The Sydney Children’s Choir
His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d) Governor of New South Wales, and Mrs Linda Hurley, Patrons
The Sydney Children’s Choir proudly represents Sydney as the most prestigious and well-known vocal program for young singers of school age. Founded as a single ensemble by Lyn Williams OAM in 1989, it now includes approximately 500 young people, comprising of performing choirs and training ensembles. They are instantly recognised for their crystal clear sound and known for their precision and discipline, developing through regular training a courageous and compelling performance style.
The Sydney Children’s Choir is the most senior treble choir and is made up of girls and unchanged boys voices aged 10-16. The choir regularly collaborates with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and other leading ensembles, with conductors including Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson and Vladimir Ashkenazy. They have performed for many high profile events including the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony, World Youth Day, Sydney Festival and the Youtube Symphony Orchestra. International tours of the choir have included Japan, Finland and China. The choir has toured extensively nationally and internationally, presenting their trademark performances of contemporary Australian music to new audiences.
SCC Young Men’s Choir is an ensemble for boys with changed and changing voices. Most of the choristers in this ensemble have already been part of SCC and the standard of musicianship is high. As each voice changes in a different way, we take care to guide choristers through this process. As the boys learn to use their new instruments, repertoire and performance opportunities are carefully matched to the ensemble.
SCC Junior Performing Choir is for children with exceptional musical aptitude who display an inherent enjoyment of choral singing and a real desire and enthusiasm to make music. It is an extension group for choristers aged 8-14 and rehearses twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Lyn Williams OAM, Artistic Director & Founder
Lyn Williams OAM is Australia’s leading director of choirs for young people. She founded Sydney Children’s Choir 29 years ago to create a world-class ensemble, capable of performing complex music of a professional standard. The Sydney Children’s Choir now proudly represents Sydney as the most prestigious and well-known vocal program for young singers of school age.
Lyn formed the treble choir Gondwana Voices in 1997 where young musicians from across the continent could discover others who share their passion for singing. This program has grown into Gondwana National Choirs, made up of more than 300 young people. Each January they form Gondwana National Choral School, an intensive camp for singers and emerging composers and conductors.
In 2008 after experiencing life in the Torres Strait, Lyn began Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir (GICC) to give Indigenous young people the opportunity to express their culture through song and Language. Lyn leads GICC’s mission to preserve and develop of language and story through intergenerational cultural activity and developing a new contemporary Indigenous repertoire. Major works in Indigenous languages commissioned include the children’s opera Ngailu, Boy of the Stars by Dan Walker (Torres Strait) and Spinifex Gum – a song cycle by Felix Riebl (Western Pilbara). Last year Lyn led the choir on a major cross-cultural collaboration with the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir.
Lyn’s exceptional skill in working with young people is recognised internationally for its high artistic quality and ground-breaking innovation. She has conducted Sydney Children’s Choir, Gondwana Voices, Gondwana Chorale and Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir nationally and internationally.She is also a composer, winning the 2009 APRA-Australian Music Centre Vocal/Choral Work of the Year for her work A Flock of Stars.
Lyn’s dedication and contribution to the Arts has been recognised on multiple occasions. In March 2017, she was awarded the Australia Council for the Arts’ prestigious Don Banks Music Award for outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia in recognition of her lifework as founder and director of Gondwana Choirs. Other awards includethe Medal of the Order of Australia (2004), the NSW State Award at the Classical Music Awards (2006) and named in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence (2015).
Lyn conducts The Sydney Children’s Choir and SCC Junior Performing Choir, Gondwana Voices (Gondwana National Choirs) and the Cairns Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir.