Vocal ensemble records first album with new music label
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
The Promise is recording a new album, performing at a carols program and appearing on television between now and the end of the year. Credit: Kent Marcus Photography.
Most students head home for holidays at the end of the academic year at Avondale College of Higher Education, but not members of The Promise.
The vocal ensemble recorded a new album music label Psalter, a ministry of Adventist Media Network, will release in April this year. The recording, at Adventist Media Network’s studio in Wahroonga, New South Wales, preceded a performance at Sydney Adventist Hospital’s Carols by Candlelight on December 12. The Promise also appeared in a one-hour It Is Written Oceania special called “Silent Night: A Simple Melody” airing on the Seven Network in Australia’s digital channel 7TWO and on the Prime Television Network on Christmas Day at 6.30 AM.
The quality and quantity of The Promise’s performances impresses Psalter. “The Promise is polished,” says Psalter manager Tim Burcham, “and it’s already ministering through music.”
Directed by Dr Robb Dennis, a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities and Creative Arts, The Promise is one of two vocal ensembles at Avondale. It is smaller and younger than its more storied sibling, Avondale Singers, whose history dates back to 1947. However, The Promise tours regularly, performing about 60 times this year. Members come from across Australia and from overseas—one is from Malaysia. Most have previous choral experience. One is a former winner of the Australian Songwriting Contest.
“Of all the instruments, the human voice is the most beautiful,” says Tim, who adds it is the ensemble’s focus on harmony that appeals to him. “I love it.”
The Promise performed three songs—“Deck the Halls,” “In December” and the medley “Christmas Finale”—during the hospital’s carols program. The Promise first performed at carols in the year of its founding, 2005. The following year, the ensemble performed during a televised worship service in St Paul’s Cathedral during the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, recorded its debut album and toured New Zealand. Performances since then have included support for the Watoto Children’s Choir at Hunter Valley Gardens and an annual concert at Adamstown Uniting Church, mostly as part of its “Sunday Interlude” series. The Promise toured southern New South Wales, Melbourne and Perth over the past three years and continues to perform in churches and schools. It performed at Sydney Opera House as part of the Sydney Youth Musicale and signed with Psalter this past year.
Twice-weekly practices, the number of performances—particularly those on longer tours—and coping with extra responsibility outside of classes ensures a strong bond between the members of The Promise. “There’s something special about belonging to a tight-knit group and doing ministry with family,” says Elyse Taylor, who sang with The Promise from its inception in 2005 to the end of 2008. She describes those years as “challenging” but also as “one of the best experiences of my life.”—with Dell Lawrence