Music is a great tradition of collegiate life and it is no surprise that songs, chants, poems, plays and instruments are an enormous part of everyday life at St Paul’s. Constantly evolving, the music at St Paul’s is growing in 2022. This section of the College website will be growing along with it as we record and publish as often as we can. Many of these recordings are on the College YouTube Channel for public use and we all hope that you enjoy them.
Also, please check out our events to see what’s on. Alumni and friends are most welcome when we have public events.
Richard Morgan (Director of Community Development) & Jack Stephens (Director of Music)
For recent videos scroll down | see below for forthcoming music events
There is a strong dedication at St Paul’s College to nurturing cultural engagement within its residential community. Our objective is to establish a setting where music is an essential aspect of daily life, enhancing the College residents’ experiences and forging a connection between St Paul’s, the wider Pauline community, and the general public through music.
The College promotes a range of ensembles, from both jazz and rock bands, to brass ensembles and barbershop quartets. These ensembles, as well as soloists, perform regularly at Formal Dinner and at the Salisbury Bar.
The St Paul’s College Chapel Choir is the flagship of the musical life at the College. An auditioned choir of students and Lay Clerks, the choir boasts some of Australia’s most exciting young musicians, many of whom study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. During semester time, the Choir is primarily involved in the singing of services in the College Chapel. Evensong is sung weekly on Tuesdays during semester time, with additional special services being held throughout the semester.
The Choir will soon embark on a major European Tour, being resident choir at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral London, Canterbury Cathedral, York Minster, La Madeleine Paris and Saint-Eustache Paris. Engagements in 2022 have included a concert of Richter and Esenvalds with Sydney-based orchestra Ensemble Apex, Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ alongside Sally-Anne Russell, Andrew Goodwin and a period orchestra, Buxtehude’s ‘Membra Jesu Nostri’, Caroline Shaw’s ‘To the hands’, as well as Fauré’s ‘Requiem’. The Choir perform Bach cantata services with a period ensemble, most recently Bach’s ‘Wachet! betet!’, as well as antiphonal services with a Sackbut and Cornetto ensemble.
The Choir regularly perform works by Australian composers and most recently performing works by Joseph Twist, David Drury, The Salisbury Institute, Alice Chance, and in 2022 commissioned works by the choir’s own David Drury, William Varga and Archie Tulk. This year the choir will perform Purcell’s ‘The Fairy Queen‘, completing its cycle of performing all of the complete operas of Purcell.
Those interested in auditioning or finding out more information about the choir, should contact the Director of Music, Mr Jack Stephens (music@stpauls.edu.au)
The Chapel organ was built by the Dutch organ company, DA Flentrop of Zandaam, and is the only example of their work in Australia. It is neo-classical in style and was installed from 1971 to 1972, thanks to the generosity of the Albert family, who kindly enabled its extensive restoration in 2019. Our organist and composer-in-residence is Mr David Drury, who is an internationally renowned musician.
The Chapel Choir are preparing the itinerary for a Choir Tour to UK and France in December 2024 and January 2025. We are looking for support from the wider Paul’s community to help supplement the costs of this trip through a donation to the College’s Chapel Music Fund. This trip will be significant for its ‘international showcasing’ of the quality of the musicianship of St Paul’s.
If you can help please click here for the online donation form
“Victoriana!” is Australia’s longest running theatrical production and one of its most enduring and endearing.
Based on the English Music Hall tradition, the show draws on music and comedy of the Victorian era. The entire show is performed on a stage in the College Dining Hall, after an excellent three-course dinner before an audience in formal attire, but always ready to sing boisterously whenever the opportunity arises.
Under the baton of the Master of Ceremonies, the audience is invited to join in the choruses of many of the numbers …..and does so with gusto: ‘I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside’, ‘The Galloping Major’, ‘Where Did You Get That Hat?’ and ‘There Was I Waiting at the Church’ (to name but a few).
Traditionally the evening ends at midnight with the audience waving sparklers and singing “Land of Hope and Glory”, followed by “grand illuminations” (in the modern era called fireworks) in the splendour of the Blacket Quadrangle….after which the choruses can be heard tinkling off into the darkness as the guests make their way home…
In 2024 we celebrate the 60th Season over four glorious nights 27 & 28 September and 4 & 5 October.
The Palladian Cup competition is an intercollegiate cultural contest. It dates from the 1990s, but the present Cup goes back to 2001. Since 2011 the competition has been organised under the auspices of the University of Sydney Union and has become a major series of events on the University calendar, featuring the varied artistic talents of Paulines throughout the year.
SEMESTER ONE
SEMESTER TWO
