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Otago Daily Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Packed audience treated to powerful work
The Southern Youth Choir and Chamber Orchestra are directed by John Buchanan in a performance of The Armed Man to a capacity audience at St Paul's Cathedral in Dunedin yesterday. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN Southern Youth Choir The Armed Man St Paul's Cathedral Sunday, May 25 St Paul's Cathedral was a sellout yesterday afternoon for a performance by Southern Youth Choir (director John Buchanan) of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. The Armed Man is an anti-war work composed in 2000 by Karl Jenkins, using liturgical Latin Mass text, prose and poetry from other religions, assembled by librettist Guy Wilson. The event began with the SYC Chamber Choir, conducted by Noah McBirney-Warner in Geistliches Leid (Brahms) and a beautiful setting of Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd (Rutter), with oboe obligato and counter-melodies (Callum Fotheringham) and organ (David Burchell). The Southern Youth Choir, currently with 60 members, organ and chamber orchestra (including three percussionists) then presented an absolutely outstanding 70-minute performance, full of dynamic contrast and emotion, expressing war, horror and loss, ending with a prayer for a peaceful future. As the final words faded to silence, the entire audience sprang to a standing ovation until the very last performer had left the stage. So deserved. Choir members taking solos were soprano Rosie Auchinvole, alto Tessa Campbell, tenor Teddy Finney Waters and bass Ewen Clarke-Wallace. The opening Mass simulated a marching army with drum beat, then a gradual orchestral build-up assembled the choir, singing 15th century text The Armed Man. Style and pace matched the beginning of war; Adhaan, a Muslim call to prayer, Kyrie, Sanctus, Hymn Before Action, with text by Rudyard Kipling ("Lord grant us strength to die"). The climax came with Charge — a long drawn-out chorus of screaming and wailing depicting the worst action of war, followed by silence and Last Post (Ralph Miller). So effective. An excerpt from the poem Angry Flames, about the horrors of Hiroshima, Torches, Agnus Dei, Benedictus and lines by Tennyson's Better is Peace completed the work. Text in the programme enabled full understanding of each section in this epic, never-to-be-forgotten performance. Review by Elizabeth Bouman
Al-Ahram Weekly
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Al Nour Wal Amal Orchestra percolates in their first concert in Italy - Music - Arts & Culture
Egypt's renowned Al Nour Wal Amal (Light and Hope) Chamber Orchestra, consisting of visually impaired women musicians, gave two concerts in Rome last month, marking its first-ever visit to Italy. Led by maestro Tamer Fahmy, its educator and artistic director, the orchestra performed at the Egyptian Academy of Rome on 23 January, followed by a concert at the Nuovo Teatro Ateneo of the Sapienza University of Rome on 25 January. In both concerts, the orchestra played pieces from the Western classical music repertoire alongside a few Arabic compositions and works featuring the Greek soprano Anastasia Zannis. The renowned singer is not a stranger to the orchestra, as she took the stage with them in one of their concerts at the Cairo Opera House a few years ago. Attended by the Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Bassam Rady, among other officials, the evening at the Egyptian Academy of Rome celebrated its 95th anniversary. The Egyptian Academy in Rome was established in 1929. Initially located near the Coliseum, it relocated to its current site in Valle Giulia, within the Villa Borghese grounds, alongside other major foreign academies, with those of Romania and Belgium just a few metres away. The celebratory evening also included the opening of an art exhibition by Egyptian artist Ahmed El-Badawy and musical performances by Italian artists with special needs from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. The Chamber Orchestra is a unique group of visually impaired and completely blind women musicians. It operates under the Al Nour Wal Amal Association, an institution that educates blind girls and women and helps them integrate into society. In 1960, the association founded the Music Institute, which taught music to musically gifted girls. This eventually led to the formation of the Chamber Orchestra (1970s), which gave numerous performances nationwide before presenting its first international concert in Vienna, Austria, in 1988. Ever since, the orchestra has toured the world, performing in almost 40 countries across five continents, where it has been called 'a human miracle' and 'a fourth pyramid of Giza.' As the years passed, the second orchestra began emerging — Al Nour Wal Amal Junior Chamber Orchestra — consisting of the youngest generation of musicians. This younger orchestra performed in Italy, a trip that came just a few months after their concert at the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts in Muscat, Oman (October 2024). In Italy, the junior orchestra showcased a large plethora of talents spanning more than one generation: from the youngest violinist, Sondos (who celebrated her 10th birthday on the concert's day), older children and youth, to a couple of well-experienced musicians from the older chamber orchestra supporting the young ensemble. Both concerts were very well received by the audience, applauding the orchestra after each piece performed. By the end of the first event, Dr Rania Yehia, director of the Egyptian Academy in Rome, offered certificates of recognition to every member of the orchestra and special honorary plaques to the institute's management and conductor, Tamer Fahmy. Filled with passion for music, the junior orchestra is yet to explore many new musical opportunities, following the example set by the now-senior Al Nour Wal Amal Chamber Orchestra. The latter is preparing for their grand concert at the Cairo Opera House's small hall this Thursday (6 February). Conducted by Mahmoud Bayoumi, the orchestra will feature its very own flute soloists: Rasha Ibrahim and Fatima Fouad. Short link:
