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Radiant Dawn: From Lamentation to LightA transcendent choral journey through grief, hope, and illumination
Conducted by David Mackay
4pm, Saturday 9 May 2026
All Saints' Anglican Church, Ainslie
Tickets: $40 // $30 // Children under 12 years old free
Coro, one of Canberra's leading choral ensembles and two-time Canberra Critics' CIrcle Award recipient, invites audiences to experience Radiant Dawn: From Lamentation to Light, an extraordinary hour of choral music that traces the path from sorrow and supplication to renewal, wonder, and radiant joy.
This thoughtfully curated program - the ensemble's first for 2026 - brings together masterpieces from the Renaissance and the modern era, revealing how composers across centuries have responded to the deepest human emotions with beauty, faith, and hope.
Beginning in stillness and grief with three great sacred works of the Renaissance by Handl, Victoria, and Lobo, these works explore mortality, sorrow, and the search for consolation.
Yet from darkness emerges hope. William Byrd’s three exquisite settings of the Agnus Dei — for three, four, and five voices — chart a journey from intimate simplicity to glorious fullness of sound. Interwoven are Igor Stravinsky’s luminous Ave Maria and Claude Le Jeune’s joyful Revecy venir du printemps, suggesting grace, renewal, and the first stirrings of life.
At the centre of the evening, and giving the concert its title, stands James MacMillan’s breathtaking O Radiant Dawn, a contemporary choral masterpiece of glowing sonorities and spiritual intensity.
The concert concludes in joy, tenderness, and wonder with works by Finzi, Chilcott, and Lauridsen. Celebrating life with energy, intimacy and warmth, the evening closes with Morten Lauridsen’s beloved O Magnum Mysterium.
Radiant Dawn: From Lamentation to Light is a concert of striking contrasts and deep emotional resonance — music that journeys through shadow into brilliance, reminding us of the enduring power of the human spirit.
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Event Venue
All Saints Anglican Church, Ainslie - ACT, 9 Cowper Street, AINSLIE ACT,Canberra,ACT,Australia
Tickets
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