Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - History

History

The choir formed in 1920 as the Hurlstone Park Choral Society and gave its first "Glee Performance", conducted by Tom Downer, on 9 September 1920 in hut 13, Randwick Hospital. The program was listed as Come where my love lies dreaming, Great God of wonders, There is music by the river and Sleep, baby, sleep. The first public performance, also conducted by Tom Downer, was on 3 November 1920 at the Masonic Hall, Dulwich Hill and the program was listed as Come where my love lies dreaming, Great God of wonders, There is music by the river, Sleep, baby, sleep, Oh hush thee my baby, Moonlight, The bells of St Marys and God save the King. The earliest performances to have been noticed in the press were at the Masonic Hall, Dulwich Hill, in 1922 and at St Clement's School Hall, Marrickville, in 1923.

In 1922 the choir gave its first performance of a major choral work, 'Assisting Marrickville Choral Society' in Handel's Messiah. The next performance of Messiah was in 1927, and then annually in a sequence interrupted only in 1933 and 1943, until 2010.

Also in 1927, and continuing to 1939, the society entered Eisteddfods in various NSW locations, winning places on nine occasions. The prize money often had a significant bearing on the organisation's financial situation, which was always precarious. Interestingly, despite its financial situation, in 1961 the Hurlstone Choral Society felt able to make an unsolicited gift of £50 to its 'major rival', the Sydney Royal Philharmonic Society, which was 'broke and in danger of extinction'.

The choir changed its name to Hurlstone Choral Society in 1937, Sydney Philharmonia Society in 1969 and Sydney Philharmonia Limited in 1974. It employed its first professional manager in 1974.

During this time, Sydney Philharmonia has worked with many conductors, including Eugene Ormandy, Otto Klemperer, Sir Eugene Goosens, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Granville Bantock, Sir Bernard Heinze, Sir Thomas Beecham, Georg Schnéevoigt, Hans Vonk, Ward Swingle, Zubin Mehta, Christopher Hogwood, Edo de Waart, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, John Nelson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Richard Hickox, and Sir Simon Rattle. The current musical director and chorusmaster is Brett Weymark.

Sydney Philharmonia’s singing commitments have grown to the point where a typical year (2012) sees it perform 16 performances in its own concerts and 17 performances with the Sydney Symphony and Sydney Festival, while Vox gives 8 performances. Other commitments such as corporate events, awards ceremonies and the like mean that the organisation mounts around 50 performances a year.

Sydney Philharmonia Vox on television show The X Factor Sydney Philharmonia The Beatles Unplugged ensemble Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in a Dawn Chorus concert