Gondwana Choirs is an Australian national

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

organisation. It was founded in 1989 as Sydney Children’s Choir by Lyn Williams AM, who is its artistic director. The choirs' rehearsal studios are located at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct in

Dawes Point Dawes Point is a suburb of the City of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dawes Point is located on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, at the southern end of Sydney Harbour Bridge, adjacent to The R ...

. Gondwana Choirs includes several ensembles: * The Sydney Children's Choir: The choir often commission and performed works by Australian composers and has performed regularly with the

Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and firs ...

over its history. The choir has performed at events such as the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Gamesbr>
Its other performing ensembles include the SCC Young Men's Choir, for tenors and basses with changing and changed voices, and the SCC Junior Performing Choir. The choir's membership includes approximately 500 young people across training and performing ensemble

* The

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

-based Gondwana Indigenous Children's Choir caters for First Nations young people aged 8–16. The choir often perform in First Nations languages and have recorded film projects on country. The choir has performed with Archie Roach, Uncle Seaman Dan, Jessica Mauboy and the

Australian Chamber Orchestra The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975.Verghis, Sharon"Bach with more bite pays off" ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 2 September 2005. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appo ...

and at events such as the NAIDOC Gala Ball and

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...

Finance Ministers' Summi

* Marliya, whose singers includes current and former members of the Gondwana Indigenous Children's Choir was formed for a collaboration with members of

The Cat Empire The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), ...

, Felix Riebel and

Ollie McGill Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Ollie ...

, with a series of festival shows and albums as the ensemble

Spinifex Gum Spinifex Gum is an Australian musical collective based in Cairns, a collaboration between the Indigenous ensemble the Marliya Choir, Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill of the Melbourne band The Cat Empire, Lyn Williams, and Deborah Brown. The perfor ...

. * Gondwana National Choirs audition nation-wide and meet for an annual season of intensive rehearsals and performances at Gondwana National Choral School in Sydney. Two of their choirs, Gondwana Voices and Gondwana Chorale, also regularly tour. In 2023, Gondwana Voices is Ensemble in Residence with the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Choirs of children Australian choirs 1989 establishments in Australia