Sydney Philharmonia Choirs has announced its 2026 season of choral masterworks and contemporary Australian music. Alongside performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Choirs will also make a Perth appearance and embark on its first UK tour in 15 years.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs performing in A Child of Our Time. Photo © Simon Crossley-Meates

Across July and August 2026, the Choirs will perform at the Royal Albert Hall and Gloucester Cathedral’s Three Choirs Festival. Artistic & Music Director Brett Weymark says that it will showcase “Australian talent and voices… with an inspirational program of works commissioned in recent years.”

“I look forward to collaborating with our incredible choristers and with some of Australia’s finest composers, soloists and musicians, to deliver a year of concert experiences that uplift, inspire and delight, reminding us once again of the incredible power of music and of human voices coming together in unity,” he said.

The selection of choral epics this season starts in full Baroque splendour with Gloria! on 7 March at Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay with works by Vivaldi, Bach and Handel, before Bach’s St John Passion (4 April) and Duruflé’s Requiem & Poulenc’s Gloria on 16 May.

ChorusOz, the Choirs’ annual community choral event, invites aspiring vocalists to join it for a selection of music from Verdi’s Aida. It also returns to Perth for the second year in a row on 26 September with Carl Orff’s choral epic Carmina Burana.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ ChorusOz 2025. Photo © Keith Saunders

The English-language version of Haydn’s Creation will be performed at the Sydney Opera House stage on 4 July, while Britten’s War Requiem gathers vocal forces from the Sydney Youth Orchestra and Conservatorium High School, performing alongside the Festival Chorus, on 17 October.

VOX, the Choirs’ young adult ensemble, celebrates 25 years in 2026 with World O World, featuring two performances in November at White Bay Power Station. Named after Jacob Collier’s work of the same name, the program includes music from Alice Chance, Aija Draguns, Eric Whitacre, Ēriks Ešenvalds and a new work from Dan Walker.

Elizabeth Scott, Associate Music Director, leads the program while celebrating 20 years working with the Choirs.

The Choirs offer two programs to celebrate the Christmas season in December with Handel’s Messiah sung at Sydney Opera House across 11–13 December, and Lessons and Carols (Sydney and Goulburn) on 18–19 December, featuring sing-along carols, the Chamber Singers and organist David Drury.

The Choirs will also bring back its Emerging Composer Awards and Conducting Fellowships in 2026, with the recipients to be announced in the coming months.

More about Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ 2026 season can be found here.