UQ choir prepares for Australian premiere

UQ’s scientists are not the only ones leading the nation, with the University’s oldest choir featuring a Southern Hemisphere premiere in its 2009 season.

The Queensland University Musical Society (QUMS) will present the Australian premiere of Karl Jenkins’ Te Deum for choir and orchestra, together with the Queensland premiere of the same composer’s Requiem, in a concert at St John’s Anglican Cathedral on May 23rd.

QUMS, formed in 1912 as a Glee Club for the then newly established University, is now a vibrant student and community choir, welcoming members of all ages and levels of experience.

Karl Jenkins is the composer of the well-known Adiemus suites, and broke onto the mainstream stage in 2000 with The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace, a work which has since been performed around the globe.

The composer followed this success with Requiem in 2004, Stabat Mater in 2008, and now Te Deum, which received its world premiere on November 30 last year in Liverpool Cathedral.

“With the ever-increasing popularity of Jenkins’ works, a competition has emerged to see who will get to perform them and when, and once we found out about Te Deum, it was an opportunity too good to miss,” QUMS President and Musical Director David Webster said.

Mr Webster said there was an element of the unknown about the project which excited those involved.

“The negotiations for the performance rights began before the work had even been premiered, so information was scarce, and a recording or score simply non-existent,” he said.

“Jenkins incorporates a wide range of unorthodox element in his works – for instance, the Requiem consists of the text of the Latin Mass for the dead, interspersed with Japanese haiku poems.

"Even the traditional elements get a make over, with the "Dies Irae" movement being written around a hip-hop rhythm! I am sure that Te Deum will not disappoint.”

QUMS rehearses on Wednesday nights from 7pm to 9.30pm at UQ St Lucia. For further information, visit www.qums.aicsa.org.au or email president@qums.aicsa.org.au.

Bookings for the concert can be made through 4MBS Ticketing on (07) 3847 1717.

Media: David Webster (0400 802 588, president@qums.aicsa.org.au) or Cameron Pegg at UQ Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au)