If you want to launch your choir’s season with a big bang, then landmark works by Baroque music’s holy trinity of composers – Bach, Vivaldi and Handel – are definitely the way to go.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs sees in its new year under Artistic Director Brett Weymark on a steamy Saturday afternoon in the cavernous Pier 2/3 Event Space at the Walshe Bay Arts Project. Lately the ensemble has been getting out of the concert hall and into the newest industrial heritage art spaces for at least one of its productions.

The wooden floorboards, ironbark columns, exposed beams and high clerestory windows all add to the atmosphere, along with the gentle hum of the air-conditioning and the engines of powerboats from the harbour outside the gigantic open doors.

The superb acoustics are amply demonstrated by the customary curtain-raiser of Deborah Cheetham Fraillon and Matthew Doyle’s Acknowledgement of Country, which the Chamber Singers sing while filing in through the packed audience.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: Gloria! Photo © Keith Saunders

The main program gets off to a joyful start with Antonio Vivaldi’s