Music Director Emily Cox AM
You’ll be singing Handel’s ‘Messiah’ with Brisbane Chorale and Sinfonia of St Andrew’s on Sunday 15th November this year. Tell us about your past history with this cherished work and what it is you love about it.I have always loved…
You’re going to be featuring in Brisbane Chorale and Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra’s upcoming performance of ‘A Sea Symphony’ as the baritone soloist. What are you most looking forward to about performing this work?I absolutely love the music of Vaughan Williams.…
You’re going to be featuring in Brisbane Chorale and Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra’s upcoming performance of A Sea Symphony as the soprano soloist. What are you most looking forward to about performing this work?I’m especially looking forward to being part of…
Founded in 1995, Sinfonia of St Andrew’s has performed a wide range of music encompassing the Baroque and Romantic repertoire with local groups such as the Queensland Choir, Oriana Choir, the Queensland University Music Society, and the Ipswich Cambrian Choir…
Elaine Hagenberg was born in 1979, and spent her early years as both a singer and a pianist. Educated at Drake University, she released her first published work in 2013, ‘I Will Be a Child of Peace’, an arrangement of a…
You’re going to be featuring in Brisbane Chorale’s upcoming performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C as the bass soloist. What are you most looking forward to about performing this work? I’m really looking forward to the emotional depth and spiritual…
You’re going to be featuring in Brisbane Chorale’s upcoming performance of Beethoven’s ‘Mass In C’ as the alto soloist. What are you most looking forward to about performing this work? Like all requiems, I most look forward to those rich,…
You’re going to be featuring in Brisbane Chorale’s upcoming performance of Beethoven’s ‘Mass In C’ as the tenor soloist. What are you most looking forward to about performing this work? I’m really looking forward to performing Beethoven’s Mass in C. The…
You’re going to be featuring in Brisbane Chorale’s upcoming performance of Beethoven’s ‘Mass In C’ as the soprano soloist. What are you most looking forward to about performing this work? I’m really looking forward to bringing this work to life.…
You’ll be performing the baritone/bass roles in the upcoming performance of ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ with Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and Brisbane Chorale. Tell us about what this work means to you. This work, like all the works I have performed,…
You’ll be performing the role of Gerontius in the upcoming performance of ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ with Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and Brisbane Chorale. Tell us about what this work means to you. The role of Gerontius is a tremendous journey…
You’ll be performing the role of the Angel in the upcoming performance of The Dream of Gerontius with Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and Brisbane Chorale. This will be your debut performance in the role. What are you most looking forward to…
We asked Music Director Emily Cox to share with us what the Fauré and Duruflé Requiems meant to her, on the eve of our performance of them on Oct 13 2024. Brisbane Chorale last performed the Fauré Requiem and Duruflé…
We recently asked organist Christopher Wrench about his up-coming performances in the Fauré and Duruflé Requiems with Brisbane Chorale. You’ll be performing the Fauré Requiem and Duruflé Requiem on the historic Brisbane City Hall Willis pipe organ in the ‘Into Paradise’ concert. …
We recently asked baritone soloist Shaun Brown about his up-coming performances in the Fauré and Duruflé Requiems with Brisbane Chorale. First of all, take us behind the scenes of your pre-concert preparation. What sort of things do you do (or…
We recently asked soprano soloist Sarah Crane about her up-coming performances in the Fauré and Duruflé Requiems with Brisbane Chorale. First of all, take us behind the scenes of your pre-concert preparation. What sort of things do you do (or…
You’re going to be performing Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Tell us a bit about what this piece means to you. The Five Mystical Songs and I have a long history. One of my early singing teachers, the…
What led to you choosing the trumpet as your instrument? When I was at primary school in the 1980s my older sisters were playing Brass instruments in the school band program (Trumpet and Trombone to be exact) so I was…
What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming performance? I always look forward to performing interesting repertoire with outstanding colleagues; this performance is no different. Most people who want to be singers would rather be Beyonce than Bartoli,…
How many male classical music composers can you name? Now how many female classical music composers can you name, particularly from before the 20th century? You’ve probably heard of Felix Mendelssohn, but have you heard of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel? Fanny…
What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming performances of ‘The Creation’? There are so many things I’m looking forward to. Singing this work is a rare pleasure but the real treat will be listening to the thunderous…
What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming performances of ‘The Creation’? The greatest joys of making music are the communities with which you work. The community that’s been brought together for The Creation is a mixture of…
A musical partnership which had humble beginnings in the late 1980s at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music is about to bear tremendous fruit when Brisbane Chorale and Sunshine Coast Oriana Choir join forces for the first time to present Franz…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including how many years you have sung in a choir? I was born in Serbia, learned how to play piano accordion at the age of 9 but didn’t progress with that. My…
