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Australian Girls Choir (1984 - )

From
7 March 1984
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupations
Performing Arts Organisation

Summary

The Australian Girls Choir (AGC) was established in 1984 in Melbourne by music teacher Judith Curphey.

Whilst there were several boys' choirs in Australia, there was no opportunity available for girls (outside of school choirs). The accepted convention at the time was that boys sing 'better' than girls (hence cathedral choirs are made up only of male voices). Judith wanted to challenge this belief and create a choir that appropriately trained and developed girls' voices, particularly as their voices matured (as opposed to 'breaking' like boys voices) and conduct a choir that sang in Soprano and Alto registers only.

Her goal was to create a choir with a uniquely Australian sound and high artistic standards, a group which could dance as well as sing, and was renowned for its quality of presentation.

The Australian Girls Choir now has over 3,500 girls in training in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Details

The Australian Girls Choir celebrates 27 years of providing high quality education and wonderful performance opportunities to many thousands of girls from across the country. Girls aged five to eighteen years are trained in singing, dancing and performing on a weekly basis in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Best recognised for its involvement in the Qantas 'I Still Call Australia Home' advertising campaign, the Choir has sung at almost every major concert venue in the country. The girls have performed with a long list of outstanding artists and personalities from the entertainment world, and have been acclaimed in some hundreds of performances undertaken in numerous international and national tours.

Events

1984
Choir opened in Adelaide, South Australia.
1984
150 girls attend the first rehearsal of the Australian Girls Choir at Burwood State College, Melbourne, Victoria.
1988
Choir opened in Sydney, New South Wales.
1989
Inaugural international tour to Canada.
1993
Sydney chapter goes into recess.
1998
AGC selected, along with National Boys Choir, to participate in landmark Qantas advertising campaign featuring I Still Call Australia Home.
1999
Sydney chapter re-opened.
2002
Choir opened in Brisbane, Queensland.
2004
Founder and Artistic Director Judith Curphey awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to music, particularly through the Australian Girls Choir.
2008
Parent company Australian School of Performing Arts is incorporated. AGC now sits under this umbrella brand, along with Aus Girls Dance a3 - Australian Arts Alive.
2010
Chasing Rainbows CD is released; debut album under the ABC Classics label.
2011
Choir opened in Perth, Western Australia.

Sources used to compile this entry: Information provided by Sara-Jane Rice, Australian School of Performing Arts, in 2011.

Related entries

Nikki Henningham

Created: 18 November 2011

Site-wide information and acknowledgements

National Foundation for Australian Women The University of Melbourne, eScholarship Research Centre

http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE4781b.htm

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