A rotating roster of solo operatic voices will perform In Song, a free series of eight Sydney Chamber Opera concerts in a Victorian gothic-style former ecclesiastical church dating from 1891 in Sydney’s Alexandria.

The church, with its gabled porch entrance and vaulted timber ceiling, was acquired several years ago by the White Rabbit Gallery’s Director Judith Neilson. Its hall has a “beautiful acoustic for this intimate kind of work”, says SCO Artistic Director Jack Symonds.


Sydney Chamber Choir’s In Song program. Photograph © Lisa Tomasetti

Four 60-minute artsong programs, illustrating where the form has found itself in the 21st century, will each consist of one singer – soprano Jane Sheldon, soprano Anna Fraser, baritone Simon Lobelson or mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds – accompanied by Symonds on piano, with each program performed twice. Singer and pianist are to be uniquely lit for each program by artist Elizabeth Gadsby’s light installation.

The concerts will juxtapose work dating from a century ago with 21st-century compositions, including some Australian and world premieres, and while audience capacity will be limited each time to 60 ticket holders, the concerts will also be filmed for free online distribution by Neilson’s new Phoenix Central Park cultural centre, based...