just with adoring parents and grandparents. It’s an annual event and deserves the great reception it received.
Earlier, we had a successful flight up from Melbourne that was smooth but maybe 20 minutes late. No worries for us. We’d been booked for business class, so we enjoyed the Qantas lounge and a nice meal on the two-hour flight. The views of Jackson Harbor (erroneously called Sydney harbor by many) were spectacular and demonstrated the urban sprawl that is Sydney. The Harbor Bridge was constructed to allow Sydney to grow, mostly residentially, on the north side of the harbor. Our taxi driver, a guy from Pakistan who’s lived in Australia since 2014 and who has a girlfriend in Orlando, Florida, was a lot of fun to talk with.
We’re checked into the Marriott Circular Quay hotel and Jeff, our much-traveled son, got us upgraded to the Executive Level with a great view of the Opera House and the bridge. We’re getting spoiled rotten.
Speaking of being spoiled, niece Amy put on to the Aria restaurant, a few steps from the Opera House. They feature a really nice per-concert dinner, set menu with options. In by 5:30, out in time for the 7:00 show. All went well, the food was excellent – we had John Dory, a fish popular in this part of the world, and rightly so. We were getting worried, time wise, and asked the waiter to bring desert and the check so we could make it. “No worries,” and he was right. We at dessert quickly and made it with time to spare.
Judy was equally blown away by our concert experience. Here are her thoughts:
We just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life! We heard a Holiday Concert with 390 children and students from Sydney and all of Australia. The Sydney Opera House is an amazing place with wonderful acoustics and these choirs sounded amazing. The performance went continuously from one piece to the next not interrupted by clapping. I found that the flow of the program was much smoother with the orchestra playing as the performers smoothly moved around the stage and hall. The only other time I have experienced such smooth movements from one piece to the next was at the Tattoo in Halifax.
It was wonderful to experience the Holiday Concert and get me into the Christmas spirit. When they sang O Holy Night it brought tears to my eyes as I realized I was hearing it performed by these beautiful voices in this amazing concert hall! It is an evening I will never forget!
Tomorrow’s our last day of the trip. We’re being picked up for a half-day tour of the city at 8 AM and then will have the afternoon and evening “on our own,” as Viking likes to say when they have nothing for us to do. We’ll probably go to the The Rocks area, nearby.
