Gondwana Choirs bring their 2023 National Choral School to a joyous conclusion with Reimagine, performed by around 150 young singers and guest artists. An annual week-long summer intensive since 1997, the National Choral School was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed this summer, under the leadership of its founding Musical Director Lyn Williams and her team of conductors and pianists. The participating choirs this year comprise Gondwana Voices, a treble choir of 10–17 year olds, Gondwana Chorale, an SATB choir of 18–25 year olds, and Gondwana Novus, the junior treble choir of 10–14 year olds.

Gondwana Chorale and Equus, Reimagine, 2023. Photo © Lyn Williams

The singers are from every state and territory of Australia and are joined by The Djari Project from Darwin, Equus, led by Bukhchuluun Ganburged, a Mongolian folk singer, and an instrumental ensemble. The style of the evening’s music transcends time and place and is best appreciated by discarding the lens of traditional Western music.

The first bracket of music centres around Mongolian folksongs performed by Sydney-based ensemble Equus and Gondwana Chorale. Ganburged is a respected exponent of harmonic overtone singing and of the Morin...