Gondwana Choirs

Gondwana Choirs is an Australian national choral 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 in Dawes Point, New South Wales, part of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

Gondwana Choirs
Formation1989
FounderLyn Williams AM
HeadquartersWharf 4, 15 Hickson Road, Dawes Point NSW 2000
Websitehttps://www.gondwana.org.au
Formerly called
Sydney Children’s Choir

Gondwana Choirs has three arms, Sydney Children's Choir, Gondwana National Choirs and Gondwana Indigenous Children's Choir.[1]

The national choirs audition nation wide and meet in January for a two-week camp. Choirs then typically undertake one or more tours during the year. Gondwana National Choirs include several ensembles:

  • Gondwana Voices: Gondwana Choirs' original national choir which caters for children with treble voices aged 10–16 years old. Gondwana Voices has been on several international tours including a 2007 tour to Canada, France and the BBC Proms and a 2011 tour to the United States and Canada. They have also performed at major events such as the Melbourne Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies and recorded several CDs with ABC Classics.
  • Gondwana Chorale: Founded in 2006, the Gondwana Chorale is a SATB choir for singers aged 17–25 years old. In 2011 they undertook their first international tour to New Zealand.
  • Junior Gondwana: Gondwana Choirs' entry-level training choir which caters for children with treble voices aged 10–13 years old.
  • Gondwana Singers: Another training choir for children aged 14–16, designed for singers on the verge of gaining entry into Gondwana Voices or Gondwana Chorale, including boys with changed/changing voices as well as treble voices.
  • Gondwana Choirs also runs a Composer School and a Conducting Academy as part of their annual summer school.

The Cairns-based Gondwana Indigenous Children's Choir caters for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children aged 8–16.[2][3][4] Their sister choir, Marliya, was formed for a collaboration with members of The Cat Empire, Felix Riebel and Ollie McGill, with a series of festival shows and albums as the ensemble Spinifex Gum.[5]

References
  1. "About Us". Gondwana Choirs. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  2. "Indigenous Children's Choir". Gondwana Choirs. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  3. Lyn Williams (18 December 2009) [Winter 2009]. "A new direction for Gondwana Choirs". Sing Out. Vol. 26, no. 2 – via Resonate.
  4. "Philanthropic funding has helped Gondwana Choirs offer more opportunities to talented children around Australia". Australian Council for the Arts. 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  5. Woods, Cat (28 January 2021). "Spinifex Gum: the girls' choir that has put Pilbara life on stage". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
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