A Christmas Oratorio with the ACO and The Song Company
https://www.aco.com.au/whats-on/2026/bachs-christmas-oratorio
Blackheath Chamber Music Festival: Terra Mater Aestiva
This bespoke celebration of ROSS EDWARDS’ music brings together six exceptional singers with musicians RILEY LEE, LOUISE JOHNSON, JULIAN SMILES and TIMOTHY CONSTABLE, under the direction of NICHOLAS ROUTLEY with the works arranged especially for this curated ensemble.
This deeply moving program promises a luminous and heartfelt finale—a stunning way to draw the BCMF26 to a close.
Music in the Regions; Bach: A Life in Music
Artists
Madeleine Easton, violin
Susannah Lawergren, soprano
Simone Slattery, violin
Anthony Albrecht, cello
Chad Kelly, harpsichord
Concerts
Friday 20 March, 6:30pm
Jervis Bay Maritime Museum & Gallery, HuskissonSaturday 21 March, 2:00pm
Berry Uniting ChurchSunday 22 March, 2:00pm
Ulladulla Anglican ChurchFriday 27 March, 1:30pm
MIVA Hall, MallacootaSaturday 28 March, 2:30pm
St Paul’s Anglican Church, NaroomaSunday 29 March, 2:30pm
Wolumla Memorial Hall
Venue and ticketing details: https://www.musicintheregions.com/
This Kind of Life: A Song Cycle by Elliot Gyger with Halcyon
Halcyon Recording and Performance of Elliot Gyger’s masterful chamber song cycle setting the letters between Julia Child (Jenny Duck-Chong) and her friend, Avis De Voto (Susannah Lawergren).
Details TBC
Bach's Motets with Bach Akademie Australia
After hearing Bach's motet Singet dem Herrn for the first time in Leipzig in 1789, Mozart exclaimed, "Now there is something from which one can learn!”
J.S. Bach’s vocal motets represent the highest art of vocal writing achieved in the Baroque period and continue to have deep spiritual and emotional resonance. The only vocal works of Bach that remained in constant performance until the Bach revival of the early 19th century, the motet’s themes of comfort, resurrection, and joy reflect their use in funerals and celebrations.
Bach Akademie Australia collaborates with Australia’s premier vocal ensemble The Song Company to present Bach’s seven surviving motets alongside two works of contemporary genius, Australian composer Sandra Milliken’s Herr Jesus Christus and O Radiant Dawn by James MacMillan.
Pairings&Odd Couples
Pairings and Odd Couples is a bold exploration of musical contrasts, curated by Guest Director Huw Belling. This eclectic program brings together works from different countries and eras, placing composers in fascinating dialogue. Estonian chant meets Irish modernism, while the premiere of Belling’s Pru Vir offers a fresh response to Guerrero’s Prudentes Virgines.
The program also delves into the timeless versatility of J.S. Bach, highlighting his enduring influence. Spanning centuries, Pairings and Odd Couples ranges from early chant to contemporary compositions by living composers such as Finsterer and Pärt, creating a transcontinental conversation through time. These intriguing juxtapositions reveal the unexpected connections between seemingly disparate musical worlds, offering a compelling reflection on how music bridges cultures and eras.
Apeiron Baroque: Something Old, Something New
Susannah joins Apeiron Baroque for a dazzling programme of old gems and a new work composed for the occasion by Michael Bakrncev.
Song Company: Love's Four Seasons
Love’s Four Seasons invites audiences into the intimate landscape of relationships, tracing the emotional highs and lows of love through the changing seasons. Led by Guest Director Eamonn Dougan (The Sixteen, I Fagiolini, Britten Sinfonia Voices), the ensemble explores the dramatic richness of Italian madrigals, alongside contemporary works that echo the timelessness of love.
From the longing and courtship of Spring with Monteverdi's Sfogava con le stelle and Barbara Strozzi’s Pietosissimo amore, to the passion of Summer with Gesualdo’s Deh, coprite il bel seno, the program journeys through Autumn’s doubt and separation, culminating in Winter's loss and mourning. Featuring composers Strozzi, Monteverdi, Gesualdo, and modern voices Dove, Skempton, and Hughes, Love’s Four Seasons explores shared human experiences of intimate connection.
