Eltham Farmers's Market
5 May 10am
Coming up:
Homegrown concert
Montsalvat, Eltham
June 8, afternoon
Not your average community choir.
We sing choral music from all times and places and present our music in varied and unusual locations. Past concerts have been held in a haunted pub, a historic courthouse and the science museum.
about US.
From the austere quirky harmonies of the Middle Ages through the classical repertoire to rock, jazz and folk, the music All of Us delights and challenges.
History as Sophie's Voice
Sophie's Voice began in the 1990s as the parent choir of the Rudolf Steiner School in Abbotsford which was then housed in the old Sophia Mundi building in Nicholson Street. Hence the name. Since then it has become a community choir open to the public. Previous directors of Sophie's Voice include Curtis Bayliss and Hartley Newnham.
In 2022, we changed our name to All of Us.
Stephen Sharpe is a composer, arranger and music educator. His choral works have been performed by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, the Australian Contemporary Chorale and the Melbourne University Choral Society.
He was the winner of the Port Fairy Folk Festival Songwriting Award in 2002.
DIRECTOR
CHOIR MEMBERS
Neen Arthur, soprano
Caroline Cornwallis, soprano
Kate Goodridge, soprano
Lucille Wagner, soprano
Lee Burgemeestre, alto
Jess Stainton, alto
Lyn Harrop, alto
Kate Nicholas, alto
Bronwen Price, alto
Claire Butler, various
Nick Cotsell, tenor
Stephen Sharpe, conductor/baritone
Edward Cornwallis, bass
Derek Butler, bass
Tim Nott, bass
Some of our members are taking a break, or pop back in for particular concerts. Currently we could do with some tenors if you'd like to join us.
OUR PROJECTS.
We usually perform two themed concerts a year which are always intriguing, always a varied repertoire, and performed in fitting locations to the theme.
FRIENDSHIP
13/08/2023
The stage at Thornbury Church of Christ was transformed into a loungeroom for this eclectic choral concert about friendship. The music included an ode to earthly pleasure by King Henry VIII and a more spiritual offering from Nick Cave. The audience heard Missy Higgins’s stirring story of her love for her sister and the fiery passion of a Monteverdi madrigal. There were songs inspired by Tolkien’s sagas and Tiffany Eckhardt’s mischievous but loveable dog. It was a concert that brought us together, and reminded us of what is truly important.
PLAGUE SONGS
26/6/2022
Thornbury Church of Christ was transformed into a camp hospital for our first post COVID concert which explored pandemics through the ages. We sang Mediaeval chants written to ward off the plague, songs from the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, songs from the 1919 Influenza pandemic, the AIDs crisis and of course, COVID 19. Composers included Handel, Purcell and Elton John.
ANIMAL INSTINCTS
23/11/2019
The Bardin Centre in Brunswick became the venue for a concert of music about animals. George Frederick Handel presented us with a plague of flies and locusts while Sid Robinovitch arranged an Afro-Cuban snake killing song. Gustav Mahler portrayed St Anthony preaching to a school of appreciative fish while currawongs, kookaburras and cicadas made a cacophony in "Australian Bush Songs" by Ian Grandage. The concert featured baritone Steven Touzel and pianist Yiyun Gu.
THE HOLY AND THE BROKEN
24/11/2018
In the beautiful Good Shepherd Chapel at the Abbotsford Convent, Sophie's Voice teamed up with Darcy Cornwallis and his band to mix up the scripturally inspired music of Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Paul Kelly with stunning sacred vocal music from the Renaissance.
THE ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN
10/6/2018
This time we journeyed back to the cosy Wesley Anne in Northcote. Around the fire we explored the rich tradition of Irish music. There were rollicking songs of bold highwaymen, poignant ballads of hard done by convicts and rousing seafaring choruses. Alana Guerin played the fiddle as we complimented the traditional fare with music by The Pogues, The Cranberries and U2. The choir abandoned the stage and sat in the audience to get everyone singing along.
SUNDAY'S CHILD
26/11/2017
In a spectacular concert joined by Rockie Stone's Circus Troop and the Performance Choir of Coburg North Primary School our audience heard songs of childhood from the perspectives of adults and children. 16th century composer Orlando Lassus was represented by his setting of the Bible verse "When I was a Child". Other songs included The White Stripes' "I can tell that we are going to be Friends", Tim Minchin's "When I grow Up" and John Rutter's dynamic arrangements of nursery rhymes.
WORDSONG
23/7/2017
Music inspired by the world's great literary masterpieces graced the beautful Reading Room at Fitzroy Town hall. The audience heard dramatic choruses by Handel, mesmerising themes by Phillip Glass and spooky realisations of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" by Ade Vincent. Geoffery Baird sang Schubert and recited Shakepeare and Shelly. Matt Stonehouse created percussive soundscapes, Alana Guerin played violin and Yiyun Gu played piano.
TWISTED CHRISTMAS
1712/2016
Lots of Christmas craziness at the Metanioa Theatre in Brunswick with alternative Yuletide offerings from The Pogues, Tim Minchin and Greg Lake. On a stage with a Christmas tree and a sofa for those for those who had had too much Christmas cheer, we were joined by a host of special guests, Gemma Hornbury provided a crack brass ensemble, Mitch Naughton played Tin Whistle, Andrew Alves played drums and Yiyun Gu joined us again on piano.
