Joy To The World

Christmas at the Sydney Town Hall brings together a massed choir, children’s choir, vocal and instrumental soloists, brass and percussion players, and the legendary William Hill and Son pipe organ played by Robert Ampt, who also conceives and plans each year’s event. Throughout the evening, poems and short narratives alternate with music; all enhanced by pageantry, special lighting and the awe-inspiring grandeur of the Sydney Town Hall itself.

But the music, much of it propelled and energised by the great organ, is the main reason the hall is packed year after year. The capacity audience sings its collective heart out during the thrilling carol arrangements, and ponders and reflects during the colourful and often moving choral and solo works. Much of this music has been composed or arranged by Robert Ampt. This CD offers, for the first time, a selection of Ampt’s Christmas music, most of which received its first performance in the Sydney Town Hall.