The human voice is a powerful instrument. When a multitude of voices come together to sing, it can affect the listener in a profoundly visceral way.
Likewise, for those singing, it can be a ‘taste of heaven’, says international award-winning composer, conductor, and producer Antony Pitts.
‘There are very few human activities where you work so closely with other people. You’re listening, you have to be in time, in tune, and in harmony. We use the word harmony to mean something other than just music, so when you’ve got many voices singing together, in harmony, it’s about the nearest you can get to heaven,’ he enthuses.
Pitts, among other prestigious achievements, is the founder of vocal ensemble Tonus Peregrinus, who for almost four decades have specialised in early, sacred and contemporary choral music.
Today he is Excelsia University College’s William Byrd Fellow, and will be one of the expert panel for the 2025 International Christian Choral Celebration (ICCC).
For more than 40 years, Sydney’s Excelsia University College has been teaching creative and performing arts with a unique multi-denominational background, celebrating all three major streams of the Christian church (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant).
After awarding the Choir of St Paul’s College, Sydney, the William Byrd Prize as part of the inaugural ICCC last year, Excelsia University College are once more inviting choirs from around the world to enter for a chance to win the $5,000 cash prize.
Entry to the ICCC 2025 is free, and the video entries must be a cappella, no longer than eight minutes and submitted by midday 1 July.
‘We’re essentially creating a giant playlist of what we hope is some of the most beautiful and moving, and possibly unusual and interesting, sacred music,’ Pitts explains.
A listening event with the expert panel of choral directors and worship leaders, coinciding with the LUMEN 2025 conference, will take place in September and also be live-streamed. ‘We’ll then make a playlist afterwards that people could listen to forever,’ he says.
Pitts says that while they are upfront about the ICCC featuring specifically Christian texts, the music is for anyone and everyone to enjoy, and why the William Byrd Prize is open to choirs of any size or religious affiliation.
‘A lot of choirs around the world who are not specifically Christian, or not attached to a church, nonetheless spend a significant part of their time performing ancient Christian sacred music,’ he notes.
‘I think that’s a very interesting aspect, that this music is sort of everywhere, and people love it, even if they’re not believers yet, it still touches them so much and that’s a really strong discussion point.’
Discussion, as much as music, is to be a part of the September event. ‘We’re also wanting to spark some dialogue and see what the points of connection are, and the points of difference,’ Pitts says.
It’s why the prize is named in honour of 16th century composer and singer William Byrd. While Pitts says Byrd was ‘a brilliant musician, wrote some of the most beautiful music’, Byrd also existed in a time of religious persecution, where imprisonment or even death could result from worship practices.
‘That is still the case for many people around the world today,’ acknowledges Pitts. ‘They’re not able to worship and, in the case of what we’re talking about, not able to sing freely. They’re silenced. So the William Byrd Prize represents both excellence in choral music and is also an encouragement for people to sing out, particularly when other people can’t sing freely.’
