Spinifex Gum at the Adelaide Festival
Under the leadership of Artistic Director and Founder Lyn Williams, Gondwana Choirs delivered its most ambitious artistic program to date in 2017. Our most exciting ensembles gave concerts in in Australia and eight overseas countries that included more than 160 performances of songs by Australian composers.
• Gondwana Chorale, the National youth choir, gave a sold-out performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC
• Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir introduced audiences in Germany, Slovenia and Austria to songs in Indigenous languages and the vibrant songs and dances from the Torres Strait
• Gondwana Voices performed ambitious programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland to celebrate their 20th Anniversary, including the extraordinary Sitting Dances from Aceh in collaboration with Suara Indonesian Dance
• Sydney Children’s Choir and Gondwana Indigenous Choir collaborated with the renowned Vienna Boys Choir in Songs of Country, a major cross-cultural project in Vienna, Sydney and Cairns.
We were able to do this thanks to support from individuals who believe in our choirs, are thrilled by our songs and share our values of creating opportunities for extraordinary young people across Australia.
Two years ago we were shocked to hear that we would no longer receive core funding from the Australian Government. At the time we pledged that, far from withering away…
“with renewed vigour we will continue to collaborate with our distinguished colleagues across the country, we will tell our magnificent stories through song, we will nurture young voices including over 500 SCC and the more than 100 Indigenous children who sing with us every week and hundreds of national choristers each year. We will astound, uplift and inspire you”
I am thrilled to say that with your support we continue to do exactly that.
Reviews of the recent performance of Spinifex Gum by our Cairns-based group Marliya in the Adelaide Festival are a testament to this:
“Fresh, hopeful, strong and proud, these young women have taken their place in the spotlight; their voices not only fill the theatre in which they perform, but also embed into the hearts of the audience.” [In Daily]
“The sweetness of the singing, the power of the words and the movement make this a magical experience. The audience rose to its feet cheering at the end.” [The Advertiser]
Next year will be the 30th anniversary of the Sydney Children’s Choir and therefore Gondwana Choirs. We have fabulous plans and amazing dreams for the future and will soon be announcing a major performance celebration event. High on the wish list is a program which will see the Sydney Children’s Choir stretch its wings and embrace communities which have not traditionally been represented within the choir; a truly representative Sydney Children’s Choir .
With your generous assistance we can realise our dreams and we promise to astound, uplift and inspire you.
