Joan Murray will be 91 next month and, just as she has done for the last 30 years, she will be on stage with Noosa Chorale in May for its first concert of the year.
And standing with her in the sopranos will be the Chorale’s newest recruit, Sunshine Beach State High School student, 14-year-old Vivienne Thomson.
Noosa Today met Joan, Vivienne and her mum Jane Tallon, who sings with the altos, at The J just before the choir started its Monday night practice for Mendelssohn’s world famed oratorio, Elijah.
The Chorale is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and Joan recalled how in April 1994 she was one of the first to answer the call for singers from founder, former local barrister Joe McMahon.
“We met in a hall in Duke Road in Doonan. There were six of us. Joe had found a conductor who played the clarinet. So there we were, all holding music, listening to him playing notes on the instrument and trying our best to follow him.
“Most of us had fairly extensive experience in choral singing and we wondered what we had got into.
“We were lucky to get our first conductor, Leonard Spira, who had extensive experience and was well known as a Melbourne musician and founder and director of the Victorian Opera Company.
“He led us brilliantly until 2007 and then came Adrian King who gold plated us and made us the great choir we are today.”
She was Vivienne’s age when she started singing. She sang in choirs in her native Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Sydney and even with an opera company in Nigeria. She came to Noosa two years before the choir was formed and now lives in Noosaville.
She has only missed one concert in her 30 years with the choir. “Would you believe it was Elijah which we did in 2007? I attended the rehearsals but just before the concert I had to take my husband to hospital in Brisbane.”
She shared her thoughts on singing with teenager Vivienne who was sitting in on the interview.” I was about your age when I started to sing. I really enjoyed it and still do. Chorale singing becomes part of your life. When you leave the stage after a performance you almost cry with the wonder at the beautiful music and the appreciation of the audience.”
Vivienne is a multi-instrumentalist. She plays the piano, violin and guitar. “Violin is my main instrument.” She also loves acting and is a member of the Little Seed Theatre at Noosaville.
“I like to sing and when mum suggested we join the choir I thought I would give it a go. I’m just loving the classical music and doing it with the Chorale.”
Vivienne comes from a musical family. Her parents are both professional musicians. Dad Owen Thomson is a classical guitarist and mum Jane plays the cello. Her Year 12 brother, Donald, also plays cello.
Jane taught and lectured at the College of the Arts in Melbourne and played as a soloist in ensembles across Australia before the family moved to Tasmania where she played with the state symphony orchestra, also co-founding the Huon String Quartet.
The family came to Noosa five years ago and live in Tinbeerwah. “We both thought this year it would be fun to join a choir and it’s great to have organisations like this where we both can go,” Jane said.
“Being a cellist, I have never had the experience of singing music like this. It is incredibly complex and passionate.
“We’ve been blown away by the choir’s sound… right from the first warm up and how welcoming everyone is.”
“Elijah,” Noosa Chorale, Friday May 24 at 7pm and Saturday May 25 at 2pm at The J, Noosa Junction. Tickets $45. Bookings 5329 6560 or www.thej.com.au
