SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER, 2023 (3PM)
If Christ had been born in another time… (for a cappella SATB choir)
Performers: Acappellago, directed by Vicki Linich.
Venue: Congregational Church of Batavia, 21 S. Batavia Av, Batavia, Illinois, USA.
Program: “Escape…… Singers’ Holiday Favorites.”– Songs of the holiday season bring back a variety of memories and feelings to us. Join us as Acappellago performs members’ favorite holiday songs. These are the songs that evoke powerful emotions, not only anticipation and joy, but also sadness and tenderness. We hope these songs speak to you in the same way they speak to us – we love them and hope you will too! (Source: Acappellago.org)
Info: Acappellago

SATURDAY 2 DECEMBER, 2023 (7:30PM)
If Christ had been born in another time… (for a cappella SATB choir)
Performers: Acappellago, directed by Vicki Linich.
Venue: Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 31st St, Oak Brook Illinois, USA.
Program: “Escape…… Singers’ Holiday Favorites.”– Songs of the holiday season bring back a variety of memories and feelings to us. Join us as Acappellago performs members’ favorite holiday songs. These are the songs that evoke powerful emotions, not only anticipation and joy, but also sadness and tenderness. We hope these songs speak to you in the same way they speak to us – we love them and hope you will too! (Source: Acappellago.org)
Info: Acappellago

Christmas Around the World – The Geelong Chorale: December 2nd, 2017
All Saints Church, Noble Street, Newtown.  Saturday, December 2nd, 5pm.

“… The concert started unconventionally, with the Chorale entering with its female members chorusing very good impressions of kookaburras which melded into Matthew Orlovich’s Australian carol ‘If Christ Had Been Born In Another Time’ – all delivered from the back of the church, behind the audience. This resounding piece, echoing around the venue’s high rafters, set the standard for what was a glorious mix of unusual with conventional material.” (Colin Mockett, Entertainment Geelong).

My setting of Pat Edwards’ poem ‘If Christ had been born in another time…’ was commissioned by Oriana Chorale, Canberra, ACT, Australia, for premiere performance at the National Museum of Australia, on Sunday 21 December, 2008.

Opening with the distinctive calls of Laughing Kookaburras, the scene is set for a new, Australian take on the age-old story of the Nativity. Through a series of questions posed, the poet depicts Mary and Joseph travelling through the Australian outback. “Would there have been no room in the pub?” “Would they have been turned away while drovers and stockmen jostled the bar toasting the end of the day?” Would the Wise Men have brought gifts of “perfume and oil from the eucalypt tree” or “gold from a river’s bed?”

Inspired by Edwards’ strong imagery and fired up by the excitement and sense of celebration which is inherent in the story of the Nativity, I arrived at musical ideas which exhibit an energy and a rhythmic drive that propels the music to an uplifting conclusion, whereupon the choir sings, once more, the poem’s opening verse:

If Christ had been born in another time
in a town of a different name,
If Christ had been born under southern skies
would the story have been the same?

Having set the scene at the commencement of the work, the Laughing Kookaburras return to have the last word.

*Pat Edwards, “Joy in the Sun: Christmas under the southern cross”, Gosford NSW, Ashton Scholastic, 1984. Grateful acknowledgement is made of Ashton Scholastic for granting permission to set this text.

Matthew Orlovich.
Composer.

DECEMBER 2019 – JANUARY 2020
Performers: St Peters Chorale, conducted by Kathryn Morton.
Venue: International Tour to the UK, Belgium, Germany and Denmark.

SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER 2017  (3PM)
Performers: Coro Innominata, directed by Margaret Tesch-Muller.
Venue: Kincoppal School Chapel, Vaucluse, NSW, Australia.

SATURDAY 2 DECEMBER 2017  (5:00PM)
Performers: The Geelong Chorale, conducted by Allister Cox.
Program: “Christmas Around the World”
Venue: All Saints Anglican Church, Noble Street, Newtown, Geelong, VIC, Australia.

SUNDAY 4 DECEMBER 2016 (4:00PM)
Performers: Acappellago, directed by Mr Dennis Smith.
Venue: Congregational Church of Batavia, 21 South Batavia Avenue, Batavia, Illinois, USA.

SATURDAY 3 DECEMBER 2016 (7:30PM)
Performers: Acappellago, directed by Mr Dennis Smith.
Venue: Event Hall @ Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st Street, Oak Brook, Illinois, USA.

SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER 2014 (3PM)
Performers: The Taverner Consort, directed by Julie Blewitt.
Program: “Alleluia: Songs for the Advent Season” – featuring music by Vaughan Williams, Williamson, Sculthorpe, Orlovich, Warlock, Holland, Kodaly, Joubert and Palestrina.
Venue: Record Reign Hall, Glebe, corner of St John’s Road and Derwent St, Glebe, NSW, Australia.

SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER, 2014 (3PM)
Performers: The Taverner Consort, directed by Julie Blewitt.
Venue: Glebe Music Festival, Record Reign Hall, St John’s Road, Glebe, NSW, Australia.

SUNDAY 16TH DECEMBER, 2012 (2PM)
Performers: Brisbane Chamber Choir, conducted by Graeme Morton.
Program: Christmas music by Jonathan Dove, Herbert Howells, Matthew Orlovich, Stephen Leek, Hector Berlioz, Kenneth Leighton & William Byrd.
Venue: St John’s Cathedral, 373 Ann Street, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

SATURDAY 17TH JANUARY, 2011. (1.30PM)
Performers: Acappellago, conducted by Mr Dennis Smith.
Venue: “Christmas Around The World & Holiday Lights”, Holiday Stage, Main Level, Museum of Science + Industry, 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

2012 International Tour
Performers: Southland, directed by Lesley Challender.
Venue: Eastern European Tour.

SUNDAY 4TH DECEMBER, 2011 (4PM).
Performers: Acappellago, directed by Dennis Smith.
Venue: New Covenant Church, SW corner of 75th & Washington Streets, Naperville, IL, USA.

SATURDAY 3RD DECEMBER, 2011 (7:30PM).
Performers: Acappellago, directed by Dennis Smith.
Venue: Event Hall, Mayslake Peabody Estate, Oak Brook, IL, USA.
Details: “Many call it The Greatest Story Ever Told. Join Acappellago in our tenth season when we reprise The Christmas Story by Hugo Distler, a German composer who wrote some of the 20th century’s greatest a cappella music. We will also perform all seven Carols of the Nativity by award-winning Canadian composer Stephen Chatman, including settings of Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella and Angels We Have Heard On High, and the North American premiere of two works by Australian composer, Matthew Orlovich. Come rejoice with us!” (Source: www.accappellago.org)

WEDNESDAY 19TH JANUARY, 2011 – TUESDAY 28TH DECEMBER, 2010
Performers: St Peters Chorale, conducted by Graeme Morton.
Venue: International Tour

St Mark’s Anglican Church, Florence, Italy.
All Saints Church, Rome, Italy.
St Johannis Lutheran Church, Bayreuth, Germany.
St Stephen’s Lutheran Church, Bamberg, Germany.
St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Heidingsfeld (Warzburg), Germany.
Evangelische Stadtkirche St Moriz, Coburg, Germany.
St Thomas’s Church, Leipzig, Germany.
Kreuzkirche, Buchen, Germany.
Ev.-Luth. Kirchengenneinde Henstedt-Utzburg, Germany.
St Margaret’s, Blackwood, Wales, UK.
Llandaff Cathedral, Wales, UK.
Bristol Cathedral, UK.
Winchester Cathedral, UK.
Ely Cathedral, UK.
Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.
Canterbury Cathedral, UK.
Fairfield Methodist Secondary School, Singapore.

SUNDAY 19TH DECEMBER, 2010 (3PM)
Performers: Joubert Singers, directed by Rachelle Elliott.
Venue: St Peter Chanel Catholic Church, Futuna Street, Hunters Hill.
Details: Joubert Singers presents “Gloria” by Francis Poulenc with French carols and works by Faure, Handel and Australian composer Matthew Orlovich. Guest Artists: Maria Okunev (soprano), John Martin (piano) and Melissa Abraham (trumpet).

TUESDAY 14TH DECEMBER, 2010 (7:30PM)
Performers: Joubert Singers, directed by Rachelle Elliott.
Venue: St Peter Chanel Catholic Church, Futuna Street, Hunters Hill.
Details: Joubert Singers presents “Gloria” by Francis Poulenc with French carols and works by Faure, Handel and Australian composer Matthew Orlovich. Guest Artists: Maria Okunev (soprano), John Martin (piano) and Melissa Abraham (trumpet).

SUNDAY 12TH DECEMBER, 2010 (3PM)
Performers: The Australian Boys Choir with The Vocal Consort, the Kelly Gang and the Institute’s training groups. Also featuring Delyth Stafford (Harp), Jennifer Chou (organ). Conductor, Noel Ancell OAM.
Venue: Robert Blackwood Concert Hall, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC, Australia.

SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER, 2008, (1:00PM) ***WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE***
Performers: The Oriana Chorale, directed by Tobias Cole.
Venue: National Museum of Australia, Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula, Canberra ACT 2600 Australia.