BY GABRIELLE RUTTICO
The University of Western Australia had only been open for one year when World War One began turning Europe into a madhouse of blood and battle.
Many of the university’s 184 students postponed their studies to fight, becoming a part of the ANZAC legend that has since defined Australia. Around 16 of these students paid the ultimate price, and never got the chance to graduate. One hundred years later, one of the university’s most senior ensembles, the Winthrop Singers, paid tribute to the fallen students with a service on the eve of ANZAC Day.
The service featured the premiere of Philip Gearing’s Pro Patria Mori, a haunting vocal work set to war poems by Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Palmer, John McCrae, Edward Thomas, Wilfred Owen and Ivor Gurney.
The Winthrop Singers were formed in 2007 by Dr. Nicholas Bannan after he moved to Perth from the United Kingdom. He was surprised to find that while UWA had a strong cohort of singers, it had no vocal ensembles whatsoever. By contacting one of the university’s residential colleges he managed to form a choir with “one foot in a community separate from but complementary to the School of Music.”
The choir still performs an Evensong every Thursday at the St George’s College Chapel, in a prosperous partnership that benefits both the ensemble and college. This alliance is the backbone of the Winthrop Singers.
“Through making the regular cycle of weekly Evensongs our core commitment, we involve the members in performing every week, which automatically confers the motivation and means to develop sight-reading,” Nicholas says.
“These policies have permitted us to tackle more difficult music, because the level of musicianship is raised through such regular, self-motivated engagement.”
This constant hard work has allowed the choir to reap rewards such as the opportunity to tour regional Western Australia, as well as internationally to China. To Nicholas, it is important that he and the choir are “able to transmit our enthusiasm for what we do to a wider environment than just the UWA campus.”
The pay-off to the students for being part of such an intense ensemble is just as big as the benefit to the communities. Interestingly, however, not all of the members of the Winthrop Singers are music students.
Members study a variety of majors including Philosophy, English, and Genetics – but Nicholas says this does not compromise the quality of the ensemble.
“The idea of the choir is to provide an opportunity for those interested in choral singing to approach the level of independent musical participation that is normal for orchestral players.”
It was during their tour to China that composer Philip Gearing first encountered the Winthrop Singers. When the planned premiere of Pro Patria Mori could not happen in Brisbane, Nicholas and Philip tossed around the idea of a performance in Perth instead. When the Head of Keyboard at UWA Graeme Gilling agreed to accompany the choir, “it seemed logical to put the piece on in our traditional ANZAC Day slot, using the new Fazioli piano in the Hall of St George’s College”.
That way, explains Nicholas, the work is “in the context of a UWA memorial of alumni and staff killed in World War One”.
Nicholas has collaborated extensively with local musician and historian Joan Pope to present a program that does justice to the fallen.
The Winthrop Singers perform Evensong every Thursday at 6pm in the Chapel at St George’s College, which members of the public are welcome to attend.
Check out the Winthrop Singers’ website at http://www.winthropsingers.com/index.html .
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
