Performers: St Peters Chorale, with Brisbane Bells and Associate Artists.
CD: “On The Road With St Peters Chorale”.

Night (for 5-octave handbells and optional handchimes, SATB choir, clap sticks and didgeridoo in C) is a setting of an extraordinary poem by the Australian poet, Judith Wright (1915–2000).

(To read about the 2008 arrangement for SATB choir, piano, percussion & didgeridoo in C, click here).

This score was commissioned in 2005 by The Handbell Society of Australasia for performance at the 12th International Handbell Symposium’s “World Massed Handbell Concert”, held at The Brisbane Convention Centre, Southbank, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. The premiere was given by handbell ringers gathered from around the world, aged from 8 to 80, together with the combined choirs of St Peters Lutheran College and West Moreton Anglican College, with didgeridoo player Michael J.Connolly, all under the baton of conductor Graeme Morton.

Night commences with the sound of the solo didgeridoo. Clap sticks and instruments then enter to form a simple, meditative accompaniment to the choir which sings of a great tree:

… every leaf a star, its root eternity.

From the midpoint of the piece, the choir and instruments create a long crescendo, a ‘flowering’ which culminates in the concluding, heartfelt message of the work:

… Come back to the kind flesh, to love and simple sight.
Let us forget awhile that we create the night.
Out of this dark of time, alive and human, come.
Brief is the warm day in which we have our home.

I extend my thanks to The Handbell Society of Australasia for commissioning the work in 2005. I also thank all the performers from around the world who gathered together for the premiere performance of the work, and gratefully acknowledge ETT Imprint, Sydney, for granting me permission to set music to Judith Wright’s poem.

Matthew Orlovich,
Composer.

Jubiloso Bells with Concordia Concert Choir and David Yates (didgeridoo), conducted by Debbie Rice @ Concordia University of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

SATURDAY 10 APRIL, 2021 (7PM)
Performers: Toowoomba Choral Society & Toowoombells.
Program: Modern Masterpieces: An exquisite collection of beautiful works written in the last 25 years.
Venue: Millenium Centre, Toowoomba Anglican School, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia.

SUNDAY 24 APRIL, 2016 (3:00PM)
Performers: Jubiloso! Bells of Concordia + Associate Artists, directed by Debbie Rice.
Program: Tour the world with Jubiloso! + CD Release.
Venue: Concordia University of Edmonton, 7128 Ada Boulevard, Edmonton, Alberta T5B 4E4

SPRING, 2014
Performers: Concordia University Choir and Associated Artists, directed by Professor Deborah Rice.
Program: Spring Concert
Venue: Concordia University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

MONDAY 10 AUGUST, 2009 (2PM)
Performers: St Peters Chorale, with Brisbane Bells, conducted by Graeme Morton.
Programme: Under Southern Skies: True Blue. Prepared by Patrick Johnson.
Broadcast: 4MBS FM

SATURDAY 5 AUGUST, 2006 – WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE
Performers: Massed handbells and hand chimes of the 12th International Handbell Symposium, with the combined choirs of St Peters Lutheran College and West Moreton Anglican College and didgeridoo player Michael J. Connelly, all under the baton of conductor Graeme Morton.
Venue: 12th International Handbell Symposium, The Brisbane Convention Centre, Southbank, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.