Australian Chamber Choir
The Australian Chamber Choir was founded by Douglas Lawrence in July 2007.
During its first five years, the choir undertook three concert tours of Europe and three Australian national tours. Those tours included 48 engagements in established concert series and festivals in Germany, France, Denmark and Poland. In 2011, the ACC gave the opening concert of the Bach Organ Festival in the church where JS Bach was Cantor for 27 years, St Thomas, Leipzig, followed by a Sunday morning Motet service.
The choir has received high praise for its performances of Bach from audiences and critics alike. The choir’s 2013 European concert tour includes several return invitations, Leipzig among them: they perform in Berlin and Hamburg, in the cathedrals of Meissen, Freiberg and Ribe, and at five festivals in Denmark and Poland.
In addition to performing historical masterworks, the choir is committed to performance of new work by Australian composers, which are included in most of its concert programs.
Press quotes
Conductor Douglas Lawrence has created an ensemble that sings with utmost precision and utmost sensitivity, possessing a perfectly balanced choral sound.
… phenomenal: flawless intonation, superb uniformity, perfect tonal balance, astounding dynamic range and sleek voice-leading.
Australian Chamber Choir is featured on the following titles
Bach Motets
The Australian Chamber Choir, directed by Douglas Lawrence, performs motets by J.S. Bach with works by Johann Michael Bach and Johann Christoph Bach.
Gold
The Australian Chamber Choir, directed by Douglas Lawrence, performs works by eight Australian composers. From Gordon Kerry’s Shakespeare setting to Malcolm Williamson’s English Eccentrics, the programme turns individual voices into pure gold.
Producer
Keys to Heaven
The Australian Chamber Choir opens with the first recording of Agata della Pietà’s cantata Ecce nunc, written in eighteenth-century Venice by an orphan of the Ospedale della Pietà and reconstructed by Elizabeth Anderson. Sacred works by Palestrina and Allegri complete the programme.
A Baroque Christmas
The music on this CD is a historical Christmas “pick of the pops”, from the late 1400s to the end of the Baroque period. Directed by Douglas Lawrence, the Australian Chamber Choir offers a programme recorded live in concert during their 2019 European tour. The 17 tracks are drawn from lesser-known seasonal works, championing a sublime repertoire that is all too often neglected.
Soul
Douglas Lawrence OAM leads the Australian Chamber Choir through sacred music spanning Renaissance polyphony, early Baroque splendour and African-American spirituals.
Producer
Members of Australian Chamber Choir
Douglas Lawrence
Melbourne organist Douglas Lawrence is Director of Music at The Scots' Church and Teacher of the Organ at the University of Melbourne. He founded the Choir of Ormond College and directed it from 1982 to 2006.