The Astra Choir joins the Sleepless Footscray Festival with a concert in motion on Sunday 19 May. This date is known as Pentecost or Whitsunday, the 50th day after Easter. It marks a legendary event when people from different parts of the earth broke into many tongues, yet understood each other. The Astra Choir is also multi-lingual in this mobile concert, travelling between secular and sacred domains. The music spans nine centuries, from the mediaeval celebrity Hildegard of Bingen to new works from composers in Melbourne, Footscray and Geelong.
 
Starting in Footscray's spectacular and deserted mall of Metro West, mediaeval pilgrim songs mix with chants, meditations and modern choruses through the afternoon. For the second half, the concert moves down Paisley Street to the Baptist Church, where music combines the choir with pipe organ and electronics. 
 
Composers in the Mall:
Hildegard, anonymous PiIgrim Songs from 14th-century Spain, Josquin des Prez, Friedrich Delius, Edward Elgar, Gianandrea Pauletta, Pauline Oliveros, and world premieres by Kym Alexandra Dillon and Allan Walker.
 
Composers in the Baptist Church:
Giovanni Gabrieli, Johannes Brahms, Elliott Carter, and a world premiere by Troy Rainbow.

The Astra Choir conducted by John McCaughey is joined by Yo-yo Su (baritone saxophone), and organists Linda Kent and Kim  Bastin.