Our Team

Lyn Williams OAM
Artistic Director
CLICK HERE to learn more

 

Guest Artists

 

Mark O’Leary Principal Guest Conductor, Gondwana Voices
Mark O'Leary, Churchill Fellow, is the founder and Director of the Young Voices of Melbourne (YVM), which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. With YVM Mark has produced nine CD recordings, toured all states and territories of Australia and made six international tours to Europe, South Africa, North America and Asia. YYVM has been successful in competition in Europe and Asia and is often heard on Australian radio and television. Mark is the publisher of the Young Voices of Melbourne Choral Series and his arrangements are performed all around the world. He presents many workshops each year on choral music education throughout Australia and is a regular guest conductor at choral festivals across the country. Mark has special interests in Kodály teaching techniques, the development of excellence in music education and children's choirs, and Australian choral music. Mark has been involved with Gondwana Voices since its first season in 1997.

 

Sally Whitwell Principal Guest Pianist, Gondwana Voices
Sally’s musical journey so far is a rich and varied one.  She maintains a busy career as pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. In late November, Sally completed her debut solo CD recording for the ABC Classics label, featuring the solo piano works of Philip Glass.  She has also recorded extensively as an ensemble musician and as a soloist, most notably on the ABC Classic 100 Piano. Sally's composing career is a recent development in her artistic life.   She is primarily a composer of vocal music, her works being performed by various ensembles including Gondwana Voices, Sydney Children's Choir, Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, Polyphony and various school ensembles. She has also arranged much music for various Australian choirs. Sally enjoys working with community musicians. She has directed various ensembles including Sydney Pop Choir and queer choir Door in the Wall, and is currently Musical Director of community chamber choir Polyphony. For many years, Sally trained as a dancer.  She keeps a finger in the pie by working as a dance accompanist, improvising her way through music for ballet.  She has played for Sydney Dance Company, The Royal NZ Ballet, The Australian Ballet School, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Opera Australia, WAAPA and New Adventures.

 

Paul Holley Principal Guest Conductor, Gondwana Chorale
Paul Holley is a choral conductor, educator and motivator. His personal warmth and passion for choral music have inspired many singers to discover and develop their skills and achieve personal fulfilment as choral musicians. Presently Paul is the Associate Director of Voices of Birralee and conducts two ensembles within this organisation, the Birralee Blokes and Resonance of Birralee.  Both of these ensembles have toured nationally and internationally representing Australia at festivals and competitions.  Paul is also a choral director and teacher at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and he serves as President of the ANCA QLD/NT chapter. As a choral educator, Paul is dedicated to excellence in choral education and regularly features as guest conductor and clinician at festivals, conferences and music competitions throughout Australia.  He has also contributed a chapter to the book Male Voices: Stories of boys learning through making music.  This is Paul’s fifth year as Principal Guest Conductor of Gondwana Chorale.

 

Carl Crossin OAM Guest Conductor, Gondwana Chorale
Carl Crossin - conductor, educator, composer, and clinician - is well known and respected throughout Australia as a choral specialist. He is the Founder & Conductor of Adelaide Chamber Singers, a professional ensemble with whom he has toured the UK, Norway, Japan, Singapore, Canada and the USA as well as performing at several of Australia’s major arts festivals. Carl and Adelaide Chamber Singers have won several awards for their performances and CD recordings, and have represented Australia at major international choral and music education symposia and festivals.  In addition to his many international and national tours with various choirs over the past 30 years, Carl has been a clinician, conductor and adjudicator at summer schools, festivals, conferences and competitions throughout Australia and internationally. Carl is currently Director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide, where he also teaches Conducting and is conductor of the Elder Conservatorium Chorale.  Carl was awarded an OAM in 2007 for his services to choral music.

 

Luke Byrne Guest Pianist, Gondwana Chorale
Luke Byrne is fast emerging as one of Australia’s most versatile musicians, working as a pianist, musical director, conductor and composer/arranger. Luke’s musical theatre credits include The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Sydney Festival/Belvoir St Theatre), John Williamson’s Quambatook and The World’s Wife (Melbourne Theatre Company). Luke was also composer and musical director for The Eight: Reindeer Monologues at Downstairs Belvoir and The Fire Raisers at The Old Fitzroy. Luke has worked on many cabarets including Love for Sale, Little Black Book and The Fabulous Frances Faye. This year Luke was the Musical Assistant to the Director for the Australia National Day concerts at Shanghai World Expo, and Children’s Chorus Master for Opera Australia’s Christmas Capers concerts. Luke works as an accompanist, conductor, arranger and composer with choirs including The Leichhardt Espresso Chorus and Moorambilla Festival Choirs, and has been commissioned to compose for ensembles ranging from TangoOz to Taikoz.

