Faire is the Heaven Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

ARTISTS

Brett Weymark conductor
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
Luke Mitchell organ

Brett Weymark and 140 voices of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs present a stirring program of inspiring hymns and anthems, including Parry’s I Was Glad and Gardiner’s Evening Hymn. These works may have been written for coronations, jubilees, and services in great English cathedrals – but they sound just as transcendent in the cathedral-esque Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House and churches in the New South Wales countryside, as the choir proved recently in its 2025 season. Now they bring the music ‘home’ together with works by two celebrated Australian contemporary composers, Joe Twist and Alice Chance, to surprise and delight.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s premier choral organisation. Since it was founded in 1920, SPC has united people through music, and for more than five decades it has been the heartbeat of choral performance at the Sydney Opera House. With more than 2000 singers across six ensembles led by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark OAM and Associate Music Director Dr Elizabeth Scott, SPC performs around 50 performances a year across Sydney and beyond, from blockbuster choral classics and film soundtracks to heart-warming musical theatre and exciting premieres, as well as being the choir of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1936.

Brett Weymark OAM
One of Australia’s foremost choral conductors, Brett Weymark OAM was appointed Artistic & Music Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in 2003 and has conducted the Choirs throughout Australia and internationally. He studied singing and conducting at the University of Sydney and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, continuing his conducting studies with Simon Halsey, Vance George, Daniel Barenboim and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, among others. He was chorus master for Adelaide Festival productions (2017, 2018, 2020) and has prepared choirs for Simone Young, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Edo de Waart, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sir Simon Rattle. He has recorded for the ABC and conducted film scores for Happy Feet, Mad Max Fury Road and Australia. Recent conducting highlights include Bernstein’s Candide and Joe Twist’s Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan (Opera Australia); Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (West Australian Opera). He was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal (2001) and the Medal of the Order of Australia (2021).

PROGRAMME

Hubert PARRY I Was Glad
Joe TWIST Magnificat    
Arthur BLISS Sing Mortals
John IRELAND Greater Love Hath No Man
William HARRIS Faire is the Heaven
TRADITIONAL arr. by Alice Chance in consultation with Noel Zaro, Kaylynn Zaro & Mer Elders
Adira Arenio (O Lamb of God) – Traditional language hymn from Mer Island
Alice CHANCE Agnus Dei
Edgar BAINTON And I Saw a New Heaven
Benjamin BRITTEN Hymn to the Virgin
Henry Balfour GARDINER Evening Hymn
Joe TWIST Nunc dimittis

Adira Arenio, a traditional language hymn, is the cultural and intellectual property of the Mer Island people (Murray Island, Torres Strait), arranged with the consent of Noel Zaro OAM, Kaylynn Zaro OAM and Mer Elders.