STEPHEN O’HARA

Stephen O’Hara was the first Head Chorister of the Choir, appointed in 1985. Here, Stephen tells about what the Choir has meant to him.

My relationship with singing and music began with The Australian Boys Choir. Every Saturday morning, instead of standing on a sporting field, I explored and learnt about the intricate world of music through singing.

I was taught solfege and harmony; I still remember that strange and very exciting moment when I first sang with other boys in harmony. Learning and playing violin was, and remains, a simple extension of, and similar to, my singing.

As my love for music grew, I became interested in the craft and making of performance and how music and story could become extremely powerful in partnership. Benjamin Brittain’s The Golden Vanity, and Hip Hip Horatio by Michael Hurd and Michael Blom were instrumental in my foundation of music in a dramatic context. They were a lot of fun - I was singing, I was performing, I had a character and we were given drama classes. By the time I could perform in secondary school musicals, I had toured Australia, sung with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Myer Music Bowl, in most major shopping centres and hospitals, and on both TV and radio. Singing and performing on stage became almost normal for me.

I will never forget singing with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. We had one rehearsal of ‘Bing bong’ with the orchestra and conductor prior to the performance. The concert was the first time I had heard Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. At the right moment, we stood, sang our small parts, then returned to our seats. I sat, letting the music wash over me. This piece of music has stayed with me ever since.

After my voice broke I joined The Vocal Consort. Along with supporting the Choir, we expanded our repertoire to performing music never heard before. From Thomas Tallis to Poulenc’s Four Little Prayers of St Francis of Assisi, we explored more musically challenging works and my knowledge of music and harmony grew further. After one rehearsal, my mother commented that she had never heard my speaking voice sound so beautiful.

I still sing most days. Most of my compositions and ideas begin to take form with my voice. Sometimes I translate these musical ideas to instruments, sometimes onto a computer and occasionally onto some manuscript. I sing with my daughter most days, too. She loves it, sometimes singing to herself, sometimes making up songs with ridiculous lyrics. It’s hard to imagine how you could not do this every day.

Music is a major component of my life. For me, singing is where the relationship between myself and what I call ‘music’ forms. And this relationship began with The Australian Boys Choir and discovering my voice from within.