![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Canberra Choral Society | |
---|---|
Choir | |
![]() Logo | |
Origin | Canberra, Australia |
Founded | 1952 |
Genre | traditional and contemporary choral music |
Members | 90 |
Choir admission | By audition |
Website | canberrachoralsociety |
The Canberra Choral Society (CCS) is an auditioned symphonic choir in Canberra, Australia. The choir is known both for traditional choral repertoire, and new music.
A key focus for the choir is an annual "Come and Sing" program, in which up to 120 unauditioned guest singers rehearse with the choir and perform a major work in ANU Llewellyn Hall with professional soloists and orchestra.
The Canberra Choral Society originated in 1952 as the Canberra Choral Group with a small group of people who began singing together for their own pleasure and musical advancement. Conductors originally included Ronald Penny, Peter Bailey and Jane Malone, and the Group was recognised as an important part of the early cultural development of Canberra. [1] The name was changed to the Canberra Choral Society in 1960, and the Society became an officially incorporated association in April 1962. For over sixty years CCS has been a leading player the musical life of the city. [2] Its repertoire includes both traditional and contemporary choral music.
The Society had a proven record of performing new works by Australian composers. With assistance from the Federal Governments' arts funding body, the Australia Council, large-scale choral-orchestral compositions were commissioned by the Society for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988 (Richard Mills's Five Meditations from the Poetry of David Campbell) and for the Centenary of Federation in 2001 (Peter and Martin Wesley-Smith's Black Ribbon). [3] Premiere performances of works by resident musical directors have also been a feature of the choir's repertoire.
The Society has performed at the Australian National University, the 2000 Summer Olympics Arts Festival, [4] ABC TV and Radio, [5] the Canberra International Music Festival, the opening of the new Australian Parliament House, the 50th Anniversary of World War II, the Australian National University's 50th anniversary, and the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Opera House. The Society has performed with many Canberra based choirs, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, [6] Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the National Capital Orchestra and the Canberra Youth Orchestra. [7]
The Society regularly contributed to community events. It has performed at the Canberra Multicultural Festival and during Floriade, and on special occasions such as the opening of Parliament House. For many years, the Society provided the choir for the annual Anzac Day service held at the Australian War Memorial.
Guest conductors and soloists of national and international repute who have worked with the Society include Nicholas Braithwaite, Joan Carden, Margreta Elkins, Gerald English, Donald Shanks, Clifford Grant and Tobias Cole.
Canberra Choral Society was critical in developing a national Choral Music Lending Scheme that facilitates provision of performing scores to over 100 member choirs across the country and which was instituted in 1965. [8]
For their 2015 performance of Handel's Messiah , Jennifer Gall of The Canberra Times praised the society for "creating a concert that was inclusive of new singers and satisfying for the audience." [9]
The BBC Symphony Chorus is a British amateur chorus based in London. It is the dedicated chorus for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though it performs with other national and international orchestras.
The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra is a Canadian Baroque orchestra specializing in early music and based in Toronto. They often perform with choir and play period instruments.
Raffaele Marcellino is an Australian composer.
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s largest choral organisation. It presents its own annual concert series in the Sydney Opera House the City Recital Hall, and other venues in New South Wales, as well as serving as chorus for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Bennett William Macpherson is an Australian conductor who received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for his services to music as a conductor and choirmaster.
Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is the professional orchestra of the Australian Capital Territory based in Canberra, the national capital of Australia.
Richard Leo Tognetti AO is a leading Australian musician recognised internationally as a violin soloist, ensemble player, leader, composer and arranger, conductor and artistic director.
The St. Lawrence Choir is a Canadian mixed-voice choir that performs music from the classical choral repertoire as well as contemporary works by Canadian and other composers. It was founded in 1972.
Eugene Concert Choir is a choral masterworks organization in Eugene, Oregon, that consists of three performing ensembles: the 100-voice Eugene Concert Choir (ECC), the 36-voice chamber choir Eugene Vocal Arts (EVA), and the associated professional chamber orchestra Eugene Concert Orchestra.
The ANU School of Music is a school in the Research School of Humanities and the Arts, which forms part of the College of Arts and Social Sciences of the Australian National University. It consists of four buildings, including the main School of Music building – which contains Llewellyn Hall – and the Peter Karmel Building.
The Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival is an annual event in which members of university choirs from all state capitals of Australia and the national capital Canberra meet for two weeks to rehearse, socialise and perform combined concerts. The Festival also serves as the annual conference of the member choirs of AICSA, the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association
Tobias Martin Piers Trevor Cole is an Australian countertenor and leading artist with Opera Australia.
There have been three choirs named The BBC Chorus in the history of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Ernest Victor Llewellyn CBE was an Australian violinist, concertmaster, violist, conductor and musical administrator. He was the founding director of the Canberra School of Music and is commemorated by Llewellyn Hall, the concert venue at the School.
Andrew Keith Wailes is an Australian conductor and music director. Winner of the Australasian International Choral Conducting Competition in Brisbane in 1999, he is the current artistic director and Chief Conductor of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Melbourne University Choral Society, and music director and Conductor of the Box Hill Chorale. From 1999 to 2020 he served as artistic director of The Australian Children's Choir, and for a decade was Director of the Australian Catholic University Melbourne Campus Choir. He is a former president of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association, and is a former Artistic Administrator and artistic director of The Chamber Strings of Melbourne.
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (RMP) is a 120-voice choir and orchestra in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1853, and is reportedly Australia's oldest surviving cultural organisation. The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic is Australia's oldest musical organisation that has been continuously existing for over 150 years. Among its programmes, there have been large-scale concerts celebrating classical composers including Bach, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic is managed under the direction of Andrew Wailes, the artistic director of the orchestra.
David Griffiths is a composer, baritone and convener of the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Waikato. Griffiths has gained national and international recognition as a composer, opera singer and recital soloist. His choral compositions are particularly popular in the United States of America and have, in recent years, been recorded by several choirs while many works have been included on various record labels including Naxos Records, Kiwi Pacific and Atoll.
The Bearsden Choir is a choir of 120 mixed adult voices based in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1968 and performs both sacred and secular classical choral works. The singer Jamie MacDougall is its Honorary President.
Australian World Orchestra (AWO) is a symphony orchestra based in Australia.
George Ellis is an Australian conductor, composer and orchestrator. He presents concerts for international events with a broad range of styles from classical to pop/rock and jazz as well as presenting orchestral concerts for young audiences. He also lectures in conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a regular presenter of Sonic Journey for ABC Radio Sydney’s program with Simon Marnie.