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Sunday afternoon, 28 September, saw our annual concert at the Hornsby RSL Club, this time under the title of Show of Shows. And what a wonderful afternoon it was as the choir performed fourteen numbers from well-known shows such as Bring Them Home from Les Mis and You’ll Never Walk alone from Carousel. And thanks to Anita Kyle and Lucinda Beck for providing a wonderful contrast to our male choir with songs also drawn from well-known shows.
The concert was designed and produced by our Music Director, Dr. Paul Whiting, whose leadership put such a great performance together. And many thanks to our accompanist, Hank Xian, a professional pianist with international experience. We were also honoured to welcome our Friend Matt Cross, MP for Davidson.
On 5 August we performaned at Huon Park – a fun night for our choir, well supported by Anita and Hank. We now start rehearsing in earnest for our performance at the RSL Club on 28th September.
On the 2nd July, we had the absolute pleasure to attend a ‘Hang-out’ event with the Hummingsong Choir at Gordon. Following a warm-up led by Anna, their Artistic Director, each choir had the opportunity to sing a set of songs for each other, concluding with some combined choir songs. Their energy and love of singing made this such an enjoyable evening !
Hummingsong are women’s community choirs with sixteen choirs across Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle and Melbourne. See https://www.hummingsong.com.au for further information.
On 25th May a number of our choir members joined in the National Festival of Male Choirs Gala Concert in Adelaide. This spectacular event occurs every three years. Some 320 choristers drawn from 13 choirs from Sydney to Perth joined together for this marvelous performance under the direction of Dr Evan Patton, director of the Metropolitan Male Choir of SA.
Photo by Susan Wade
On Tuesday (4th March) we had our first performance for 2025 at Aminya Village at Baulkham Hills. The choir came together well after our Christmas break and the audience certainly appreciated our singing. The oerformance was supported by Anita and Hank who gave a wonderful performance.
We are now looking forward to taking part in an ANZAC Day Ceremony at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway at Concord on 22nd April. Then, a number of members of the choir will be participating in the Male Choirs Association of Australia’s festival performance in Adelaide on 25th May. This will be a great event – 400 choristers with a symphony orchestra and soloists.
On Tuesday (4 Feb) the choir came together after the Christmas break for our first rehearsal of 2025.
The highlight of our 2024 season was the September concert at the Hornsby RSL when our Kuringgai Male Choir was joined by the Australian Welsh Male Choir (AWMC) for their annual performance at the Hornsby RSL. And what a performance it was!
Our choir, under the direction of Dr Paul Whiting OAM and the AWMChoir led by their Musical Director, Tom Buchanan OAM each sang numbers from their own repertoire. The two choirs also came together for songs well known to both choirs. A highlight was the song Tshotsholoza from South Africa which held the audience spellbound.
In marked contrast were delightful performances by Anita Kyle and Lucinda Beck who sang as soloists and in duet. All performances were supported by the skilled accompanists, Hank Xian from our choir and Michelle Nguyen from AWMC.
We were delighted to be joined for the concert by our Patron the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC Governor Of NSW and by our choir’s Friends Paul Fletcher and Matt Cross.
Our choirs’ extend their thanks to all the effort put in by organisers behind the scenes to achieve such a wonderful event.
Here is our choir singing Consider Yourself, What Would I Do Without My Music and River Song
Our choir’s next bracket included The Lord’s Prayer and Finlandia which demonstrated Hank’s great accompaniment.
And here is the final bracket featuring both choirs singing Tshotsholoza and I Still Call Australia Home.
Our Choir
The Ku-ring-gai Male Choir has been active in Sydney’s Northern suburbs since 1946, when a group of ex-servicemen got together for singing and companionship. We have now been performing for some 79 years, and are one of the oldest choirs in Sydney. As well as our public performances, we take our music to many of the retirement homes in our northern suburbs and beyond.
Song Centre
In the Song Centre we provide some background to many of the songs in our repertoire, along with lyrics and examples from our past performances and others on YouTube. This is a good resource for checking out any songs you may be interested in.
We are honoured to have the Governor of NSW, Her Excellency, the Hon. Margaret Beazley (A.C, K.C) and Mr Wilson as Joint Vice-Regal Patrons, the Hon. Ms Nicolette Boele (Member for Bradfield) and the Hon. Matt Cross (Member for Davidson) as Friends of the Choir.
Our choir is a longstanding member of the Male Choirs Association of Australia (MCAA).
Our choir is a charity and is registered as such with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. All donations to the choir are tax deductible. To make a donation, please get in touch with the Choir Secretary (Ken Wade 0408 644 063).
Our Choir performs at retirement villages in the wider Ku-Ring-Gai area. Funds raised at these performances go to The National Braille Music Camp which assists blind children performing music and to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
