Hobart’s fine Allegri Ensemble conducted by Jonathan Wallis opened the concert singing Sancte Deus by English Tudor composer Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585). Contemporary Latvian Peteris Vasks’ Pater Noster provided a fascinating contrast, accompanied by the Hobart Chamber Orchestra strings.

The HCO then had a chance to shine on its own, giving a well-shaped and dynamically shaded rendition of Three Pieces in Old Style by Henryk Górecki, guest conducted by veteran cellist, conductor and educator Gwyn Roberts.

The Australian Voices. Photo supplied

John Rotar developed his earlier choral work Why Fly So High into this arrangement for the HCO and The Australian Voices. The result, set to a poem by Nan Whitcomb about sorting out priorities in life, and here receiving its world premiere conducted by the composer, was both moving and uplifting. The Allegri Ensemble then returned for Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry, a setting of an ancient Irish hymn titled St. Patrick’s Breastplate.

For their final set, The Australian Voices paired two very Australian pieces – Rotar’s marvellously atmospheric bush soundscape Painted in Dirt, heard also at Friday night’s Transcendence at St. David’s Cathedral, and Stephen Leek’s thrilling Ngana. It...