Our Choirs
At Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, there is a choir for you
If you are a great shower singer, or have a busy schedule, our Festival Chorus or Christmas Choir might be for you. In 2025, ChorusOz® – our much-loved Big Sing at the Sydney Opera House – performs Vaughan Williams’s TA Sea Symphony.
If you want the challenge of singing in one of our auditioned choirs, you could try our young adult (18-30) choir VOX, our Chamber Singers or our Symphony Chorus, which perform regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Symphony Chorus
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 9 February 2025, from 10am to 1pm.
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:
- Rossini in Paris on Saturday 17 May in the Sydney Opera House. Rehearsals for this program are on Thursdays commencing in February.
- A Child of Our Time on Saturday 13 September in the Sydney Opera House. Rehearsals for this program are on Thursdays commencing in July.
- Brahms: A German Requiem on Saturday 25 October in the Sydney Opera House. Rehearsals for this program are on Thursdays commencing in September.
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
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 on the dedicated ChorusOz website at: https://www.chorusoz.com.au
Christmas Choir
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.
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.
Chamber Singers
The Chamber Singers is a choir of 32 highly skilled singers who specialise in virtuosic choral repertoire from the Renaissance to the 21st century. They are renowned for their dynamic performances and their exceptional musicianship and professionalism. Their performances can be intimate and delicate, yet have the vocal power to inspire awe. They have premiered Australian music by Dan Walker and Luke Byrne, amongst others, and regularly perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra including performances of Eötvös’ Halleluja — Oratorium balbulum and in the Tea & Symphony series. In 2016 the Chamber Singers recorded and released This Secret World, the music of Dan Walker.
Every year, the Chamber Singers perform their own concert. In 2019, they presented their own concert of jazz and swing – In the Mood. In 2020, the Chamber Singers performed an intimate concert of Fauré’s Requiem at St Andrew’s Cathedral. At Easter 2021, Elizabeth Scott led the Chamber Singers in Bach’s St John Passion, with works by Brooke Shelley and Joseph Twist woven throughout. In 2022, they performed as part of the Sydney Festival in Night of the Soul, JS Bach’s Mass in B minor, and in Grant Us Peace with works by Peteris Vasks, Stuart Greenbaum and Maria Lopes at St Andrew’s Cathedral. In 2023, the Chamber Singers performed Sir James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater along with other works in St Andrew’s Cathedral.
The 2024 Season sees the Chamber Singers singing John Peterson’s Shadows and Light, Fauré’s Requiem, works by D Scarlatti, Monteverdi and more in Voices of the Italian Baroque, and Rodgers & Hammerstein hits in Showstoppers.
Weekly rehearsals are on Monday evenings with some additional rehearsals throughout the year.
If you are interested in auditioning for Chamber Singers, please click here.
Symphony Chorus
Symphony Chorus is considered the most prestigious choir of its size in Australia, renowned for its vocal power. For the past 85 years, Symphony Chorus has been the chorus of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Weekly rehearsals are on Tuesday evenings plus some additional rehearsals throughout the year.
This highly skilled group of up to 150 highly skilled auditioned singers perform a diverse range of repertoire from early Baroque and Renaissance, through to contemporary and newly commissioned works. They excel in large-scale choral repertoire. For more than 80 years, Symphony Chorus has been the chorus of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
In 2019 Symphony Chorus performed Brahms’ Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Fauré’s Requiem, Britten’s Peter Grimes, in Last Night of the Proms and Handel’s Messiah at Christmas. In 2020, after the lockdowns, a small number of Symphony Chorus presented two performances of Handel’s Messiah – Part the First at St Andrew’s Cathedral. In 2021, Symphony Chorus performed Orff’s Carmina Burana, Peter Sculthorpe’s Sun Music and John Peterson’s The Earth That Fire Touches before lockdowns began again. In 2022, they performed Mozart’s Requiem and other works of Mozart, Jessica Wells’ Dolor ultimae melodiae, and in Handel’s Messiah. 2023 saw Symphony Chorus perform Handel’s Samson oratorio, choruses from the great musicals in The Golden Age of Broadway and in Carols at the House.
In 2024, Symphony Chorus will perform Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (Vespers), hits from the great Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in Showstoppers, and in Handel’s Messiah with the Christmas Choir.
If you are interested in auditioning for Symphony Chorus, please click here.
VOX
VOX is at the forefront of contemporary choral music in Australia. With singers aged 18–30, VOX brings together Sydney’s most talented young singers to perform in the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ concert season. VOX are led by acclaimed choral conductor and VOX Music Director, Elizabeth Scott. VOX regularly perform in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s season in programs such as Last Night of the Proms, Britten’s Peter Grimes and Fauré’s Requiem. They starred in their own performances of Wonder in the Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House. VOX regularly appears at corporate events and in major cultural festivals such as VIVID Sydney, the Greek Music Festival and Four Winds.
In 2019 they performed with the Sydney Symphony in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis at the Sydney Opera House. They have sung on recordings for composers Sally Whitwell and Dan Walker, and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s production Bennelong. In 2020 VOX performed Craig Hella Johnson’s searing Considering Matthew Shepard in collaboration with the City Recital Hall.
In 2021 they performed on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt for the Australia Day celebrations, and Berliner Messe at St Andrew’s Cathedral, featuring the works of Arvo Pärt, Matthew Orlovich and Aija Draguns. In 2022, they featured in The Pulse as part of the Sydney Festival, in Bach’s Mass in B minor, and with legendary choral leader Eric Whitacre in the Sydney premiere of his latest composition, The Scared Veil at the Sydney Opera House. In 2023, VOX performed David Lang’s Pulitzer prize-winning The Little Match Girl Passion along with other works by Luke Byrne and Naomi Crellin and in Carols at the House at the Sydney Opera House.
In 2024, VOX sings John Peterson’s Shadows and Light, Fauré’s Requiem, works by Ešenvalds, Rautavaara, Whitacre, Byrne, Pärt and more in Aurora and in Handel’s Messiah with the Christmas Choir.
Weekly rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings with some additional rehearsals throughout the year.
If you are interested in auditioning for VOX, please click here.