St Mary's Cathedral Choir is Australia's oldest permanent musical organization. Its history dates from 1818 when a choir, formed to sing at masses conducted for Catholic convicts, became the 'court house' Choir.

After the establishment of St Mary's Cathedral in 1833 the choir became a regular part of Cathedral worship.

In 2009 the choir is composed of forty-five students and twenty adult men many of whom are ex-students of the choir. The thirty trebles, aged from nine years, are selected by audition and attend St Mary's Cathedral College on scholarship. They attend daily rehearsals and music lessons in the Cathedral Schola Cantorum before joining their class teacher for normal lessons. They follow the same general curriculum as other NSW primary students with the addition of intensive choral training.

The full choir sings at High Mass every Sunday except during January. The repertoire includes traditional as well as contemporary music.

Download the choir Music List November 2009 - January 2010.

St Mary's Cathedral Choir Scholarships 2009 - apply online now

Director of Music : Elizabeth Swain Principal Organist : Peter Kneeshaw Assistant Organist : Dominic Moawad

St Mary’s Singers

An important part of the musical fabric of St Mary's Cathedral, the St Mary's Singers consists of a permanent choir of about 60 men and women who rehearse each week and perform monthly at a 9am Mass, usually on the third Sunday. In addition, the St Mary's Singers also maintains an extended circle of members and friends who regularly join with the permanent group to create a larger choir to enhance the musical life of this great building for grand liturgical occasions and concert performances.

Rehearsing each Monday evening between 6.30 and 8.00pm in the Cathedral Choir Rooms membership of the St Mary's Singers requires no audition.The St Mary's Singers is an especially popular addition to weddings performed either in the Cathedral proper or its beautiful crypt. For further information on membership of the St Mary's Singers or assistance with wedding music planning and booking of the St Mary's Singers for a wedding please consult their website or use the following email address:

Email: stmaryssingers.mail@gmail.com
Website: www.stmaryssingers.com

The Cathedral Voices

The Cathedral Voices is the resident girls' choir of St. Mary's Cathedral, under the direction of Sarah Webster. The choir sings at regular weekend Masses, weddings, special feasts and concerts both independently and in conjunction with the St. Mary's Cathedral Choir. They have also lead liturgical music workshops for the wider Catholic community.

The Cathedral Voices perform a range of works, both traditional and contemporary, and their vision is to be a respected vehicle for liturgical and choral music by Australian composers, particularly music written specifically for female voices. They have already forged relationships with composers such as Christopher Willcock and Keren Terpstra, and it is hoped that, as the choir grows, it might be able to commission new works in order to further fulfill this vision.

Members of the Cathedral Voices participate in the Royal School of Church Music's internationally acclaimed choral training program, Voice For Life. This scheme provides graded learning of vocal technique, musicianship, aural skills, sight-singing, study of repertoire, the choir as a ministry and the choir as a community, with both internal and (optional) external assessment. This is a marvellous opportunity for young women to receive a solid musical and liturgical education in a fun and encouraging environment. For more information about the Voice For Life scheme, go to: www.rscm.com/education/vfl/vfl.php.

The Cathedral Voices is open to female singers aged 10 years (or Grade 5) and up. Membership is free. The choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings during school terms from 5.00 -6.30pm at the Cathedral. For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact the choir's director - Sarah Webster: sarah@dekko.com.au or 0414 806 939.

The Emmanuel Singers

Since Lent 2000 the Emmanuel Singers have been singing 6pm Mass at St Mary's Cathedral on most Sundays of the year (excepting January). The Emmanuel Singers are led by members of the Emmanuel Catholic Community - one of the Church's 'New Communities' which came into being in Paris in the early 1970's. The Emmanuel Singers aim to sing music which is composed for the Sacred Liturgy, leads people to a spirit of adoration, prayer and a deepening of their conversion to Christ and life of faith. Since its foundation, the Emmanuel Community has placed a great emphasis on the composition of Liturgical Chants and Hymns. Its music books - entitled "Il est Vivant" (He is Alive) - are very well known across Europe. Emmanuel has established an International Music Academy for Evangelisation in Altötting (Germany); holds Annual Sessions of Chant, Music & Liturgy at Paray-le-Monial (France), The community also conducts Annual Sessions for Artists & Musicians in Paray-le-Monial each year as a way of contributing to the New Evangelisation of Art & Culture. As a result of these Artistic Festivals the Magnificat Centre was established in Paris to aid artists and their friends to gather in a Christian environment in order to deepen the discovery of the relationship between Beauty, Art and Faith. The Emmanuel Singers are always keen to welcome new singers and musicians. Please contact robert_tonkli@hotmail.com should you be interested in joining them.

Websites: Emmanuel Community | International Music Academy for Evangelisation (German) | Magnificat Centre (French) | Paray-le-Monial

Cathedral Pipe Organs

Orgues Létourneau Ltée built a new three manual 46 stop organ on a new gallery in the transept as the first stage of a plan to build two new organs for the Cathedral. It was dedicated on 19 December 1999 by Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy, (then) Archbishop of Sydney.

The existing two manual 22 stop organ built in the rear gallery by Whitehouse Bros was inaugurated on 17 March 1942.

A mobile console is located on the nave floor in addition to the gallery consoles to control both these instruments.

There is also an incomplete two manual 16 stop organ in the triforium above the chancel that was built by Ronald Sharp between 1959 and 1971.

A two manual 6 stop mechanical action organ built by Bellsham Pipe Organs in 1985 is located in the crypt.

About the Organ

The new three manual organ with 46 stops and 59 ranks built by Orgues Létourneau Ltée was commissioned in 1997 and dedicated in December 1999. This instrument sits in a newly erected gallery in the transept and its main purpose is to meet the needs of the varied liturgical and musical functions of the Cathedral. The Létourneau organ and the 1942 Whitehouse organ in the rear gallery may both be played from a new four manual mobile console located on the floor of the nave.

Eric Wisden from the New South Wales Department of Public Works designed the organ case.

The wide tonal and dynamic range available on the Létourneau organ meets the role of accompanying the Cathedral Choir. The 1959 Sharp organ in the triforium above the chancel was woefully inadequate in this role with only one very soft 16 foot pedal stop and two 8 foot manual stops. In contrast, the Létourneau organ has a 32 foot Contrabourdon, three 16 foot pedal stops and fifteen 8 foot manual stops. This provides greater support when accompanying the Cathedral Choir, cantors and congregation. It has string stops and principal choruses on each manual, a wide range of flutes at different pitches and English reeds including a solo Tuba stop on high wind pressure.

The key action is dual; mechanical in the gallery and electrical from the mobile console. The combinations of stops are controlled by a modern programmable solid state system with 256 memories at each console.

Peter Kneeshaw, the Principal Organist of the Cathedral, was the consultant and worked tirelessly on the project. This involved him in playing and assessing hundreds of new organs throughout the world and visiting many organbuilders before calling tenders. He wrote the specification and contract which he administered on behalf of the Church. Considerable effort was given to details of the tonal and console design. Care was taken to ensure that the stop list, wind pressures, pipe scaling and voicing was suitable for the requirements of the Cathedral.

Orgues Létourneau who won the contract worked very closely with the consultant and the Church. They took considerable pride in delivering the instrument on time despite a number of unforseen difficulties and delays. It has been greatly admired by organists, choristers, members of the congregation and visitors for its warm tonal quality, clarity, wide dynamic range and high standard of workmanship.

After years of hard work and effort the project came to fruition when the organ was dedicated by Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy on 19 December 1999 at the annual Carol Service.

For more information about the Cathedral organs, please visit www.geocities.com/domad