A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not – Leonardo da Vinci

This quote from a giant of the Renaissance who had to rob graves so that he could dissect corpses and illustrate how they were put together sums up a wide-ranging and thoroughly entertaining 75-minute concert by Canberra-based Luminescence Chamber Singers.

In an all-too-rare Sydney appearance the group of six, mentored and conducted by former Song Company artist director Roland Peelman, showed off their considerable vocal chops in Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room with an eclectic programme, Of The Body, featuring new works by the group’s resident composer and tenor Dan Walker interlinked with material drawn from the Renaissance and Baroque, alongside modern writers including Justin Vernon (better known as indie luminary Bon Iver) and “freak folk” guru Devendra Banhart.

Luminescence Chamber Singers perform Of the Body in the Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room. Photo © Anthony Browell.

Walker took as his inspiration Dietrich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri – seven cantatas each of them dedicated to a different part of Christ’s body on the cross – and wrote pieces that reference the eyes, hands, mouth, feet, blood...