The Choir of Ormond College
The Choir of Ormond College has, since its founding in 1982 under Douglas Lawrence, become the first Australian choir to earn ongoing international recognition for its concert and recorded work.
Most of its singers have lived in Ormond College and come from schools with strong music programmes. The ensemble’s Move catalogue runs from English chapel repertoire of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries through Christmas collections, madrigals, spirituals and lighter close-harmony sets, alongside live souvenirs of biennial tours to Europe, Britain, Japan and New Zealand.
Critics abroad praised lucid intonation, rhythmic life and youthful blend. Tour and studio landmarks include The Choir of Ormond College Melbourne (MD 3054), Bach Byrd Britten (MD 3104), the European-tour document I Heard the Owl Call My Name (MD 3130), Kodály Missa Brevis (MD 3201), and the playful a cappella programme Laughing (MD 3306).
Press quotes
Twenty four young singers from Melbourne showed the Germans how to sing Bach.
One of the most virtuosic chamber choirs in the world.
The Choir of Ormond College is featured on the following titles
Laughing
The internationally acclaimed Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, turns to the lighter side of a cappella singing across jazz, madrigal and spiritual repertoire.
The 12 Days of Christmas
The Choir of Ormond College sings carols long held in affection around the world, and pairs them with newer works, accompanied by renowned Australian pianist Stephen McIntyre.
The Choir of Ormond College Live
A live retrospective for the Choir of Ormond College’s twenty-first year, gathering concert recordings from 1985 to 2000 under Douglas Lawrence, from Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Fauré’s Requiem to Bach, Palestrina, Poulenc and lively encores.
Beatus Vir
Recorded live on their 1999 European tour, the Choir of Ormond College under Douglas Lawrence presents small-scale sacred works in up to eight parts by Palestrina, Gesualdo, Handl, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Stanford and Rheinberger.
Kodály Missa Brevis
Recorded on their 1997 European tour in Northern Italy and Germany, the Choir of Ormond College sings Kodály’s Missa Brevis, with works by Tye, Howells and Bach.
Music from Heaven
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, in a highly acclaimed programme of unaccompanied sacred works by Allegri, Byrd, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and J.S. Bach.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
The highly acclaimed recording of the Choir of Ormond College's European tour. Includes the amazing choral soundscape I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Australian composer Philip Nunn.
I Can Tell The World
Saucy Purcell rounds, madrigals, drinking songs, spirituals and English folk settings from one of Australia's finest choirs, directed by Douglas Lawrence.
Bach Byrd Britten
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, presents Bach, Byrd and Britten. Bach’s motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden and Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices stand beside Britten’s Five Flower Songs and A Ceremony of Carols.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, presents a varied selection of twenty-eight Christmas carols. Familiar favourites sit beside Bach and Pachelbel organ pieces and twentieth-century settings.
When David heard that Absalom was slain
The Choir of Ormond College specialised in liturgical music of the 16th and 20th centuries. This recording also includes psalm settings, among them Allegri’s Miserere, a setting of the penitential Psalm 51 once reserved for the Sistine Chapel in Holy Week.
The Choir of Ormond College Melbourne
Directed by Douglas Lawrence, who led chapel music at Ormond College, Melbourne, for more than twenty years, this recording presents the college choir in English church music of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Choir of Ormond College also appears on
Bright Tracks
Winner of the 1998 ABC Classic FM Listeners’ Choice Award, this double CD gathers chamber music by Brenton Broadstock, one of Australia’s most established and respected composers.
Merry Christmas
Elizabeth Anderson and friends put a fresh twist on Christmas carols: eight tracks packaged as a Christmas card, with a vibrant cover and space for a personal inscription.
Members of The Choir of Ormond College
Deborah Kayser
Deborah Kayser is an Australian soprano whose work spans Byzantine and medieval chant, French and German Baroque song, and scored and improvised contemporary music. She tours in Australia, Europe and Asia, and appears regularly as a soloist on disc and on ABC FM.
Elizabeth Anderson
Elizabeth Anderson has performed on eleven international concert tours to Europe, Japan and Singapore, and is a regular guest lecturer and performer at universities and music schools throughout Australia.
Gordon Kerry
Gordon Kerry's music ranges from the symphonic through chamber music to choral music and opera. Australian orchestras, chamber ensembles, festivals and soloists commission him regularly, as do ensembles in the USA and Europe.
Gary Ekkel
Gary Ekkel is a leading Australian interpreter of choral and Early Music.
Joel Gladman
Joel toured Japan and Europe with the Choir of Ormond College in 1995 and 1997. He has sung in the male a cappella group Pablo, which toured Germany and Italy in 2003, and which appeared on the first incarnation of The X-Factor in 2005. More recently, Pablo reformed to sing (with great success) at the Maldon Folk Festival in 2010.
Jonathan Wallis
Jonathan Wallis is a Melbourne singer and arranger with the a cappella male sextet Pablo. A classics lecturer drawn from the Ormond College choral tradition, he also works as arranger, production assistant and note-writer on the group’s recordings.
Matthew Flood
Matthew Flood is an Australian singer with the Melbourne a cappella male sextet Pablo. A former member of the Choir of Ormond College, he also performs with Troubadours.
Vaughan McAlley
Vaughan McAlley is a composer and arranger, alto and tenor, a capable flautist and French horn player, and the recording engineer behind countless Move releases.
Samuel Furphy
Sam comes from country Victoria, which helps give Pablo credibility on its many regional tours.
Samuel Qualtrough
Sam sang and toured Europe with the Choir of Ormond College, then became an important member of the male a cappella groups Pablo and Suade. By night he sings with a wedding band, and writes and sings his own songs. In 2010 he won the Maldon Minsteral Award at the Maldon Folk Festival with one of his original songs. By day he runs the management consultant firm Q Insight.
Grantley McDonald
Grantley McDonald is a Melbourne tenor whose catalogue work centres on mediaeval and renaissance vocal repertoire with specialist early-music ensembles.
Peter Hagen
Peter Hagen majored in pianoforte and harpsichord at the Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne University. He furthered his studies in the Netherlands learning from Bob Van Asperen, Jacques Ogg and Ton Koopman.