The Crowd

Abstract

What is it we feel when part of a crowd? Is it fear or empowerment? Do we lose ourselves, or find our real selves? Is a crowd a mob, an ignorant mass of unthinking beings? Or is it an intelligent body, capable of thought processes and invention of which individuals alone would not be capable? We spend much of our life in crowds: when we go to the football or attend a concert, when we cross the street at peak hour, when we worship, mourn, protest or feast, we often do so as part of a crowd. The Crowd examines the nature of the crowd, in its many manifestations, both human and in the natural world. A hundred musicians on stage, two thousand in the audience and countless thousands from all walks of life projected onto the big screen.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/emotional-responses-get-lost-in-the-crowd/story-e6frg8n6-1226739182844

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/melbourne-festivals-the-crowd-20130912-2tmev.html

The Consort of Melbourne is a professional vocal ensemble that champions both historic and contemporary chamber vocal repertoire. It comprises a core membership of eight singers, which expands or shrinks as the repertoire demands.

The Consort has presented a regular concert series in the Melbourne Recital Centre for many years, and has also been invited to collaborate with groups such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, the Song Company and La Compañia.

In 2011 Consort made its debut at the Melbourne Festival with the Kronos Quartet giving the Australian premiere of Terry Riley's Sun Rings to critical acclaim. The following year the Consort opened the musical programme of the Festival with a series of performances of Dieterich Buxtehude's cantata cycle Membra Jesu Nostri, accompanied by specially commissioned photographic projections in St Paul’s Cathedral. Last year, with the Orchestra Project it also gave the world premiere performance of a new completion of Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor. Most recently, Consort performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in The Crowd: a collaboration between the ACO artistic director Richard Tognetti and cinematographer Jon Frank.

Since its establishment in 2008, The Consort of Melbourne has continued to engage the concert-going public with fresh and exciting performances. It has featured on ABC Classic FM on frequent occasions, including a broadcast of works by Percy Grainger and also Claudio Monteverdi's famous Vespers of 1610.