THE Bendigo Chamber Choir returned to the stage for the first time in two years last weekend for a community concert as part of the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival.<\/p>\n
Choir president Andrew Pickles said six months of preparation had gone into Saturday\u2019s performance, which brought together the festival\u2019s musicians and the local vocalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a real opportunity for us because these are professional musicians that we\u2019re performing with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them have been in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe so they are top notch. It\u2019s a wonderful experience for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The groups performed a Bach Lutheran Mass to a sold-out crowd in the Town Hall before the festival wrapped up on Sunday.<\/p>\n
While they held their own rehearsals in the week leading up to the performance, festival co-director Chris Howlett said the two groups only came together for the first time on the morning of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put the halves together and two halves became one,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was that beautiful interaction both musically and socially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Howlett said the five-day event had been a success despite the challenges of COVID, with mainstage performances and educational concerts in schools held throughout the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been so thrilled, it\u2019s amazing to be able to have such great audiences and we\u2019ve had such fantastic feedback from all the primary schools where we\u2019ve been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is us restarting the project and it\u2019s awesome to be able to be part of the community,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to really be able to connect and this is a beautiful way of doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Bendigo Chamber Choir returned to the stage for the first time in two years last weekend for a community concert as part of the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival. Choir president Andrew Pickles said six months of preparation had gone into Saturday\u2019s performance, which brought together the festival\u2019s musicians and the local vocalists. \u201cThis is […]<\/p>\n