10-12 October 2025

Closing Gala: The End of Time

Symphonic Prayers for Fragile Worlds

Date and Time
Sun 15 Oct, 2:00pm
Venue
Reardon Theatre
Duration
Approximately 90 minutes, no interval
Cost
$49 / $42
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The 2023 Closing Gala features lauded trio PLEXUS together with a gleaming array of soloists, instrumentalists, Port Fairy schoolchildren and a combined Southwest Victorian chorus, under the baton of dynamic maestro Peter Luff. Melbourne-based ensemble Vox Plexus feature centrally in an acclaimed chamber arrangement of Stravinsky’s pinnacle of neoclassical beauty, the Symphony of Psalms, a symphonic declamation of psalmodic ritual on a grand scale. The entire ensemble joins forces for a spectacular finale led by heroic soloists Merlyn Quaife, Liane Keegan, and Christian Smith, as we inhabit the possessed paracosm of John of Patmos in his instant of apocalyptic epiphany. Combining English texts from the Book of Revelation with the Latin Mass for the Dead, this twenty-first-century Requiem for the End of Time was glowingly received at its premiere as “jubilant and arresting… a rapturous, hour-long musical orgy that disintegrates any line between what’s sacred and profane.” The 2023 festival is brought to an epic conclusion, as the final frontier of anthropocene habitat – what lies beyond – is theorised, hoped for, prayed to, and dreamed of, in a celebration of fragile yet resilient humanity.

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STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms (arr. Cassomenos)

CASSOMENOS Requiem for the End of Time

Peter Luff Conductor

Merlyn Quaife Soprano
Liane Keegan Contralto
Christian Smith Bass-Baritone

PLEXUS

Monica Curro Violin
Philip Arkinstall Clarinet
Michelle Wood Cello
Douglas Rutherford Bass
Stefan Cassomenos Piano

PORT FAIRY RING OF BELLS

Suzanne Brimacomb Director

PORT FAIRY SPRING MUSIC FESTIVAL CHORUS

Featuring members of:

Vox Plexus
Cantori
U3A Port Fairy Choir
SW VIC choristers
SW VIC children’s chorus

Dermot Tutty Children’s Chorus Director