We are very excited that Victoria Chorale’s first concert for 2024 will be The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Welsh composer, Sir Karl Jenkins. Victoria Chorale’s renowned Musical Director, Mario Dobernig, will conduct the Art of Sound Orchestra, along with acclaimed Mezzo Soprano, Sally-Anne Russell, in this powerful ode to peace.
Saturday May 18, 2024 at 5 p.m., St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne.
Tickets: Adult $60/Conc $55 ($65/$60 after May 4) are available at this link: https://www.trybooking.com/COYYK
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The Armed Man was commissioned to mark the end of one of mankind’s most destructive millennia, and first performed in the Year 2000, with hopes for a new era of peace. After a decade of Balkans warfare, Jenkins dedicated this thrilling Mass to the victims of the Kosovo violence. Now Victoria Chorale performs The Armed Man in this time of new and dangerous conflict. Exciting, brilliant, varied and passionate, the work is a great kaleidoscope of musical styles. With its rich harmonies and exciting percussive sections, it ends in a rousing song of peace.
Sally-Anne Russell - Mezzo-Soprano
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Sally-Anne Russell has appeared in twenty-five countries and has recorded over 40 CDs and DVDs including her solo aria disc Enchanting with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Sally-Anne’s awards include an ARIA for Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Sara Macliver, and nominations for Young Australian of the Year, Young Achiever of the Year, Green Room and Helpmann Awards.
She has over 80 operatic roles in her repertoire and regularly works with all the major opera companies and symphony orchestras in Australia. International highlights include the Spoleto Festival Italy, Washington National Opera (DC) and Carmel Bach Festival.
This year Sally-Anne will return to the Melbourne Bach Choir, Victorian Opera, Adelaide Symphony, Melbourne Opera and debut with National Opera, Canberra as Bradamante in Alcina.
Sally-Anne is co-artistic director of Albury Chamber Music Festival, a member of the Kathaumixw Festival International Artistic Council, Canada and the Belvedere International Singing Competition, Vienna. Sally-Anne is proudly sponsored by the Bee Family Foundation.
Mario Dobernig - Conductor
Mario is the Artistic Director and Conductor for Victoria Chorale and the Art of Sound Orchestra. His dynamic conducting has delighted audiences and attracted many singers to the choir. Recent performances include Mozart vs Salieri at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Requiems by Gounod and Duruflé, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Brahms’s Requiem and Alto Rhapsody; Beethoven’s Mass in C, Symphony No. 1, Eroica and Pastoral Symphony.
Australian performances with other musical groups include conducting at Hobart’s MONA FOMA and festival appearances with Electronic Dance Music Producers. Mario’s international work includes conducting annually in Europe and leading the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in Doha.