Using a heritage-listed coal-fired power station to stage a concert about the disastrous effects of climate change on our wildlife is a potent symbolic statement.

It is one that resonates with the rugged-up audience on a chilly afternoon when they file into the massive stripped-back shell of Rozelle’s White Bay Power Station, which last century provided electricity for the city’s trains and trams, for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Lost Birds recital conducted by Artistic Director Brett Weymark.

Featuring the Chamber Choir and an ensemble of five musicians, this is a scaled-down production which struggles at times to cut through the challenging acoustics of the vast three-level building which is open to the outside world.

From my seat about 12 rows back in the centre section there are occasional distractions from traffic noise and what sounds like machine hum – fine for a rock concert but not for 47 unamplified performers.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: Lost Birds. Photo © Keith Saunders

That said, the choir is in excellent voice for a program that features excerpts from British singer and composer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s vocal version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons,...