The Odyssey: An A Cappella Journey

The Sydney University Madrigal Society and the Sydney University Musical Society Small Group are delighted to co-present: The Odyssey, an a cappella journey.

Artists and musicians have always been inspired by the fantastical heights of Greek mythology. Tumble through the waves with us with music old and new – we visit the English Renaissance with 16th-century composer Michael East's Farewell, False Love, and evoke the sound of the sea with Michael McGlynn's Dúlamán. We revel in the late Romanticism of the 19th century turning into the 20th with Rebecca Clarke's Philomela. And of course, we visit the modern day with a premiere from Australian composer Bec Hilliard, Cassandra, which has been programmed alongside a sister piece of Hilliard's, Ariadne.

Pack your rations, embark, and say farewell to the shore – Odysseus was gone from his home in Ithaca for twenty years, but we shall return you in a mere hour and a half.

Buy tickets here.

Please come prepared to listen, muse, laugh, and contemplate. Join us at the pub afterwards to eat, drink, and make merry!

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The Sydney University Madrigal Society (MADS) began in 1999 as four students singing madrigals around a piano. We have since evolved into an eclectic chamber choir, performing Renaissance madrigals, chansons, villancico, lute songs, and everything else that strikes our fancy. We have brought our light-hearted, spirited energy to Medieval Faires big and small. Following our past concerts Dreams of Galileo and The Forest at the End of the World, we now bring to you The Odyssey.

The Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) is the oldest secular choir in the southern hemisphere, dating back to 1878. The Small Group is an auditioned branch of this lively undergraduate choir, representing the society in promotional events and functions around Sydney. The Small Group presented Songs of the Highlands and High Seas in their last semester concert, and recently sang with SUMS in their 2024 semester one concert, A Night With The Schumanns. They are thrilled to be bringing gorgeous chamber music to your ears.

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For the safety of our choir, audience, and community at large, we have an expectation that everybody is as vaccinated as they are able to be. We ask that you refrain from attending if you have any COVID symptoms. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in enabling safer choir events

This event will take place on Gadigal land. We recognise that Australia was founded on the genocide and dispossession of First Nations people, and that this land was violently stolen. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.