Background

THE HOBART ORPHEUS CHOIR INC

1877 - 2007

The Hobart Orpheus Choir has been rehearsing and performing regularly for the last 130 years. It is possibly Australia’s oldest continuous choir.

In 1877 the Hobart Trinity Church in Warwick Street needed a new set of bellropes and, as funds were not too plentiful, it was decided to form a small group of male singers selected from the Church choir to perform in the ‘Christy Minstrel’ style to raise the money needed.

The first choirmaster was Mr W C Eltham who, with the accompanist Miss J Lynch, gave the group a try-out performance at New Norfolk. It was received so well that they had no hesitation in performing again, this time in the Church schoolrooms. It was a sell-out performance. The church got its bellropes and the small group became the Hobart Orpheus Club. Mr Eltham later married Miss Lynch and together they led the Orpheus Club for 30 years.

The Club maintained regular rehearsals on Monday evenings (and still does rehearse on Mondays) with subsequent performances in and around Hobart and occasionally further afield. It has survived the heady times around the turn of the 20^th century, several major economic depressions, two World Wars and now in 2007 is celebrating 130 years of making music.

The Choir continued to be an all male choir up till its centenary in 1977. Two years earlier a women’s choir under Margaret Raward had formed and sang at the men’s concerts as The Orpheus Singers. Amalgamation which followed opened up a new repertoire for SATB works. Since then the Choir has been able to present countless major works as well as anthems, spirituals, madrigals, ballads, classical and light musical songs.

Over these 130 years the Hobart Orpheus Choir has encouraged promising young artists by providing a platform for their performances. The Choir has also supported charitable needs in the community and already this year has held two major charity concerts, one for Holy Trinity Church and the other for the Hobart City Mission.

This has been a very busy year so far. The Choir began with a breakfast tribute to John Woodcock Graves beside his memorial in St David’s Park. This was followed by singing sea shanties at the Wooden Boat Festival, the national anthem at the Hobart Cup and Irish songs on St Patrick’s Day at the Queen’s Head Hotel. A social night, a Friendship Dinner and a memorabilia exhibition in the Hobart City Council Centre Atrium were also arranged.

Recent events include a tribute concert in July to Camille Auguste del Sarte who taught singing in Hobart in the 1840’s, 50’s and 60’s and a Spring Hymn Festival at Scots Uniting Church in September.

The finale of this celebratory year will be the 130^th Anniversary Concert on Friday 30 November, the exact anniversary date. Guests will include The Derwent Symphony Orchestra, Gina Bashford, Christopher Richardson and Michael Lampard. A feature of the concert will be two premières - a commissioned work by Tasmanian composer Don Kay, Her Passion Tells and a work by Michael Lampard, Ave Verum Corpus.