Choir achievers

Ormond has had choirs for nearly a hundred years but the most accomplished of these was the Choir of Ormond College, which rehearsed, recorded and performed for nearly thirty years.

Formed in 1982 after a notice went up on hall door advertising auditions, the Choir comprised mostly current and former Ormond residents and required significant musical ability.

Directed by Douglas Lawrence and later John O’Donnell, the Choir sang a range of music from 16th century madrigals to works commissioned especially for the choir, including collaborations with long-time Ormond musicians in residence Stephen McIntyre and Linda Kouvaras. It was a substantial commitment, requiring attendance at two weekly rehearsals and a College Chapel service performance most Sundays during semester.

Most Ormondians from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s will recall hearing vocal music floating across the Quad as the group rehearsed or sang in Chapel. Choir members’ red robes were also a distinctive feature on campus.

The group was immediately successful, beginning with a local concert series and going on to tour internationally and record its first album within 18 months. They released 11 albums which ranged from European concert recordings to drinking songs and Christmas carols.

The Choir of Ormond College was one of the first Australian vocal ensembles to garner an international reputation. After a performance in Germany, a critic was so impressed that they wrote ‘Twenty four young singers from Melbourne showed the Germans how to sing Bach.’ The ensemble was also well known locally for its concert series and performances on ABC radio.

Some of the most exciting performances took place on the Choir’s biennial tours, which were often the highlight of being a chorister at Ormond. The Choir spent up over a month touring destinations including Japan, Israel, Scandinavia, the UK and Europe. One member reflected ‘it is impossible to describe in words the experience of a tour such as this.’

A choir tour offered participants more than simply visiting new destinations and seeing great sights: it gave them the opportunity to see behind the scenes of famous venues and meet local people. 

In 1993 for example, the group were billeted with Japanese families and sang in Japanese with a local choir. They performed for the Australian ambassador in Copenhagen, in privately-owned stately homes in the UK, in famous cathedrals and in a glass museum. Choir members developed an immense camaraderie as they saw new sights, filled in long journeys, managed performance stress and celebrated afterwards.

There were also memorable mishaps, such as during the choir’s first tour in New Zealand when on the way to a performance the bus driver could not find the venue, a cathedral. He promptly abandoned the singers who had to find taxis to their performance, donning performance robes en route. Similarly, on a later tour in Europe several choristers missed a train and had to follow by car ‘half way to Germany’.

As one chorister reflected in 1990 ‘The Choir is many things: rewarding, time consuming, exciting, stressful, challenging – but certainly it is never dull.’ 

While the Choir of Ormond College ended in 2011, its place was taken by other choral ensembles. Today, the tradition of choral singing at College continues with a student-run a cappella ensemble which performed earlier this year at the Et Vetera lunch for the College’s most senior alumni.