More than half the seats are already gone for Quirindi’s candlelit Christmas concert, as Sounds of the Season returns for a second year after its first outing sold out.
The concert will be held at Quirindi Uniting Church on Saturday, 28 November, from 7.30pm. Only 150 tickets are available for this intimate event.
“We’re still selling tickets, but we’re more than half sold out,” said Quirindi Rotary’s Robert Lewis.
Mr Lewis said last year’s concert set a high bar.
“The atmosphere at last year’s concert was just magical,” he said.
“It was packed out.”
This year’s concert, titled From Promise to Birth: A Baroque Christmas, has a new focus.
“We’re doing that this year, but a bit of a different theme this year,” Mr Lewis said. “It’s based around Handel’s Messiah.”
Selected movements from Messiah will be framed by unaccompanied choruses, early motets, and solo arias. They will be performed by the Tamworth Conservatorium Chamber Singers and Chamber Ensemble, along with the Quirindi High School Choir.
“But also there are traditional carols that people can sing along to,” Mr Lewis said.
Soloists include Cara Bastian, who is currently starring as Wednesday in the Tamworth Musical Society’s production of The Addams Family. A trio of male voices will also perform.
ABC New England North West Breakfast presenter Kristy Reading will return as compere.
“She was absolutely fantastic,” Mr Lewis said of her efforts last year.
Asked how she came to be involved, Mr Lewis kept it simple.
“I just twisted her arm,” he said.
The $25 ticket includes supper, and Mr Lewis said the social side of the night was a highlight last year.
“That was good last year as well because the choir and the singers came out and joined us,” he said.
Quirindi Rotary organises the concert, with Pursehouse Rural as the main partner. Hennessy Real Estate, which has just set up in Quirindi, is also supporting the event, and Liverpool Plains Shire Council has provided funding through its community grants program.
“Rotary does the organisation of it all and covers the insurance and all that sort of stuff,” Mr Lewis said.
He said the concert was never about making money.
“The reason that we put it on to start with was just to do something for the community that didn’t cost a lot, that didn’t make a profit, but just made people feel good,” he said.
“And that’s what it did last year. It was uplifting, I think was the word that people used.”
Mr Lewis said the concert had also opened some eyes to the work of the Tamworth Conservatorium.
“People said, ‘We didn’t realise that the conservatorium did these sort of things. We sort of thought that they just taught music,’” he said.
Concert details:
- When: Saturday, 28 November, 7.30pm
- Where: Quirindi Uniting Church
- Cost: $25 a head, including supper
- Tickets: Quirindi Mitre 10, or contact Robert Lewis on 0447 627 695 or lewisr26@hotmail.com
Mr Lewis said the carols were a chance for everyone in the audience to join in.
“Everybody sounds good when they sing in a choir, a big choir,” he said. “It’s like singing in the shower, and you come out feeling good about things and good about yourself.”
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