Upcoming appearances
Port Fairy Spring Music Festival Opening Gala: Superhuman
Friday 9 October, 8:00pm
Reardon Theatre, 35 Bank St, Port Fairy VIC 3284
Superpowers unite! In a glittering display of the pinnacles of human creative achievement, the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival 2026 cast of caped crusaders dazzle with Reich’s heroic multi-clarinet minimalism, eight angelic a cappella voices, the eight Herculean hands of the Hungarian Rhapsody, our blazing string octet’s fearless scream of resistance to oppressive regimes, and culminating with the transcendental artistry of our national living treasure William Barton, who with his Kalkadunga Yurdu envelops us all into the mystical realm of the most ancient and enduring culture on the planet Earth.
The Consort of Melbourne musical set includes: Charles Hubert Parry There is an old belief (1907/18), Caroline Shaw Her beacon hand beckons (2016), Caroline Shaw And the swallow (2017), William Henry Harris Faire is the Heaven (1925)
The Consort of Melbourne Singers: Katherine Norman, Eliza Bennetts O’Connor, Jenny George, Hannah Pietsch, Timothy Reynolds, Anish Nair, Christian Smith, Steven Hodgson
Associated artists: William Barton, David Griffiths, Black Square Quartet, Darlington Quartet, Douglas Rutherford, Stephen McIntyre, Alex Ranieri, Julian Wade, Stefan Cassomenos
Port Fairy Spring Music Festival Closing Gala: Synergetic
Sunday 11 October, 3:30pm
Reardon Theatre, 35 Bank St, Port Fairy VIC
A transcendent collaboration
The Port Fairy Spring Music Festival 2026 Closing Gala strikes at the glowing core of what causes our human nature to gravitate to the superhuman — SYNERGY — our unequalled capacity to collaborate in the creation of something greater than the sum of its parts.
From the birth of the expression of our shared humanity — in the Baroque worlds of Jean-Féry Rebel & Jean-Philippe Rameau, and in the awe-inspiring expression of millennia of culture in the music of William Barton, sung in language by our entire massed Festival Chorus — to the world premiere of new music collaboratively composed by local school children together with Stefan Cassomenos, a structured improvisation sono-kinetically conducted by Aaron Choulai, Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra, and underpinned throughout with an electronic soundscape performed live by Thomas Green — Synergetic brings together a star-studded cast of magnificent minds, expert instrumentalists and impassioned choristers from South West Victoria, Melbourne, and all around the country, in a triumphant acclamation of our truly limitless shared potential to achieve the superhuman.
Selected works by Jean-Féry Rebel, Jean-Philippe Rameau & world premiere compositions by Stefan Cassomenos in collaboration with the children of Port Fairy
The Consort of Melbourne Singers: Katherine Norman, Eliza Bennetts O’Connor, Jenny George, Hannah Pietsch, Timothy Reynolds, Anish Nair, Christian Smith, Steven Hodgson
Associated artists: Stefan Cassomenos, Aaron Choulia, William Barton, Monica Curro, Thomas Green, The PFSMF Chorus, The PFSMF Children's Choir, The PFSMF Chamber Orchestra, Black Square Quartet, Doug Rutherford, Martin Kay, Tom Green, and Julian Wade
Four voices, many worlds
Thursday 3 December 2026 11:00am
Barwon Heads Arts Hub, 5 Clifford Parade, Barwon Heads Victoria 3227
From the glorious polyphony of Palestrina and Viadana to the moving harmonies of Mendelssohn and Bruckner, this intimate a cappella programme celebrates the extraordinary richness of music written for the human voice.
Hear Melbourne's premier vocal ensemble The Consort of Melbourne as they trace a thread through centuries of music and song: Renaissance madrigals, sacred choral masterpieces, Romantic miniatures, and some jazz and pop favourites.
Performed by four vocalists with no instrumental accompaniment, this music reveals the remarkable colour, intimacy and expressive power of voices in perfect harmony. From sacred stillness to playful romance and familiar melodies, these are songs to savour, share and rediscover.
The Consort of Melbourne Singers: Katherine Norman, Kristy Biber, Anish Nair, Steven Hodgson
Yitzhak Yedid's The Valley of the Dry Bones delivers a strikingly new and deeply familiar, large-scale oratorio that speaks to something ancient, echoing across traditions, cultures and rituals. The MSO, conducted by Eugene Ughetti, will be joined by MSO Chorus and The Consort of Melbourne, with librettist Stan Grant narrating. This exciting new work was commissioned and funded through the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship Alumni Commissioning program.
Past appearances
Please refer to our highlights and archive page https://www.theconsortofmelbourne.com/archive
This is where you can check out what we've been up to.
Feel free to get in touch via the Contact page if there's something you'd like to hear more of, or if you've attended one of these events and you'd like to give us some feedback!
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