The Bendigo Chorale will perform parts of Karl Jenkins’s Requiem at the Echuca Moama Uniting Church on Sunday, September 15.
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The Bendigo Chorale is a four-part community choir based in north-central Victoria.
For more than 60 years, it has presented high-quality choral works for the enjoyment of music lovers in Bendigo and beyond.
“The Bendigo Chorale was originally known as the Benola Singers,” Bendigo Chorale president David Wright said.
“Our last concert was at St Paul’s here in Bendigo, together with the Glen Eira City Choir, performing Karl Jenkins’s Requiem, which was very successful.
“We had a full house, and we are proposing to do most of that again, apart from the Japanese component in Echuca.
“We will also have piano and French horn solos, and the rest of the program will be popular works from our repertoire.
“We will do very tuneful work with great audience appeal.”
Jenkins, who dedicated his Requiem to his late father, is a Welsh musician and one of the most performed living composers in the world.
His well-known pieces include Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary and The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.
Bendigo Chorale musical director Elena Vashavskaya has held the position since 2011, runs a ‘tight ship’ and has been responsible for introducing the choir to some exciting new repertoire, with the singers enjoying the challenge.
Elena graduated from Moscow State Conservatory with honours, choir conducting in 2002. She has 15 years of choir conducting and artistic directing experience, including many concert performances, winning gold and silver awards at the fifth International Johannes Brahms Choir Competition, Wernigerode, Germany, in 2005.
“Elena has come up from Melbourne, more or less weekly, for over 10 years,” Mr Wright said.
“She also conducts several choirs in Melbourne, including the Glen Eira City Choir.
“She is very talented, and we have grown our technique and expertise greatly under her guidance.”
Membership of the Bendigo Chorale is always open for new people to join.
“It is open for many people as a non-audition choir,” Mr Wright said.
“One of the only prerequisites is that you can read music or understand and are good at picking up a tune.
“There are about 25 in the choir, soprano, alto, tenor, bass.”
Bendigo Chorale performs at the Echuca Moama Uniting Church on Sunday, September 15, at 2pm.