A Choral Soirée

Sydney Children's Choir - Junior Performing Choir is in Christmas in July - 3 July | Young Tasmania Sings - 4 July | A Choral Soiree - 5 July | Australian Youth Choir Showcase - 6 July

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The Sydney Children’s Choir’s Junior Performing Choir brings together specially selected singers aged 9 – 14 who show strong musical aptitude, enabling them to extend their choral and musical skills in an intensive way. The choir is one of 16 ensembles adding up to over 400 young people that form the Sydney Children’s Choir’s renowned choral training program, founded by Lyn Williams AM in 1989. The choir have formed part of the children’s choruses for performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, including for the premiere of Colin Matthew’s The Pied Piper of Hamlin in 2016, and for Opera Australia productions including Turandot, King Roger and Tosca. The Junior Performing Choir has embarked on regional tours in NSW regularly over its history, giving performances and workshops with local singers: Bathurst (2017), Albury (2018) and Wagga Wagga (2019). In 2023, the choir are conducted by Elizabeth Scott and Lachlan Massey.

Image credit: Lyn Williams
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CONDUCTOR: LACHLAN MASSEY

Lachlan Massey is a young Australian conductor and composer. He conducts for the Sydney Children’s Choir, working under Lyn Williams AM and Sam Allchurch to prepare the choirs for concerts, recordings and major national events. Most recently he conducted the choir at The Sydney Energy Forum for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, acted as assistant conductor for dramatic work Hypnopompia with director Alexander Berlage, and assisted in preparing the choirs for the reopening of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall under Simone Young. Lachlan founded Musgrove Opera in 2018 to present contemporary opera for children and families. He composed & directed Pinocchio! (2018), which had its premiere at the Zenith Theatre, prior to a regional tour. His second children’s opera, an adaptation of Hansel & Gretel (2021), premiered at The Concourse. In 2022, Lachlan directed Sid the Serpent who Wanted to Sing and Heroes in the Sydney Opera House Utzon Room. Most recently, he worked with composer Aija Draguns, directing the premiere of her children’s opera, Max and Moritz. Recently, Lachlan appeared as a guest conductor for the RSCM Junior Schools’ Choral Festival. Lachlan is an alumnus of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a former Young Ambassador for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Cocktail Hour Quartet is performing in A Choral Soiree - 5 July | A Cappella Spectacular - 7 July
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Cocktail Hour Quartet are a women's a cappella quartet who specialise in singing four-part jazz and barbershop arrangements. The group formed in July 2020, and went on to win third place in the Sweet Adelines Australia national quartet contest in May 2022 and first place in the women's section of Barbershop Harmony Australia's national quartet contest in November the same year.

Image credit: Paul Redding Photographer