Festivals can’t be any cooler

THE choral work Great Scott!, which tells the story of Robert Scott’s dramatic and ill-fated mission to the South Pole, will be performed in Hobart next weekend as part of the Australian Antarctic Festival.

More than 40 boys from Sydney’s Shore School will perform the piece at St David’s Cathedral, accompanied by the work’s composer, David Jensen.

Jensen developed the piece with the late librettist David Burke, who brought aspects of the story to Jensen’s attention when Jensen was teaching at The King’s School, Parramatta.

“There was a connection with the school because two of the school’s former students, Griff Taylor and Frank Debenham, had been part of Scott’s expedition,” Jensen said. “Debenham was among the party that found the explorers’ bodies.”

He said Great Scott! told an amazing story of bravery in extreme conditions.

“Scott and his companions displayed these during their ordeal and we wanted to show those qualities in the songs,” Jensen said.

“I think that has even more resonance now and is a powerful parallel for people because similar qualities were shown during the recent rescue of the Thai soccer team.

“There is also a connection with St David’s Cathedral because Scott’s rival [Norwegian explorer Roald] Amundsen attended a service for Scott there.”

Jensen said it was a secular work, with religious overtones.

“David brought to my attention that Onward Christian Soldiers was Scott’s favourite hymn, and it was sung at the burial service conducted on the Ross Ice Shelf in 1912,” he said.

“That hymn recurs throughout and ties the piece together.

“We also wrote six original songs, which are interspersed with narration and accompanied by powerful projected images of the expedition.

“They include a song about Amundsen and his dogs, and another about how in England Scott’s wife Kathleen noticed a clock had stopped at the same time Scott was dying in Antarctica.”

Great Scott! will be performed at St David’s Cathedral in Hobart from 2.30pm and 6pm next Saturday (August 4). Entry is free.