Let the Battle of the Voices begin!
Australia’s largest and first national choral competition gets underway later this month with 41 of the country’s best choirs competing to take home the title – ABC Classic FM Choir of the Year.
State Finals will be held in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra.
Tickets are now on sale for each concert, which promises an evening of high drama, excitement and glorious choral music.
The mammoth task of selecting choirs from each State for the Choir of the Year commenced earlier this year. Between March and May, judges traveled the width and breadth of Australia and heard over 7000 singers from more than 250 adult and youth choirs. With choirs of all shapes and sizes turning out, judges heard a range of church choirs, trade union choirs, gay and lesbian choirs, male choirs, ladies choruses, Masonic choirs, school choirs, community choirs and university choirs.
Victoria’s State Final will be held on Monday 31 July. Over 100 singers from 40 choral groups auditioned in Victoria. Four adult choirs made it through to the Victorian State Final – Concordis (ex-Scotch College), Harambee (originally of Melbourne University) specialising in songs from Africa, Voxsynergy (Melbourne Youth Music) and South of the River Community Gospel Choir from Armadale. Three youth choirs also qualified – Australian Boys Choir, Kilvington Madrigals and Bendigo Youth Choir.
John Crawford, Manager, ABC Classic FM told radioinfo: “We’ve had an overwhelming response to the competition and judges at the Victorian auditions were bowled over by the incredible diversity of groups and music performed. We hope with this competition to discover some fantastic new choirs and by showcasing the very best we hope we can raise the bar for choral singing in Australia.”
The State Finals are part one of a two-stage elimination process. Of the 41 choirs competing in the six State Finals only the top six choirs – three adult and three youth – will be selected by a panel of judges to go through to the National Final in Sydney on Saturday 30 September.
A $25,000 prize pool will be shared by State and National winners with each State winner guaranteed $1000 and a congratulatory trophy. The two winning choirs in the National Final will share even more prize money, with one of the winners also being awarded a recording contract with ABC Classics. This will include a new commission for broadcast by ABC Classic FM.
All finals are broadcast live on ABC Classic FM. For more information on who will be singing in each State Final go to the weblink below.
Bookings: 136 100 or www.ticketmaster.com.au Ticket Prices: Adults $25 Concession $20 Youth $15 (Booking fees may apply)