Bach Akademie: Class of '85
Our second program of the year, ‘The Class of ’85’ celebrates music of the three great composers born in 1685, Bach, Handel and Scarlatti and features soprano Susannah Lawergren in Bach’s secular cantata BWV 209 and mezzo soprano Hannah Fraser in Domenico Scarlatti’s ‘Salve Regina’.
For more information, please visit https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/2025-season-1
Concert Dates:
Friday 30 May, 7.30 pm: St James’ Church Sydney
Saturday 31 May, 2.30 pm: Our Lady of Dolours Chatswood
Sunday 1 June, 2.30 pm: Bowral Memorial Hall
Song Company: Journeying to Finsterre
Journeying to Finisterre is an evocative exploration of pilgrimage, not just across landscapes but deep within the self. Curated by Co-Artistic Director and Soprano Amy Moore, this program delves into the 12th Century Codex Calixtinus and 14th Century Libre Vermell de Montserrat—devotional manuscripts that guided pilgrims both physically and spiritually.
For more information, please visit: the.song.company/2025-season/journeying-to-finisterre/
Newcastle Conservatorium of Music Friday 7 Mar, 6pm
St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Wollongong Saturday 8 Mar, 3pm
Wesley Music Centre, Canberra Sunday 9 Mar, 3pm
St Philip's Church, Sydney Saturday 15 Mar, 2pm&7pm
Blackheath Uniting Church Sunday 16 Mar, 2:30pm
Christmas Oratorio: Bach Akademie Australia
For tickets, please visit: https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/events
The Armed Man - A Mass For Peace
Soprano soloist with Willoughby City Band and Willoughby Symphony Choir
Chatswood Concourse
For more information and tickets, please visit: https://www.theconcourse.com.au/event/willoughby-symphony-choir-the-armed-man/
Opera@Australia House - Colombo,Sri Lanka
Operatic Recital in Australia House with pianist Jehani Gamalathge at the home of my dear friend, Deputy High Commissioner Lalita Kapur — before we take our children on a safari to see elephants and marvellous architecture - very exciting!
Opera Australia: Brett Dean's Hamlet
Susannah will join an 8-voiced semi-chorus for Opera Australia in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, after first performing it for the Adelaide Festival in 2018.
Vespers for Mother Earth: Song Company's 40th Anniversary Season
2024 year marks a significant milestone as The Song Company celebrates their 40th Anniversary. This program promises to be an unforgettable journey through the world of vocal ensemble music.
Curated by Co-Artistic Directors Amy Moore and Jessica O'Donoghue, this season is dedicated to the exceptional singers in our ensemble and explores the profound connection between music and the natural world.
https://the.song.company/2024-season/
Haydn’s Creation with Willoughby Choir
I’m looking forward to singing the roles of Gabriel and Eve in Haydn’s extraordinary oratorio, about the beginnings of time (according to the Old Testament). Having just introduced my son to Kronos, Gaia and the Ancient Greek story of the beginning, and the fascinating idea of nothing before the magnitude of the Big Bang, you don’t need to be 9 years old to be fascinated by the beginnings of everything! Just the methods Haydn used for the advent of light under the rules of the Classical Period is worth a ticket.
Poulenc's Gloria -Phoenix Blue Mountains Choir
Poulenc’s GORGEOUS Gloria, with soprano soloist Susannah Lawergren, directed by Amy Moore.
For tickets: https://phoenixchoir.org.au/2022/07/30/our-next-concert-2/
Bach the Benefactor: Bach Akademie Australia
For tickets and more information, please visit: https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/events
Superbloom with the Song Company
Song Company’s first programme, guest directed by Jane Sheldon. For more information, please visit: https://the.song.company/whats-on/
Sydney Festival with the Bach Akademie Australia
In just a few years, Sydney’s Bach Akademie Australia has established itself as the leading ensemble dedicated to performing the works of JS Bach. Under violinist and founder Madeleine Easton, the ensemble's focus on mastery, authenticity and originality of interpretation makes it the ideal companion for the journey of Bach’s remarkable life, from beginning to end.