What originally drew you to choose to learn the violin? We grew up in a small town in far North Queensland called Atherton, and our parents wanted us to learn an instrument to keep us busy. There was a violin…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including how many years you have sung in a choir?I played piano as a kid and have always loved music of all forms, but I’m a relative newcomer to singing. My parents…
For Brisbane Chorale’s conductor Emily Cox AM, the choir’s upcoming performance of works by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn on 1st May 2022 is the realisation of a dream which began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including how many years you have sung in a choir? I’ve studied music in high school and university and it has become a part of my life. I’ve done choir in high…
Now that Chloe, one of Chorale’s sopranos, is part of our musical leadership team, we felt it was the perfect time to get to know her a little better. Read on to find out about her extensive musical background, which…
Like anyone who makes a living as a professional performer or musician, Brisbane Chorale’s music director Emily Cox AM has found the post-COVID era to be very difficult and challenging. But as Emily and the choir are working towards what…
As a professional musician, what’s it been like for you since COVID-19 began? On the plus side, there has been much more time to practise, which is an amazing gift for any musician, because practice normally has to be squeezed…
Tell us a little about your early life – what made you realise you wanted your future to be in music? Music emerged in me as a spontaneous phenomenon. In those days, children started musical education by the time they…
As a performing artist, what’s it been like for you since COVID-19 began? As a professional musician the post COVID-19 landscape has been bleak to say the least. I’ve been more fortunate than some with my teaching work to fall…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including, how many years you have sung in a choir? I was raised in a family that always listened to classical music. My father had a huge record collection and my earliest…
Gustav Mahler was born in Bohemia in 1860 and died in Vienna in 1911. He was the second of 12 children but only six of them survived to maturity. Whilst his childhood was difficult, he did receive a good education…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including, how many years you have sung in a choir? I went to an all-boys school, primary and secondary. My earliest memories of singing are from about Grade 4 as a second…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including how many years you have sung in a choir? I started my musical journey at age 4 on a 1/16-size violin (which I still have). I’ve played a variety of instruments…
You studied both clarinet and conducting at UQ. What made you decide you wanted to become a conductor? Through the clarinet I discovered Mozart and Brahms. I started listening to EVERYTHING they composed, after which I moved on to Beethoven,…
What can the audience expect to experience by seeing “The Bells” from a choral perspective? The essence of choral / symphonic music is that blend of orchestral, choral and solo textures, lifted to another level by words. It’s really a…
Tell us a bit about your musical background, including, how many years you have sung in a choir I first joined the primary school choir at seven years old, and sang in choirs all through school. After high school, I…
As a professional singer, what’s it been like for you since COVID-19 began? It’s been pretty soul destroying. I have sung with Opera Qld for 25 years so I miss performing with my OQ family terribly. I am fortunate though…
Brisbane Chorale is seeking new members in all voice parts (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) for its 2021 season and according to Music Director Emily Cox AM, it promises to be a memorable one. “We’ll be performing a wonderful range…
As a professional singer, what’s it been like for you since COVID-19 began? Firstly, it has been the loss of income which has hit hard but the actual creative art of music making has left a huge hole in the…
As a professional singer, what’s it been like for you since COVID-19 began? It’s certainly been a year of change, with many disappointments for so many in the Arts community along the way. What’s been encouraging the whole time, is…
He loved to walk in nature He was a great walker and had a passionate love of nature, even in depressingly prolonged periods of rain: “I never found it dull” he said “Even when it rains I just have another…
Beloved…that word springs to mind when I think of the Brahms Requiem …especially now, it feels very much like music for our time. Brisbane Chorale had programmed this work to be the opening concert of our 2020 season. We ceased…
In these uncertain times, creativity and flexibility are critical to navigating a situation none of us have experienced before. When we had to stop rehearsals at the beginning of the pandemic, two of the questions in our minds were ‘how…
In your work as a nurse, what’s it been like since COVID-19 began? I am a neonatal nurse and work as part of the Clinical Facilitator team in a large neonatal intensive care unit. We are based in an office…
After what has seemed a long (but very necessary) break from our familiar busy practice and concert schedule, midway through July the Brisbane Chorale began rehearsing again in a completely new way in order to comply with government directives concerning…
Dr Stephanie JohnsonPaediatric Endocrinologist, Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, South BrisbaneVisiting fellow, Queensland University of Technology In your work as a medical specialist, what’s it been like since COVID-19 began? I have to confess that I have been somewhat protected, not…
Many of you will have read articles in the press about the potential for singing to spread Covid-19. Research suggests that aerosols (miniscule particles of liquid generated by exhalation, which can linger in the air) are more prevalent in choral…
In our inaugural Chorale Conversation, which is a regular monthly series of profiles of particular Chorale members, we’ve invited Stephen Brierley, Emergency Physician, to share some information about himself, the current situation, and his love of choral music. In your…