★★★★☆ Weymark’s aquatic programme comes with sought after harbour views.

Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House
November 21, 2015

Nothing quite beats the view from the Sydney Opera House’s intimate Utzon Room. Should the music encourage your mind to drift, on a clear day you can let the yachts and passing ferries catch your eye as you gaze across to Fort Dennison and the rippling blue of the harbour. Happily, there wasn’t much chance of wandering attention with the Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers’ water-themed programme of works from Renaissance masters to ‘ink still wet on the page’ commissions and works from a whole raft of Australian composers (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Brett Weymark was our generous guide, talking us through an intriguing choral odyssey, and drawing some stonking performances out of his singers, the crème de la crème of SPC forces. Pared down to a crack choir of 30, there’s no time for passengers and little room to hide. A credit to all concerned then that the blend was so tight and the balance so clean. Coupled with committed, enthusiastic performances and superlative diction, the singers excelled themselves, only very occasionally falling short – tenors in a fiendishly high patch...