ChoirWorks
Brisbane, Australia
Concert program will be chosen
from the following repertoire list:
Ross Edwards:
Dance mantras
Thomas Weelkes:
Hosanna to the Song of David
(Hosanna al cántico de David)
Tomás Luis de Victoria:
Super flumina Babylonis
Pablo Casals:
O vos omnes
Iain Grandage:
Three Australian Bush songs
(Tres canciones de la naturaleza Australiana)
Joseph Twist:
Jubilate Deo
Anonymous:
E la don don
Arr. Blake Morgan:
Caledonia
Michael John Trotta:
Veni, Veni Emmanuel
Ruth McCall:
Waltzing Matilda
Arr. Andre van der Merwe:
Ukuthula
Textos y traducciones del repertorio completo.PDF
ChoirWorks is an auditioned classical choir based in Brisbane Australia, a place called Meanjin by the Turrbal and Yuggera First Nation’s people whose links with this beautiful Queensland riverside land go back more than 32,000 years.
ChoirWorks has taken the celebration of music from this sub-tropical home of rich and endless Aboriginal culture to a diverse range of venues including St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the Christmas Night Markets in Prague, Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, the 600 year old Catedral Primada in Toledo, Canadian Parliament in Ottawa and Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Founded in 1996 as an outreach project of St Andrew’s Uniting Church on the corner of Ann and Creek Streets in Brisbane City where the choir was based, it sang under various iterations of the name Brisbane Concert Choir. During the Covid pandemic the choir began rehearsing at The Old Museum in Bowen Hills and in 2023 became ChoirWorks.
Dr Debra Shearer-Dirié has led ChoirWorks on its universal journey since becoming Director of Music in 2005. John Woods, with an international career in piano, is accompanist.
The choir’s repertoire has classical music at its core but is diverse and ranges from a cappella to full symphonic works, across Renaissance madrigals, choral concertos, African-American spirituals, Australian compositions, popular classical works by modern composers, and some more obscure from centuries past. The choir has a history of commissioning new works, especially for Anzac Day concerts during the lead-up to the 100th anniversaries of the Gallipoli Landing in 2015 and The Armistice in 2018.
The styles of engagement are vast. The choir performed live before an audience of 2000 for National Geographic at its Brisbane screening of Disney’s international tour of Symphony For Our World in the Convention Centre, sang commissioned music for the opening of Brisbane Writers Festival at the Gallery of Modern Art, and in a collaboration with The University of Queensland Music School at the Brisbane Concert Hall performed the Verdi Requiem under international conductor Dane Lam. The choir also staged a concert in a winery at Stanthorpe, peforms for private weddings and other small commercial engagements, and does Christmas carolling in prominent Brisbane corporate venues.
The choir is owned by its 60-70 singers via an annual subscription and it hires the professional services of a Director of Music and accompanist. All singers are volunteers who elect a management committee which includes the Director of Music. The choir is a registered Not-For-Profit Incorporation, has an ABN, is a registered charity, and has DGR Status so donors can claim tax deductibility.
In September 2024 ChoirWorks is planning a 14-day concert tour through Portugal and Spain, beginning in Lisbon and ending in Barcelona. This will be the choir’s first international tour since the Covid pandemic, although it has a tradition of touring overseas every third year.
Fort Worth Youth Orchestra
Miembros
VIOLÍN I
Isabel Opat
Carlos Lee
Juliana Marquart
Miah Shaffer
Anthony Harnan
Olivia Lassman
Stella Staneva
VIOLÍN II
Bethany Grassi
Melea Hwang
Harper Berzon
Nancy Jageman
Jay Sriram
Arianna Eclar
Zoe Amoguis
Liam Amoguis
VIOLA
Aiden Flora
Alex Corley
Enzo Sagun
Daniel Kim
Shashwat Gupta
Charlotte Adams
Alex Yim
VIOLONCHELO
Christopher Tran
Sean Hong
Caleb Marquart
Emilia Lyons
Harmon Hong
Finn Belk
Nicholas Castillo
Jackson Gourley
BAJO
Martin Clapper
Benjamin Brooks
Ava Hoyt
Michaela Lukusa
FLAUTA
Jane Claire Anderson
Emily Sylvester
Madelynn Bell
OBOE
Elena Van Ronk
Caroline Stevenson
Mckinley Surface
CLARINETE
Edie Flunker
Ivory Spencer
Diego Tapia
FAGOT
Dominick Ring
Bryce Orupabo
Landon Peugh
TROMPA FRANCÉS
Asher Isgitt
Madilyn Perry
Ian Lawler
Jessye Northam
TROMPETA
Ryder Huskins
Jackson Schneider
Christopher Ray
TROMBÓN
Samuel Ditto
Edwin Garcia
Jack Keefe
TUBA
Nick Smith
PERCUSIÓN
Eli Everett
David Meeke
Jude Schuknecht
ARPA
Isabella Grace Ebo
Debra enjoys the adventure and global embrace of a career dedicated to music. She thrives on the creative discovery that flows from collaborative musical opportunities, whether working with combinations of choirs or with composers, dancers, visual artists and cultural groups.
Originally from Perth in Western Australia Debra’s career has taken her from Hungary and through western Europe to north America, where she obtained a Master of Music Education degree and a Doctorate of Music degree in Choral Conducting at Indiana University.
In Indianapolis, Debra directed the Indiana University Children’s and Youth Choir, was assistant director to maestro Paul Hillier with the Pro Arte Singers, and for two years directed the International Vocal Ensemble at Indiana University. She conducted the Northwest Girlchoir in Seattle, a 400-voice organisation of young women who performed frequently with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Now based in Brisbane, Debra maintains an active career in choral conducting, music education and working as a clinician and scholar.
Invitations to present at conferences throughout Australia and internationally have included the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in New York and the New Zealand Choral Federation’s Conducting Summer School. She was also guest conductor at Aged Care Consultants Education and Training, The Big Sing, and made repeated appearances at the Australian National Choral Association’s Choralfest.
In Brisbane, Debra has conducted the Queensland Young Conservatorium Chamber Choir, founded Vox Pacifica Chamber Choir and most recently the vocal ensemble Vintage Voices, a choir for elders to engage with the community through singing. In 2009 she founded Fusion a semi-professional adult a cappella ensemble which has been invited to perform internationally.
Her relationship with ChoirWorks began in 2005 when it was Brisbane Concert Choir and based where it was founded in 1996 at St Andrew’s Uniting Church on the corner of Ann and Creeks Streets. Under Debra’s direction the choir has journeyed internationally several times, performing in prestigious venues across Europe and eastern Canada.
In Brisbane performances with major institutions and organisations have included a collaboration with The University of Queensland’s Music School at the Concert Hall, the opening of Brisbane Writers Festival at GOMA, and a live performance at the Brisbane screening of National Geographic’s Symphony For Our World, billed by owner Disney Corporation as a ‘celebration of our planet’.
The choir’s adventurous musical journeys range from a concert at a winery in Stanthorpe in regional Queensland to performances in venues such as the 900 year old Catedral Primada in Toledo, St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the Gaudi Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, and the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris barely three years before it was ravaged by fire.
Debra has lectured at the Queensland Conservatorium, The University of Queensland and Australian Catholic University. She served as reviewer to the International Federation of Choral Music’s International Choral Bulletin, as president of the Australian National Choral Association, and remains in demand as an adjudicator, clinician and conductor for festivals and eisteddfods throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific.