Australian Boys Choir in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Education

Australian Boys Choir

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9818 4818

Address: 3C Hepburn Street 3122 Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.australianboyschoir.com.au/

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25.01.2022 Wish you were here...See you in 2021! www.australianboyschoir.com.au | Jane Kupsch

25.01.2022 Behind The Decades: Graham Cox Graham Cox began his career as an accompanist to himself, as a 9 year old Probationer with the Australian Boys Choir. He first conducted the choir in performance at the age of 13. Graham was on the music staff when choir founder V.J. Kelly died, and at just 19 years old, helped lead the choir until the Board appointed Geoffrey Jones as the next Music Director.... Now based in Berlin, Graham has gone on to pursue an impressively diverse career all across Europe. We were thrilled to work with him once once again as tour accompanist in 2018.

25.01.2022 Online auditions for new singers aged 7-9 are taking place now, with training set to begin in February 2021. Auditions are free and informal, and no preparation is required. Limited places available. Who do you know? Please visit www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join for more information and to register your child today.

24.01.2022 An enduring mystery gaining legendary status in the Choir’s history is the operetta Kattaya The Cunning One, written for the Australian Boys Choir by Australian composer, Eric Austin Phillips. The production and performance forged strong memories in the minds of all involved, even if the actual story did not. Click below to read more.

24.01.2022 Behind The Decades: Colin Congress Colin joined 20 other boys at the very first rehearsal of the Australian Boys Choir on 20 October 1939. He was number 2 on the roll. Geoff Kirby and I used to walk to and from choir together instead of catching the tram, Colin remembered. This saved us tuppence, which was enough to buy us some potato cakes on the way home!

24.01.2022 Click below to listen to members of The Australian Boys Choir, The Kelly Gang and The Vocal Consort sing Mark O'Leary's arrangement of Waltzing Matilda live in Salzburg.

23.01.2022 Five years ago on tour through the North Island of New Zealand. Here are members of the Performing Squad and the Kelly Gang visiting the Hobbiton movie set on a break between performances.

22.01.2022 Behind The Decades: The Hobart Branch Frank Moore joined the Hobart branch in 1952, aged 11, and became a second soprano. His most memorable experience was the 1953 debut tour of the combined Adelaide, Hobart and Melbourne branches of the choir, travelling to New South Wales: "We travelled to Melbourne by air and were billeted by choir members there, said Frank. We then took the overnight train to Moss Vale in NSW and got to know the boys from Melbourne and Adelaide really well."

22.01.2022 It's not too late to get behind our 2021 Christmas Giving appeal. Click below to read more from final-year Kelly Gang parent (and former Caring Team Member, Concert Team Leader and ABCI Board Member) Deb Damman, or make your contribution at www.givenow.com.au/australianboyschoir today!

22.01.2022 Click below to listen to "Night Watch" from Ian Cugley's opera, Sea Changes, taken from our 2011 release "Dreams & Desires". Featured in this scene are Alex Ritter (soprano), Ned Wright-Smith (soprano), Mitchell Relf (alto) & Michael Edwards (tenor).

22.01.2022 Muffins for Morning Tea on Day 7. Thanks to our amazing kitchen & camp staff for looking after us and feeding us so well this week!

22.01.2022 End-of-camp performances to round out a fantastic week here at Summer School.

22.01.2022 Especially for our graduating Probationer families, click below to hear exactly what goes on at Tyros in the words of the boys themselves! Tyro is an old-fashioned word for beginner. The second level of our sequential program, Tyros marks the start of a singer's formal training. Auditions for singers aged between 7-9 years of age are coming up again soon. Who do you know? www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join

22.01.2022 A message from our Artistic Director for families interested in starting with the Choir in 2021. See www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join for more.

21.01.2022 What have our people learned by coming to Choir? Click below to find out! Some audition places still available to start in Term 1 2021. See www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join for details and bookings.

21.01.2022 And with that, out 2021 Summer Music School has come to a close. Thanks to our amazing staff and volunteers for a terrific week away. We are very much looking forward to welcoming all of our singers back to rehearsals after next week as we start Term One at the ABCI.

21.01.2022 Our people come from all over Melbourne and Victoria to take advantage of the excellent education and opportunities on offer. Click below to learn a little bit about Jem's journey making the three-hour bus trip from Mansfield to Melbourne each week. Auditions to start in 2021 are coming up again soon, but places are limited. Sign-up today at www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join.

20.01.2022 Melbourne’s recent lockdown has been a thought-provoking time, to say the least. Some have struggled with social isolation, but others have thrived on the simplicity of staying home, not needing to rush around. ABCI Child Safety Officer and Registered Nurse Jacinta Sonego looks at the intersection between music and wellbeing below.

20.01.2022 "He’s lost the plot, they say But it simply isn’t true; You cannot lose the plot, It’s stuck to you!" The words of Michael Leunig. Click below to listen to the boys singing from Paul Stanhope's cycle "Losing the Plot" from our 2009 release "Calls & Cries".

19.01.2022 Have you ordered your fresh, juicy North Queensland Kensington Pride mangoes yet? They're direct from the farm, and help support the Australian Boys Choir. Click below to order trays for friends and family today! Delivery is expected in early December, but purchasers will be notified in mid-November regarding collection.

19.01.2022 We're thrilled to have resumed outdoor sectionals over the past few weeks for some of our older groups. Here are the tenor singers of the Kelly Gang working with Mr Dinopoulos yesterday at Choir House.

19.01.2022 A perfect afternoon for paddle-boarding on the lake at Recreation Time.

18.01.2022 Just how does someone become an Artistic Director, and only the fifth person to hold that title in the history of the ABCI? Around Melbourne in the late 1980s, you might have heard a three-year-old Nicholas Dinopoulos singing enthusiastically in the back of the family Kingswood. A decade later it was clear that music would become a vocation. Click to find out more about this fascinating progression.

16.01.2022 Behind The Decades: Peter Butler Peter Butler’s four years as a chorister (1965 to 1969) instilled many very vivid memories. When Peter hung up his Choir beret in 1969, it was the end of one chapter in his association with the Australian Boys Choir, but there were many more to follow. Peter has the distinction of being the most widely engaged old boy in the Choir’s history, laying claim to roles as teacher, conductor, accompanist, founding TVC member, composer, soiree host, committee member, Registered Member and Board Member.

16.01.2022 Online auditions for new singers aged 7-9 are coming up again soon with training set to begin in February 2021. Auditions are free and informal, and no preparation is required. Strictly limited places available. Who do you know? Please visit www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join for more information and to register your child today.

15.01.2022 Since the very early days, the choir has recorded its music. At least five records were produced prior to 1953. Unfortunately the archives do not contain details of when all of these records were made. Formatted as 78 rpm, then later 45 or 33 rpm, some of the early recordings were even produced on novel red or blue coloured vinyl. The CD format was only introduced for choir recordings in 1996.

15.01.2022 The Australian Boys Choir has given Justin Mitchell, only the fifth Head Chorister in the Choir’s more than 80-year history, many highlights. From soaring performances, to the best musical education he could imagine, his time has been thoroughly memorable. But for the final-year Kelly Gang member, the opportunity to be a mentor has been the stand-out of his time with the ABCI.

14.01.2022 We are beyond excited our venue partners have the ‘green light’ to welcome some of our most advanced singers for the annual ABCI January Summer Music School this year. Here are our throughly COVID-safe Performing Squad in action during their first session today. It’s been a while!

14.01.2022 Behind The Decades: The 1989 World Tour In 1989, The Australian Boys Choir celebrated its 50th anniversary with a momentous round-the-world tour. In a letter to tour manager, Garry Mahon, the Artistic Director described the tour as a success of historic proportions for the Institute. Click below to read more.

12.01.2022 Click below to listen to Tina Arena and the voices of the Australian Boys Choir on SoundCloud. From the soundtrack to the 2000 movie release "The Dish" composed by Edmund Choi.

12.01.2022 The New York Times commented on the choir’s performance of Sea Changes that its musical sophistication and the sobriety of its text made the work a more worthwhile showcase for these young singers than the gooey comic 18th-century mini-operas typically offered by other boys choirs. The performance was impressively polished, both musically and dramatically. www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join

11.01.2022 A little walk down memory lane with a flashback to December 1993 when the boys appeared on Good Morning Australia. Do you recognise any familiar faces? Merry Christmas from all of us at the Australian Boys Choir!

