For this year’s Sydney Sings® concert, the Sydney University Graduate Choir will present a concert called Imagine… we could all live as one, which will include the world premiere of The Redfern Oratorio, with music by the choir’s Music Director Christopher Bowen and libretto by author Pamela Traynor.
Inspired by Paul Keating’s famous 1992 Redfern Speech, The Redfern Oratorio “imagines a shared future with Indigenous Australians and a longing for reconciliation. It also echoes the hopes and aspirations of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy” – which will also be performed.
In recent years, Sydney Sings® performances have included Brahms’ A German Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Bowen’s Australian War Requiem. Christopher Bowen spoke to Limelight about The Redfern Oratorio.
Christopher Bowen. Photo supplied
The Redfern Oratorio was commissioned by Dr Robyn Williams. How did it come about?
It was an idea that I’ve had for a very, very long time. In fact, it goes back to the 1980s when I was in Vienna, studying and working. I had been reading a lot of Australian history, especially books by Henry Reynolds, and I became increasingly agitated about doing something about this, because I...
Comments
Log in to join the conversation.