St Mary’s Cathedral Crypt, Sydney
August 18, 2018

As Brett Weymark, Artistic and Music Director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, takes to the podium in the performance area created in the crypt – beautifully positioned beneath an arch, in front of a large stained glass window – a hush descends on the audience. The music stands for the choir behind him are still empty. Weymark stands quietly looking out past the audience then lifts his baton. And then out of the silence a dark, low sound – so quiet initially that you are almost not aware it’s there – begins to be heard from the back of the crypt.

The wordless, throbbing bass drone gradually begins to build, as voices nudge each other in a strange, off-centre fashion. Gradually the rest of the choir joins in as the chanting builds chromatically and in volume, with the sopranos soaring high. It’s an extraordinary, unearthly beginning to Path of Miracles, which composer Joby Talbot has said was inspired by a recording he heard by a Bunun tribe of Taiwan.

Brett Weymark. Photo © Keith Saunders

Talbot was commissioned to write Path of Miracles for British choir Tenebrae, who...