GUEST ARTIST LACHLAN MCDONALD

Lachlan McDondald is a Melbourne-based baritone and alumnus of the Australian Boys Choir. He is thrilled to be performing as a featured soloist with his ensemble ‘Fiore’ in the final instalment of the ABCI concert season for 2023, ‘Sing of Christmas’ on December 10 at the prestigious Melbourne Recital Centre alongside the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra. See www.australianboyschoir.com.au/whats-on/concerts for more information.

Lachie, when did you join the ABCI?
I began as a Probationer at the start of 2003, and made my way through to the Performing Choir by the end of 2004. I spent 5 years in the choir, 4 in Kelly Gang, and 5 more in The Vocal Consort.

What are you most looking forward to about this year's end-of-year ABCI concert?
I’ve always enjoyed Christmas Concerts at the end of the year, with all groups coming together. I’m greatly looking forward to performing with the boys once again, this time as a soloist. This will be my 16th ABCI Christmas Concert!

What can the audience expect from this performance?
For those who haven’t heard Fiore before, you can expect a high level of musicianship, musicality, polish, and unity (all things we learnt at the ABCI), combined with the level of expression and drama found in solo singing.

What are the key things you learned when you joined the ABCI?
The ABCI was the cornerstone of my musical education. I learnt and came to understand the core elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, etc. In particular, through the use of solfege, I learnt to understand not just the sound/intonation of notes, but the function they play in the greater piece of music. Further to this, with camps and tours, I learnt about teamwork; that the whole is greater than the individual, and that supporting those around you/feeling supported by those around you, is of chief importance. This lesson was learnt primarily through music making, but has come to apply to all areas of life.

Why did you choose to sing with Fiore as a founding member of the ensemble?
I have sung with the other members of Fiore for many, many years – with Anish and Alex as boys at in the ABCI, with Monika at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and with all three as part of the National Youth Choir of Australia. We have a vast amount of shared knowledge and ideas about how we want to perform music, and there is a level of unspoken communication between us that you don’t often get. On top of this, the other members of Fiore are three of my best friends, and resultingly, I enjoy performing with them all that much more.

What’s rewarding about performing choral music?
Many instruments are fundamentally limited by the nature of the instrument: it can only play so many notes, it can’t play the notes in between the notes found on a piano, it can’t speak words. Singing, for me at least, has a level of expression, while it might be wrong to say above that of instruments, but certainly different, by the very fact that we can convey language, and an instrument (mostly) cannot. Singing in a choir removes many of the limitations of how many notes can be played, in that there are other people with you, with different voice types, to sing the notes that you can’t.

Who are your favourite singers and why?
On the classical side of things, the standouts in my mind (with great baritone bias) are Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Roderick Williams – both have such an adept grasp of conveying their native language, German and English respectively, combined with intelligent musicality, and a gorgeous vocal quality. I may be doing Jessye Norman a great disservice not to include her, and it would also be remiss not to mention Jeff Buckley, Jim Morrison, and Chet Baker as non-classical singers whose voices I love.

What have been your favourite concerts to perform in as a singer at the ABCI?
Too many to mention! I will no doubt forget some, but the 2021 performance of the Victoria Requiem; the 2016 concert at St. Paul's Cathedral with 4 masses, including the incredible Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor; the 2015 concert with Thomas Tallis’ Lamentations of Jeremiah and Tippet’s Magnificat, the 2011 performance of Ian Cugley’s opera Sea Changes and any of the times we performed Britten’s Ceremony of Carols at a Christmas Concert while I was in the Performing Choir.

What do you do when you’re not singing?
I’m a little bit of a jack-of-all-trades of a musician; I conduct choirs, compose, and play a few different instruments. Outside of music, I enjoy playing video games to unwind, and support Carlton Football Club to do just the opposite.

Finally, what advice would you give to boys in the Choir now – and those hoping to join?
You are surrounded by a whole lot of other young people who share your love and talent for singing and music. This is rare. You’re in a special place, so enjoy the ride!