 

Dan Walker Guest Conductor, Gondwana Singers
Composer, arranger and performer Dan Walker is quickly building a reputation as one of Australia’s most promising young artists. He has had works commissioned and performed by such groups as the Sydney Symphony, Gondwana Voices, Queensland Youth Choir, The Murrumbidgee Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. In 2003 Dan was the Sydney Children’s Choir composer-in-residence and in that year also created new choral arrangements of the National Anthems for the Rugby World Cup. Recent work includes: The Arafura, written specifically for Gondwana Voices and premiered in Mexico City as part of the 2004 Songbridge festival; Hopes and Dreams, written as part of the Australian National Day celebrations at the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya, Japan; various orchestral and choral arrangements for ABC Classics and a new arrangement of Advance Australia Fair written for the official Darling Harbour 2005 Australia Day celebrations. As a performer Dan is a regular member of both Sydney Chamber Choir and Cantillation. He has also been a member of Baroque Opera Company Pinchgut for two years and is currently also a guest member of the Song Company. Dan Walker is currently taking part in an Assistant Conductor fellowship with the Sydney Children’s Choir and Gondwana Choirs, made possible with by support of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Stephen Leek Director, Gondwana National Composer School, Guest Conductor, Gondwana Singers

Stephen Leek’s distinctive music is immediately recognizable - capturing the dramas, rhythms, stories, colours and ethos of Australia. Over the past two and a half decades he has particularly made a significant contribution to the development of Australian choral composition and performance, and how that has been performed, promoted and discussed throughout the world.  He has worked extensively in a variety of areas including dance music, music for education, music in the community, as well as in concert hall music, and has been a pioneer in developing composer residencies within Australia. From 1997 – 2009 he was joint founder, and then Artistic Director/Conductor, of The Australian Voices, an elite ensemble of young adult singers who, during Leek’s time, significantly challenged and changed the landscape of choral music within Australia. Among Stephen Leek’s many accolades and awards is a Churchill Fellowship, and the most prestigious Robert Edler International Prize for Choral Music, awarded to him in 2004 by a panel of international choral luminaries. His music is regularly performed and enjoyed across the world and published by Morton Music, Oxford University Press, Boosey & Hawkes and through his own international publishing venture www.stephenleek.com.

 

Sam Allchurch Assistant Conductor, Gondwana Singers
Sam Allchurch is an Honours student at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, completing a musicological dissertation under the supervision of Suzanne Cole.
In 2010, Sam was the Assistant Conductor for the Sydney Children’s Choir’s China Tour, as well as the Assistant Chorusmaster for the choir’s performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Sydney Symphony. In 2011 Sam founded the Cecilian Voices whose inaugural concert raised funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital.
He is currently the Senior Choral Scholar and Junior Organ Scholar at Trinity College, the University of Melbourne and Organ Scholar of Christ Church South Yarra.

 

Elizabeth Vierboom Guest Conductor, Junior Gondwana
Elizabeth Vierboom studied music at the NSW Conservatorium of Music and the University of Sydney majoring in the violin and pipe organ.  Having played and toured with the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Sydney Youth Orchestra, Elizabeth then turned to teaching high school and primary music and further developing her interest in choral music. This dates back to her high school choir conductor, Richard Gill, whose energy and love of singing was infectious.
Having sung in choirs and accompanied them, it was an obvious next step to try conducting. Attending summer schools and studying with international choral conductors has been inspiring for Elizabeth. She has conducted and worked with singers in schools around NSW, the St Mary’s Cathedral Girl Choristers, at Sydney Children’s Choir and guest conducted massed choirs at music festivals. Elizabeth is currently at Abbotsleigh School.

 

Harley Mead Guest Conductor, Junior Gondwana
Harley is an Australian educator, conductor and composer who works with musicians of all backgrounds and experiences. As an educator, he works with students from pre-school to tertiary levels within state and private school settings. He has developed a range of educational support materials that are used to support curriculum implementation across Queensland, Australia and throughout parts of South-East Asia. Harley is an experienced choral and instrumental conductor who has performed with many amateur and professional organisations. He is devoted to working with young musicians from remote regions of Australia and frequently provides musical experiences for small communities and indigenous groups. Harley’s own compositions have been widely performed throughout Australia and overseas. He has received numerous commissions from professional and amateur organisations including; Brisbane Riverfestival, Queensland Music Festival, Brisbane Birralee Voices, the Australian Boys Choir, ANCA Qld and Banksia Voices. Harley is an advocate for Australian composition and composers. He believes that through group music- making, people from all walks of life may have a brighter future.

 

Board of Directors

Lyn Williams OAM, Artistic Director
Rebecca Davies
Nicholas James
David Longmuir
David Lumb
Warren Lee

 

Administration Staff
Ph 02 8274 7000

Hywel W. Sims General Manager
hywel@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7007

Anita Burkart North Shore Operations Assistant (Mondays)
scc@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 0457 371 542

Jocelyn O’Brien Sydney Children’s Choir Manager
jocelyn@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7001

John Nolan Artistic Administrator
john@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7005

Merryn Hughes Gondwana National Choral School Manager
merryn@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 0409 999 301

Caroline McKnight Gondwana National Choral School Administration Assistant
carolinem@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7003

Erica Byrne Indigenous Children’s Choir Manager
erica@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7004

Corinne Schwartz Accounts Administrator (Mondays & Wednesdays) corinne@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7009

Clare Ainsworth Philanthropy Manager
clare@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7010

Kate Tomlinson Finance and Office Manager
kate@gondwanachoirs.com.au
Ph 02 8274 7008