International touring began in 1988, with a week-long tour of concerts and Masses in the Australian
Catholic Cathedrals of Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. Then over a six-week
period from December, 1990 into January, 1991, a highly successful European
tour involved a performing group of 70 singers and orchestral players
accompanied by 65 supporters as they presented Masses and concerts in
San Francisco, Westminster, Dublin, Paris, Chartres, Aachen, Dusseldorf,
Leipzig, Dresden, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Venice,
Florence, and Rome. For this tour, substantial funding support was received
from the Lottery Grants Board, and the group was given government recognition
as cultural ambassadors.
A second international tour, held during a five-week period from December
1994 into January 1995 involved 35 singers, 24 orchestral players, and
44 supporters. Concerts were given in the Cathedrals of St Petersburg,
Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Lucerne, Barcelona and Toledo. A joint performance
with the Russian chamber choir Zlatoust was presented in Moscow’s
Sheremetev Mansion, and the tour concluded with a concert in St-Chapelle,
Paris. Mass was performed in Prague Cathedral on Christmas Day, in Milan
Cathedral on New Year’s Day, and in St Hedwig’s Cathedral,
Berlin, and Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. A second Australian tour during
June-July 1996 took 75 to Melbourne, Bendigo, Canberra, Goulburn and Sydney.
The arrival of the new millennium was celebrated with another world tour
from 10 December 1999, till 16 January 2000, which included visits to
historic sites with Handel’s Messiah in Egypt, the Holy Land, Turkey
and Italy, as well as a concert tour of Europe. Performances were given
in the cathedrals of Florence, Venice, Eisenstadt, Cologne, Haarlem, Brussels,
and London. Haydn’s Theresienmesse was performed at the Epiphany
High Mass in Vienna Cathedral, and 80 members of the touring group were
invited to lead the singing in St Peter’s for the Papal Christmas
Midnight Mass to inaugurate the Holy Year of Jubilee. A third Australian
tour during September 2001 took 55 to Adelaide, Ballarat and Melbourne.
A fourth international tour, occurred in December 2005, when the choir and orchestra performed in cathedrals and major churches in Santiago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Cuzco, Lima, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Toronto and Montreal. Christmas was celebrated in St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, and the tour concluded on New Year’s Day with Mass in Montreal Notre Dame Basilica, a concert, and Vespers in Montreal Cathedral.
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| The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
Orchestra consists of a nucleus of regular members, who accompany
the Choir in monthly orchestral Masses, together with almost all feast
days, special events, and concerts, for which appropriate rehearsal
is needed. Frequently, the orchestra is heard in its own right, playing
instrumental music often written for a chamber orchestra of that nature.
Usually, the organ is an indispensable addition. The Cathedral Orchestra
was acclaimed for its part in tours to Australia (3), Europe (3) and the Americas (1), and
invariably participates in all such ventures. |
Handel Messiah in Rome, Dec. 1999
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