Man with a beard in a black suit sings with a cathedral as the background

I Was Glad Cathedral Classics

1 April 2025

In the Concert Hall

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Classical Music

Find inspiration and pageantry in divine music for choir and organ drawn from the English cathedral tradition.

[The Choir] were superb in a performance which sometimes swept the audience away with its majestic choruses…and the bone-shaking intensity of David Drury at the organ with all the stops pulled out.

Limelight, 2024

Useful information:

I Was Glad

The English cathedral is a place of sanctuary from the distractions of a hectic world. It’s also the home of a rich and enduring choral tradition, and you don’t have to be a believer to find comfort in the transcendent beauty and reflective spirituality of sacred music. 

For this Sydney Philharmonia Choirs concert, Brett Weymark turns to the cathedral for inspiration, assembling some of the great hymns and anthems in a stirring program featuring the 140-voice Symphony Chorus and David Drury at the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ. This is music that has filled the air at coronations, weddings, jubilees and funerals – the perfect accompaniment for pageantry and celebration, for meditation and mourning. 

The musical treats range from Hubert Parry’s I Was Glad, sung at every English coronation since 1902, and the luscious sounds of Henry Balfour Gardiner’s Evening Hymn, to Howard Goodall’s poignant setting of Psalm 23, which began life as the theme for The Vicar of Dibley. And this ‘evensong’ for the concert hall concludes with the Australian premiere of music from A Season to Sing, a choral transformation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with words by Emily Brontë.

Presented by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Program

Hubert PARRY I Was Glad
John IRELAND Greater Love Hath No Man
Joanna FORBES L'ESTRANGE
A Season to Sing: A Time to Dance*
A Season to Sing: Spring*
William Henry MONK Abide with Me
Henry Balfour GARDINER Evening Hymn
Roxanna PANUFNIK Coronation Sanctus
Gerald FINZI Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice

 - Interval -

Edward BAIRSTOW Blessed City, Heavenly Salem
Howard GOODALL The Lord is My Shepherd
Cecilia McDOWALL Celebration, for organ
William HARRIS Bring Us, O Lord God
Joanna FORBES L'ESTRANGE A Season to Sing: Summer*
Edgar BAINTON And I Saw a New Heaven
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS All the People That On Earth Do Dwell
Hubert PARRY Blest Pair of Sirens

* Australian premiere of an international co-commission from 55 choirs, including Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Artists

Brett Weymark conductor
Symphony Chorus
David Drury organ

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