The Australian Chamber Choir’s last musical foray for 2024 was held at the Dunkeld Community Centre, a fitting thank-you to the community of Dunkeld for its long-standing support.

The Baroque Christmas concert opened with Thomas Tonkin’s Magnificat, raising the modest timber roof with the gorgeous a cappella sound of a professional choir at the top of its game. Founding manager Elizabeth Anderson then combined an acknowledgment of country with a state-of-the-choir budget report stressing the importance of sponsorship for a choir like the ACC that pays its choristers.

It was a thought-provoking speech whose aim was to raise funds for a documentary about the choir and its role in bringing to light the music of Agatha della Pièta, one of the orphans of Venice’s Ospedale della Pièta during Vivaldi’s tenure there as music teacher. It’s a fascinating and worthy venture that deserves a wide viewership but the timing of her pitch interrupted the flow of the performance somewhat and might have been better left till the end when an appreciative audience would possibly have been more receptive.

The one hour program offered a selection of choral music from the mid-15th century until the present day, from the motets of Josquin des Prez...