From the Firestorm that was Elijah comes "Lux Aeterna" - Eternal Light!

Since rehearsals for Season 2 commenced on June 13, the development of the repertoire for Lux Aeterna has proceeded apace. The choir is pretty well unanimous in its response to the pieces that Music Director Matt Collins has chosen for this season – we love them. There are some old favourites – Bruckner’s Os Justi and Locus Iste; Ola Gjeilo’s Ubi Caritas; Rachmaninoff’s Bogoroditse Devo; and Mozart’s peerless Ave Verum Corpus; also the Ladies’ and Mens’ Eisteddfod winning pieces, In The Woods and The Cloths Of Heaven.

In addition to these lovely and proven pieces, there is a swag of material new to Oriana, but destined to become as much loved. There are two beautiful, but very different settings of O Magnum Mysterium; a lovely Sicut Servis from Giovanni Palestrina; Viadana’s Exsultate Justi; the piece which gives the season and concert its title, Edward Elgar’s Lux Aeterna, and more. As a contrast to the predominantly sacred and spiritual content of the programme, there is a lovely atmospheric piece, Earth Song, and a suite of Three Australian Bush Songs, which contains some interesting time signature changes.

One of the lovely things about having a different Musical Director for each performance season is that each season is so different from the previous one. A new programme, a new approach. After the huge, triumphant experience that was Elijah, the contrast to Lux Aeterna is very refreshing, and the music is, in its own way, every bit as exciting, challenging and beautiful. It’s a much repeated cliché, but no less true for all that, that when you come along to see, and hear, Oriana perform the music of Lux Aeterna, you will most definitely be “in for a treat”.

We are also excited this time to be presenting this concert in Gympie at St Patricks Church - please let your friends up that way know that we are coming to visit them. Also, on the back of the wonderful response (and acoustics!) we are also going back down to St John's Cathedral in Brisbane the weekend after our Gympie and Caloundra concerts. Details of how to book are on the website, so just follow the links...