Silence

“The silence must be longer. This music is about the silence. The sounds are there to surround the silence.”
 
These are wonderful words! Arvo Pärt points to something not passive but extraordinarily alive, active, peaceful, perhaps, and mysterious, honest.
 
In the days of celluloid film, the negative was fascinating. A gateway to a parallel universe, a view of the familiar but in a mirror, from the other side, from behind the veil, from the beyond, ghostly images hovering, held, caught, dancing in some escaping moment. What did the ghosts do next, what might they do next, who are they? The image seemed to reflect ‘the intersection of the timeless moment’, between the real and something half glimpsed, perhaps imagined, full of possibility, of movement and sound.
 
Time and again in Hamer Singers’ July concerts, listening to the silence, it was such a strong silence, I was drawn to TS Eliot’s intersection of time and space.
 
And it was a joy to see you all, and so many of you! And we are enormously grateful to the communities of Castlemaine’s Christ Church, and Melbourne’s St Peter’s Eastern Hill for making us so welcome.
 
At St Peter’s we were glad to bring to mind Anglicare and the Lazarus Foundation, and their profound care for the homeless and those in need, not least in cooking hot breakfasts, 365-days a year; we were glad to welcome members of their community and we look to forward to deepening that relationship.
 
Now, a date for your diary! Sunday, November 25th is Hamer Singers’ next concert, some truly wonderful music back over the road in St Patrick’s Cathedral at 3:30pm. Please come, tell of us to your friends, and bring as many of them as you can!  More information here and tickets here
 
Warm regards
Jonathan