ANDREW FYSH
Bass
Originally from Hobart, where he began his singing career over forty years ago as a treble at St David’s Cathedral, Andrew has considerable experience as both chorister and soloist throughout Australia. Church music has featured throughout Andrew’s career: in 2004–06, while living in London, he sang with the Choir of the London Oratory, England’s pre-eminent Catholic church choir, and on return to Australia he joined the Choir of St James’ Church, Sydney, with whom he still sings on occasion.
In Canberra, Andrew is a founding member of the Clarion vocal quartet with Tobias Cole, performing monthly at the National Portrait Gallery, and sings with Coro. Coro's program of Renaissance polyphony, 'Music by Numbers', which Andrew devised and co-directed, was named by the Canberra Times as one of the top five concerts of 2015. Andrew’s particular interest lies in Renaissance and Baroque music, nurtured through fourteen years as a permanent member of Melbourne’s acclaimed Ensemble Gombert, directed by John O’Donnell, with whom he has toured Europe (2004, 2006, 2015) and North America (2009).
Andrew has been engaged as a guest artist with The Song Company on multiple occasions, most recently at the 2014 Canberra International Music Festival as bass soloist in Bach Cantata No.130 and Mozart Requiem. Among three Song Company recordings in which Andrew appears, the 1996 world-premiere release of Schütz Der Schwanengesang, recorded in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, received Soundscapes magazine’s ‘Editor's Choice’ award.
Andrew is a founding member of the Bach Akademie Australia, directed by Madeleine Easton, which launched to critical acclaim in 2017 at sold-out performances in Sydney and at the Canberra International Music Festival. At last year’s Festival, Andrew appeared in BAA’s performances of ‘Bach on Sunday’ and Handel Israel in Egypt.
Other solo engagements have included Bach St John Passion (St Mary’s Cathedral and St James’ Church, Sydney), Mozart Requiem (Festival of Voices, Hobart, and St James’ Church, Sydney), and Canberra Choral Society's performances of Messiah (2015), Schütz Weihnachtshistorie (2016), Bach St Matthew Passion (2018), and Mozart Requiem and Haydn Nelson Mass under the direction of Graham Abbott (2018).
Later this month, Andrew will again join BAA for performances in Sydney and will appear with both BAA and Clarion at this year’s Canberra International Music Festival. On Good Friday, he will join other soloists from the Choir of St James’ in a performance of Arvo Pärt Passio at the Tapestry of Sacred Music festival in Singapore.
Andrew was bass soloist for the Canberra Bach Ensemble’s 2016–17 and 2018 cantata series, including two performances of the solo cantata Ich habe genug BWV82. He is very pleased to be invited to add another three cantatas to his repertoire, as he pursues his ambitious quest to perform all of Bach’s cantatas (or, at least, as many as possible!).
