Music / The Australian Voices – 30^th Anniversary Tour. At the Australian Centre for Christianity & Culture,  December 16. Reviewed by GRAHAM MCDONALD.

THE Australian Voices are a Brisbane-based choral group of more than 20 young singers, who would seem to be mostly in their 20s.

Although headquartered in Queensland, the ensemble has members across south-east Australia, including at least one from the ACT, Olivia Swift, who directs a similar choir, Kompactus, locally.

The 14 members of Kompactus, joined the 21 singers of The Australian Voices for three songs towards the end of the concert.

This is a very skilled singing group. I could not pick a missed note through the entire concert and they sing complex, multi-part music almost entirely from memory.

Their repertoire consists entirely of contemporary Australian compositions, a worthy and notable commitment to supporting Australian composers, but within that are limitations. There would seem to have developed a style of writing and scoring vocal music for such ensembles that, while very modern and technically challenging, does tend to sound very much the same. Half the concert fell into this category.

There were certainly some sections of the concert that stood out. Canberra-based composer Sally Whitwell’s “Home” was quite lovely in a quiet and gentle way and the setting of a Latvian folk text “Situ Koku” by young Sydney-based composer Aija Draguns, still in her third year at university, engagingly evoked a range of Baltic folk traditions.

What was impressive is the understanding of the dynamics in the music, directed and controlled by the kinetic, almost choreographed, conducting of John Rotar.

The final notes of Sarah Hopkins’ “Past Life Memories” hung on well after what seemed practical to a gradual and exquisite fade and the final, repeated “Amen” of Rotar’s own “Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis” with a high drone floating above the melody as each repetition became quieter and quieter was a thing of beauty.