The musical prowess of some of the Yarra Ranges’ most established choirs will be on show at the end of this month as they come together for Collaborate!.
Combining four choirs, a string ensemble and instrumentalists from the Valley and Dandenong Ranges, with the Yarra Valley Singers’ musical director Belinda Gillam Derry at the helm, the 30 August performance will deliver everything from the classics to original compositions.
The event will feature individual performances from Ranges Young Strings directed by Rosie Burns, Badger Creek Women’s Choir directed by Jenny Legg, The Hills Singers directed by Christelise de Graaf, Kaleidoscope/Vokallista directed by Barb McFarlane and Yarra Valley Singers’ Day, Evening and Chamber Choirs, before they all come together for a mass choir performance, with orchestral accompaniment by the Ranges Young Strings and guest professional artists.
Ms Gillam Derry said the idea for Collaborate! stemmed from wanting to offer smaller choirs the ability to engage in professional development, attract new members and put on a great musical performance.
Receiving a Yarra Ranges Council annual community grant, Ms Gillam Derry said this eased the pressure of putting on a show of this scale.
“It meant we could hire a venue, put on a really good event with everyone contributing a little bit, as the other choirs might not necessarily have the wherewithal to organise a big event by themselves,” she said.
“They would get to hear each other as well, so we could all learn from each other. This event in particular, we thought for the first time, we would mix groups that sing from notated scores and groups that learn by ear.”
While some choral groups use sheet music, others purely learn the tune and lyrics by ear.
“Yarra Valley Singers always use music, but there are a lot of people in the community who like singing, who don’t know how to read music,” Ms Gillam Derry said.
“There are groups of singers that don’t rely on the sheet music, and we thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could work out a way that we could bring together all these people who love singing without discriminating between whether they can read music or not read music and what tools would we need to provide to enable that to happen?”
Ms Gillam Derry said to ensure everyone could learn the compositions they would be performing, they produced manuscripts, but also recorded parts individually and each of the rehearsals.
As part of the performance lead-up, Ms Gillam Derry said it was essential to her that workshops be included, alongside rehearsals, so singers could learn new skills and feel confident in their performing.
“When I started conducting Yarra Valley Singers, which was in 1996, so nearly 30 years ago now, there were only six people who could read music.
“But every year now, I run workshops introducing singers to how to read music. So that was two of the workshops that we shared with the other choirs. We also did another workshop on understanding your voice.”
The Collaborate! performance itself will be held at the Mount Evelyn Christian School hall, from 2pm to 4pm, with each group performing a 10-minute bracket.
“The repertoire list will go from some classical stuff, through ‘70s and ‘80s covers, through to pop.”
The mass choir will then perform five songs, two of which will be original compositions from Barb McFarlane and composer Sam Hartley.
“Barb McFarlane’s is called Deeper, and she wrote it during the lockdowns. The words are, ‘we have reached deeply to find the best and draw it up, and now we need to reach again, deeper’.
“It’s just so moving. It’s a really simple piece that everyone gets so moved by. They just love it, because we all remember what it was like.”
Sam Hartley’s piece is far more personal, having written it as a requiem after his father’s death last year. The choirs will be performing the ‘Agnus Dei’ from his requiem.
“Sam chose to write a requiem, and because his father liked the music of Eastern Europe, Sam had written the requiem in Ukrainian,” Ms Gillam Derry said.
The Ukrainian words translated into English are ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, give them peace! Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them peace forever!”
“This is also moving because of what’s still happening in Ukraine, and everyone is wishing for peace for their country.”
The Ranges Young Strings will accompany this piece, with the support of some mentors who have worked with them throughout the performance rehearsals.
To finish up the performance, the mass choir will end on the Hallelujah Chorus to give the smaller choirs a chance to perform this well-known classic.
Book tickets by visiting: eventbookings.com/b/event/collaborate-2025-a-yarra-ranges-musical-celebration
Details can also be found on the Yarra Valley Singers website, or for inquiries, contact singersyarravalley@gmail.com
