Audience members may well have come away from the latest Sydney Chamber Choir concert exclaiming “vive la difference!” for an adventurous and usual program which blended the best of choral singing with some jazz – all with a strong French accent.

The brainchild of guest director Naomi Crellin – the singer, composer and arranger best known for her work with Idea of North – Winter Nights was set in the intimate The Nielson auditorium with tables in cabaret setting in front of the stalls and surrounding balcony.

A jazz trio set the scene for a blend of songs by Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel conducted by Artistic Director Sam Allchurch, interspersed with jazz vocals from South Australia’s Jo Lawry, best known as backing singer for Sting and now leading the Equity in Jazz program at the Sydney Conservatorium. Crellin’s choral arrangements of French standards by Michel Legrand, Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf also featured.

Among other highlights was the world premiere of Canberra composer Heather Percy’s Three Night Songs – a lilting lullaby setting of a poem by Christina Rosetti; Pink Swallows Blue, about the beauty of the sky at sunset with words by Melburnian poet Emilie Zoey Baker, and Hymn...