Melbourne-based composer Kathleen McGuire will mark the 10th anniversary of her acclaimed choral work Street Requiem with a new community music project, Australian Catholic University’s Big Sing for a Big Cause.
The project will raise funds for people struggling to find secure accommodation and free tickets will be given to organisations that support Victoria’s homeless community.
Since its world premiere in Melbourne in 2014, Street Requiem has been performed more than 30 times worldwide by 6000 people, raising more than $250,000 for charities supporting people who experience homelessness.
Informed by the traditional Catholic Latin Mass for the dead, Street Requiem, composed by Dr McGuire, Andy Payne and Jonathan Welch, is a response to rising levels of poverty and violence on the streets.
Big Sing for a Big Cause will feature two concerts, one in Melbourne at St Patrick’s Cathedral and the second at the new Performing Arts Centre at St Patrick’s College, Ballarat.
World-class Indigenous artist Jess Hitchcock will perform as a guest soloist at the Melbourne concert.
The program will also premiere new music composed by Dr McGuire and Payne to give a voice to people living on the street, asking, “What will you say when they carry me away?”, which includes a rap component addressing street violence.
The full performance will feature a massed choir and orchestra with students and staff from Australian Catholic University, where Dr McGuire is a senior lecturer in Music Education. The ACU Choir will be joined by secondary school students and singers from the wider community, including members of a choir from New Zealand.
“I am thrilled to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Street Requiem with some of my own students and colleagues from ACU, and honoured guests from Victoria and New Zealand, to stand up for the lives of people who have tragically died on our streets,” Dr McGuire said.
Details: ACU’s Big Sing for a Big Cause.
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Victoria’s homeless community to receive free tickets to ACU’s Big Sing for a Big Cause (ACU)