MIDWINTER MURDERS
30/7/2016
In collaboration with Danny Diesendorf and special guest Luca Romani, the choir branched out into acting by creating a hilarious sendup of the Film Noir and British Murder Mystery genres.
Performed to a packed house at the Bella Union Theatre, the convoluted plot was interspersed with music from Gesualdo, Johnny Cash , the Dixie Chicks, Nick Cave and Queen.
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ART SONG
21/11/2015
In the historic American Romanesque Victorian Artists Society building in East Melbourne, on a stage surrounded by paintings, we explored music inspired by art and artists. From 1600’s London we sang Henry Purcell. From the 1500’s the heavenly music of renaissance composer Josquin Des Prez whose musical career is linked to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Listeners heard the sweet 1950’s crooning of Nat King Cole, music from the 1920s inspired by the “Talkies”, Don Maclean’s bittersweet 1970’s ode to Vincent Van Gogh, and music by Coldplay and Gilbert and Sullivan. Special guests were Yiyun Gu playing excerpts from Mussorgsky’s original 1874 piano version of “Pictures at an Exhibition” and the abstract sounds of modern percussion by Timothy Phillips.
SONGS OF TRAVEL
2/8/ 2015
The quirky chapel of the Mission to Seafarers building in Docklands was the perfect setting for12 Century Pilgrim songs, and music by VaughanWilliams and Paul Jarman.We sang exerpts from Handel's "Israel in Egypt"and beautiful Irish Ballads with the help of our special guest Katheryn Clements.
ELEMENTAL HARMONIES
16/8/2014
In the lightning room at Scienceworks we sang music by Phillip Glass, Tom Lehrer and David Bowie. Lutenist John Griffiths played music by Galileo's family and Paul Rogers created weird and wonderful sounds on the Theremin. This intriguing concert of music by scientists, inspired by science and music about science was followed by a dramatic lightning show.
ONE SONG AT A TIME
4/5/2014
The Wesley Anne in Northcote was the venue for a concert of protest songs from the 1500s to the present day. We sang songs of rebellion, resistance and perseverance by the revolutionary renaissance priest Martin Luther, British balladeer Billy Bragg, the Italian opera of Giuseppe Verdi and Australia's Midnight Oil. The audience heard coded messages hidden in the spirituals of 1800s black America and English folk songs. There were rousing freedom songs from South Africa and the exquisite harmonies of 60's group Peter Paul and Mary.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP
IN THE NIGHT
27/10/2013
The Coach and Horses Inn at Clarkefield has a long history of ghostly happenings and was the perfect venue for our Halloween concert.
This concert drew on the whole sweep of the Halloween tradition from its Celtic roots through Mediaeval harvest festivals , its association with All Souls Day to its modern incarnations.We sang music by Mozart, John Williams and Josquin des Prez.
A Children's Choir, a Magician and a tour of the spookiest parts of this impressive 1850's building completed the experience.
SEVEN DEADLY SINS
15/6/2013
The historic 1890's Essendon Court House was the dramatic venue for a concert which explored the darker sides of human nature. It featured the strangely dissonant music of the 17th century Italian prince Gesualdo written in a period of regret after having killed his wife and her lover, the lustful madgrigals of Monteverdi and gossip songs of Pierre Certon. There were tales of cuckolds and convicts, murder ballads by Johnny Cash and excerpts from Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.With her cabaret band, special guest Anna Struth sang Billie Holiday and Kurt Weill.
THE MIDWINTER FEAST
28/07/2012
With special guest Danny Spooner and a sumptuous 4 course meal this concert was a fantastic experience. Street cries and catches from the market places of London in the 1700s led onto music by King Henry the 8th, gruesome delights from "Sweeney Todd" as well as ravishing sacred music from Thomas Tallis. There were plenty of folk songs and stories from Danny's unending repertoire, and jazz and the Beatles for dessert.
WAR AND PEACE
13/11/2011
“War and Peace” featured the soaring harmonies of the Renaissance giant Josquin Des Pres whose beautiful hymn to peace, the “Agnus Dei” is derived from the most ferocious of war songs.
Other highlights included the beautiful harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel and a piece called “One of Us” with words by ex Prime Minister Paul Keating. The story of aboriginal resistance to colonialism was movingly portrayed in “The War without a Name” by Melbourne singer/songwriter BruceWatson.
THE BARD'S GALLERY
15/05/2011
As well as music from the plays, “Bard’s Gallery” featured choral songs from Shakespeare’s time by Orlando Gibbons and John Dowland. More recent choral works using Shakespeare’s words by composers such as Vaughan Williams and Giuseppe Verdi were sung as well as music from filmed versions of Shakespeare's work such as Baz Luhrmann's “Romeo and Juliet” and Kenneth Branagh's “Henry V”.
The concert was topped off with acting, readings from the sonnets and with the choir joined by a host of special guests.
CONTACT.
We rehearse each Thursday evening during school term from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm in the hall of Thornbury Church of Christ St Georges Rd Thornbury, Victoria. $80 per term.
If you are interested in singing with us or would like to book us to perform at your next function, call Stephen on 0401881423
or send us an email allofuschoir@gmail.com