It’s no secret that singing in a choir is good for you: it has been scientifically proven to improve your health and well-being. Choristers’ heartbeats synchronise when they sing together providing a calming effect and the endorphins released leave you uplifted and buoyant. Singing is also the perfect hobby – no equipment is required and it is a great way to make friends and join a community.
Make singing with us the highlight of your year. Each year we hold Open Days which is open to everyone: simply register, sing on Open Day so we can ‘place’ your voice type and then get ready to sing a major choral work in an iconic venue with professional soloists and an orchestra. Festival Chorus rehearses on Thursday evenings. In 2025 Festival Chorus will sing Rossini’s Petite messe sollonelle (Little solemn mass and highlights from his opera William Tell, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and Brahms’ A German Requiem.
Our next Festival Chorus Open Day will be on Sunday 25 May 2025, from 10am to 1pm, at Choris Rehearsal Studio, Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Road, Dawes Point.
ChorusOz returns in 2025 with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s epic A Sea Symphony, a magnificent creation for choir and orchestra that draws on the poetry of Walt Whitman. ChorusOz is an opportunity for singers of all levels to immerse themselves in a major choral work over a full weekend, culminating in a performance of the music. Previous participants have said it is an unforgettable and life-changing experience.
In 2023, the Christmas Choir performed uplifting carols and Christmas music in Carols at the House in the Sydney Opera House. In December 2024, Christmas Choir will again sing three performances of Handel’s Messiah with conductor Graham Abbott. In 2025, Christmas Choir will again perform Carols at the House with works by Luke Byrne, Joseph Twist and Tim Minchin. Everyone is welcome to join our Christmas Choir.
Festival Chorus is our largest choir, a community of 400 passionate members converging twice a year to perform choral repertoire on a grand scale.
As our illustrious Artistic & Music Director, Brett Weymark says, “Festival is at the heart of the idea that singing is for everyone, fulfilling our dream of being a community choir for all, exploring great repertoire in the Sydney Opera House and beyond”.
In 2025, Festival Chorus will sing in three programs:
Our next Festival Chorus Open Day will be on Sunday 9 February 2025 at the Rehearsal Studio, Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Road, Dawes Point.
ChorusOz is the brainchild of Brett Weymark, intended for anyone who can’t commit to a regular choir to have the opportunity to sing a major choral work on the stage of the Sydney Opera House once a year. It has since become a fixture in the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ calendar.
People travel from across Australia and the world to enjoy the experience of singing a large-scale choral work with hundreds of other passionate singers, world-class soloists and an orchestra. Many people say this is a life-changing experience and attend each year, sharing it with family, friends, colleagues and choir members. No audition or assessment is required.
In 2025, ChorusOz returns on the long weekend in June to sing Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, and his Old One Hundredth psalm, with soloists Julie Lea Goodwin and Andrew Moran.
You can find out more and register to sing in ChorusOz 2025 HERE:
Christmas is a time for singing and celebration and we do it in style at Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. In 2025, Christmas Choir will sing Carols at the House, conducted by Brett Weymark. Three performances, 12-13-14 December, at the Sydney Opera House. More information on the program HERE.
Registrations will open in July 2025.