2024 MID-YEAR APPEAL

Excellence in action.

It was thanks to a copy of Melbourne Child magazine sitting on the living room table that set me on my most formative musical journey. The magazine contained a small ad for auditions at the Australian Boys Choir and, while eight-year-old me thought it sounded grand, I had no idea how much this wonderful organisation would come to change my life. The ABCI formed me not only as a musician but also as a person and a leader.

While life since ‘retiring’ as a chorister with the ABCI in 2016 has been varied, almost everything I do credits this seminal experience in some way. I have gone on to compose for choirs, musical theatre and orchestras, receive the Victorian Premier’s Award for VCE music as a pianist, sing in the finest choral acoustics in England including Westminster Abbey and St George’s Windsor, conduct a symphony orchestra, become the Conducting Scholar at Trinity College, Melbourne, and become a trainee repetiteur at Victorian Opera. All these pursuits owe much to where it all started at the Australian Boys Choir.

I recently returned from a year of study at Durham University in England where I also worked and lived at the Chorister School of Durham Cathedral. This experience was incredible in many ways, but my biggest joy was being completely immersed in the English choral tradition.

I worked closely with the choristers at Durham Cathedral and many of my university friends were themselves cathedral choristers. This allowed me to compare their world of choral music to the one I knew growing up in the ABCI.

There were fascinating differences, but what quickly became apparent was that themes of passion, pride, belonging, life-long friendships and respect for our teachers connected us in a deep way, somehow uniting us as global choristers. It also became clear that my time in the ABCI was as rich and educationally valuable as many of the best youth choirs anywhere.

In my opinion, the ABCI stands proudly alongside the world’s best choral music education organisations. That the Australian Boys Choir manages to achieve this level of excellence with very little external funding makes it even more remarkable.

As the end of this financial year approaches, I encourage friends and supporters of the ABCI to consider just how many ways choir can touch someone’s life. While the gift of music is at the heart of this, the gift of your support makes everything possible.

Jem Herbert
ABCI Alumnus

The Australian Boys Choral Institute/The Australian Boys Choir Fund is an endorsed Deductible Gift Recipient. Donations over $2 are tax deductible.