11.01.2022 Early Learners - the perfect introduction to music for your son or daughter in 2021. Online classes for children aged 5-7 years. www.australianboyschoir.com.au/our-programs

11.01.2022 Places in our Term 4 audition round are filling up quickly. Do you know someone aged 7-9 years old who loves to sing? Click below to register for your son's audition right away!

10.01.2022 The Australian Boys Choir and The Vocal Consort perform the motet "Jesu, meine Freude" BWV 227 by J.S. Bach. Recorded live in performance at Melbourne Recital Centre in February 2018 as part of 3MBS Bach Marathon.

10.01.2022 Over the course of its nearly 82-year history, the Australian Boys Choir has collaborated widely, appearing for Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet, Israel Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony and on the soundtrack of several critically acclaimed films: the Oscar nominated "Elizabeth" and the Australian box office hit "The Dish".

10.01.2022 "...as somebody who loves to sing in a group, singing alone in a Cathedral just made me sad. My favourite performance was singing Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols with the rest of the Australian Boys Choir at the Recital Centre last Christmas..."

10.01.2022 Behind The Decades: The Adelaide Branch A branch of the Choir was established in Adelaide in 1953. Dean Koch recalls his singing days as a youngster with great fondness: "The ABC introduced discipline by encouragement...It allowed me to overcome my lack of confidence. I responded to instruction of good manners, listening attentively, deportment, breathing, diction and I always looked forward to the next Friday night choir practice."

09.01.2022 Behind The Decades: The Dusting Family Arguably the most extensively involved family throughout the Choir’s history is the Dusting family. Jonathan Dusting joined the choir as a probationer in 1987. He recalls, I was six I don't think I knew what a choir was! My mother came from a family of people who enjoyed singing. Her auntie, Heather Hooper, was the Junior Singer teacher.

09.01.2022 "Music stretches children’s attention spans, teaches them to persevere in the face of frustration, feeds self-confidence and nurtures social skills. These skills help support learning in all areas."

09.01.2022 Apart from concerts, one aspect of our usual program we are really missing at the minute are community outreach activities. Here's Mrs Heyden and the Tyros singing for aged care residents a little while ago. We hope to visit again just as soon as it's safe!

08.01.2022 Get behind our annual Kengsington Pride mango drive. Click below for further details and to order your trays today!

05.01.2022 Behind The Decades: Andrew Furze "The Australian Boys Choir has helped shape my entire life. By 12 I was in the Performing Choir and, after two overseas tours in 1991 and 1993, retired a chorister and leader. Then I joined the Junior Consort (now the Kelly Gang) and studied classical voice in VCE."

04.01.2022 Read Deb Damman's letter of support for our Christmas Giving Appeal below. "Your dollar will place a page of sheet music in the hands of a young singer, and its value will be returned ten-fold upon attendance of an ABCI concert in 2021." Please consider donating via the Choir's Give Now platform today. Click through for details.

03.01.2022 Behind The Decades: Brian Fitzgerald Brian’s time with the choir was marked with events that were significant both for the choir and for Australia - the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the arrival of television and the annual Moomba Festival. Brian, with the choir, was involved with all of these events. Together they also performed in every state of Australia, with Brian a frequent soloist. Travelling by plane, bus, train and car, they clocked up the miles, repertoire and adventure ...in equal measure. These early experiences laid the foundation for Brian’s career in music. Our training has had a lifetime effect on all of us and it will be interesting to see what today’s Tyros go on to do with their lives.

03.01.2022 Online auditions for new singers aged 7-9 are taking place now with training set to begin in February 2021. Auditions are free and informal, and no preparation is required. Strictly limited places available. Who do you know? Please visit www.australianboyschoir.com.au/join for more information and to register your child today.

03.01.2022 The boys were happy to watch Joe Biden’s inauguration this morning after breakfast on the projector screen.

02.01.2022 Streamers and balloons for Mr Christie’s birthday. We’re not telling, but it is a significant one!

01.01.2022 Early Learners Classes at the Australian Boys Choir - the perfect introduction to music for your son or daughter in 2021. Online classes in Term 1 are for children aged 5-7 years. Sign-up today at www.australianboyschoir.com.au/our-programs.