Bach’s earliest cantata (his 'Actus Tragicus', circa 1708) is a perfect place to start, an introspective and innovative funeral cantata. In his splendid Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, written a decade later, we hear what is arguably the first ever keyboard concerto ever written. From Bach’s later life in Leipzig, comes his motet 'Lobet den Herrn’, one of his most joyful works, and his cantata 'Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats', a narrative of faith and hope in six captivating movements. Played in intimate, acoustically excellent surroundings, JS Bach: A Life in Music promises spiritual depth, instrumental brilliance and choral splendour.
https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/bach-akademie-australia
Hark!
The Song Company Christmas
Start the festive season with well-loved carols and heart-melting harmonies.
A Christmas concert for the whole family to enjoy together in Sydney and Wollongong.
Wed 29 Nov, 6:00PM Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood
Thu 30 Nov, 6:00PM St Francis of Assisi, Paddington
Fri 1 Dec, 6:00PM The Garrison Church, Millers Point
Sat 2 Dec, 2:00PM St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Wollongong
Hark! will also be broadcast via the Australian Digital Concert Hall. Details to follow soon!
Tickets at: https://the.song.company/whats-on/season-2023/hark/
Oberon Chamber Music Festival
Featuring Susannah Lawergren (soprano), Peter Jenkin (clarinet) and Emily Granger (harp)
Susannah, Peter and Emily will be performing Franz Schubert's glorious Shepherd on the Rock and other works including the tango music of Astor Piazzolla.
For information on the inaugural Oberon Festival, please visit: https://www.oberonchambermusicfestival.com.au/programme/
Tickets at: https://events.humanitix.com/oberon-chamber-music-festival-2023-concert-1
Bach in the Castle of Heaven
2023 brings us an opportunity to celebrate one of the greatest events in musical history, J.S. Bach’s appointment as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. As a result, a new era in music history began. To celebrate this momentous event, we have chosen 3 of his most celebrated Leipzig cantatas and his jubilant motet ‘Singet dem Herrn’.
For more information, please visit: https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/events/bach-in-the-castle-of-heaven-celebrating-300-years-of-bach-in-leipzig-concert-1
ACO Total Immersion
Total Immersion brings you up close with the ACO, sitting amongst the musicians to hear and feel the music like never before. This brand-new festival piece moves between the ACO’s three state-of-the-art performance spaces at ACO Pier 2/3 – The Neilson, The Studio and the Belgiorno Room. Each venue will offer a unique musical experience featuring members of the ACO and singers from our Walsh Bay Arts Precinct friends The Song Company, performing music from across the centuries.
For more information and tickets, pleae visit: https://www.aco.com.au/whats-on/2023/total-immersion
The Mysterious Forest with Bernadette Harvey
More details and concert dates to follow. For tickets to Art Song Canberra, please visit:
http://www.artsongcanberra.org/wppreload/wordpress/2021-2/#Season1
Songs from a Strange Land
In the 400th anniversary year of the death of renowned English Renaissance composer William Byrd, The Song Company celebrates Byrd's own music and his legacy that continues to influence contemporary composers such as David Lang, Jeremy Cull, and Pelle Gudmunsen-Holmgreen. Noted early-music specialist Christopher Watson makes his conducting debut with The Song Company in this program of sublime beauty.
Performances in Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle.
For tickets and more information: https://the.song.company/website/c/0/i/70476538/2023
Solo Bach Cantatas@ Canowindra Festival
For more information, please visit: https://www.baroquefest.org.au/festival-program/2023-5
Amongst all of Bach’s wonderful output, his more than 200 cantatas stand out as one of the greatest musical achievements of the human race. The vast majority of these masterworks are dedicated to the glory of God, but what we are perhaps less aware of is that Bach wrote a small but wonderful collection of cantatas for secular occasions. As few as 20 of these works survive, however they provide a wonderful insight into a composer who approached secular music with the same artistic integrity and demand for quality that we find in his sacred music. We present his much loved Wedding Cantata featuring the Australian soprano Susannah Lawergren, as well as his lesser known but stunning Italian cantata 'Non sa che sia dolore' finally ending with his marvellous satirical comedy about life in Leipzig, the Coffee Cantata.