Gondwana Voices & Marliya
Gondwana National Choirs are truly national ensembles whose members come from throughout Australia.
They are the children of dairy farmers and miners, teachers and doctors, engineers, office workers and musicians. They perform music that is close to their hearts: new Australian works which capture the mystery and grandeur of the land and display the cultural diversity of the Australian people.
Gondwana Choirs comprises the most accomplished choral groups of young people in Australia. The organisation is synonymous with performance excellence and has a reputation for the highest standards of young people’s choral music in Australia and internationally. Gondwana Voices is one of the organisation’s two national groups, and performs regularly with leading orchestras and ensembles, presenting major classical repertoire and new works by Australian composers.
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In 2019 the youth choir Gondwana Voices travelled to Europe, appearing in Prague, Leipzig, Berlin and London. Real Arts assisted the choir with the coordination of their Berlin visit, where they performed the European premiere of Brett Dean’s work Vexations and Devotions with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin.
Based in Cairns, Queensland, the Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir and their ‘big sisters’ Marliya are the most powerful and well-recognised group of young Indigenous performers in the country. In 2017, the Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir (GICC) undertook its first European tour, introducing audiences to music in multiple Indigenous languages and to the exciting arrangements of traditional songs and dances from the Torres Strait.
In July 2022, Marliya - the choir that has emerged from the younger ranks of GICC - gave the premiere performance of William Barton’s Of the Earth with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young for the reopening of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
︎ Waltzing Matilda (McCall)
︎ Ratoh Duek
︎ Trailer of Indigenous Girls Choir “Marliya” / song cycle project “Spinifex Gum” by Felix Riebl from The Cat Empire addressing painful injustices facing indigenous Australians such as death in custody.
︎ website
Based in Cairns, Queensland, the Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir and their ‘big sisters’ Marliya are the most powerful and well-recognised group of young Indigenous performers in the country. In 2017, the Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir (GICC) undertook its first European tour, introducing audiences to music in multiple Indigenous languages and to the exciting arrangements of traditional songs and dances from the Torres Strait.
In July 2022, Marliya - the choir that has emerged from the younger ranks of GICC - gave the premiere performance of William Barton’s Of the Earth with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young for the reopening of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
︎ Waltzing Matilda (McCall)
︎ Ratoh Duek
︎ Trailer of Indigenous Girls Choir “Marliya” / song cycle project “Spinifex Gum” by Felix Riebl from The Cat Empire addressing painful injustices facing indigenous Australians such as death in custody.
︎ website