Community Choir Brisbane | Queensland Show Choir

Our History

Since our inception, we have always had Community at the centre of everything we do. From humble beginnings, we used that core principle to develop the singing and performance skills of children and young adults providing them with joy and excitement.

1984

We started out as The Queensland Youth Choir. Modelled on The Singing Hoosiers, a pioneer show choir from the USA, QYC was founded by Robert Clark to train and provide an opportunity for young singers, aged 15-25 years, to develop as choral performers across a wide spectrum of musical styles.

1987

Seeing the need to provide a more specialised environment for younger kids wanting to experience music, an ensemble for younger kids, the Queensland Children’s Choir, was formed under the direction of Rhonda Coady. The ideals of this ensemble live on today in Poco Voci.

1992

In a similar way that the Queensland Children’s Choir was formed, the older members of QYC grouped and rebranded under another name, VoiceWorks allowing for a more challenging repertoire for the members .

2000 - 2009

Since then, and still under the name of Queensland Youth Choir, our choir has continued to grow. The parents of the many members formed a community choir for adults, Vox Populus, with an open age limit allowing for many more possibilities, like having 3 generations of the one family spread across different groups.

2009

Over the years, our choir community have performed at concerts, carols, launches, conventions and fetes. QYC marked its 25th year with a major concert in the QPAC Playhouse.

2011

We changed our name to the Queensland Show Choir and revised the names of our ensembles to reaffirm our artistic style and to acknowledge Vox Populus as part of our choir community. We had come to realise that we were More than Great Singing!

2024

As we look to our 40th year, we will celebrate with many people from the journey so far and we will take stock of where we have come from, and where we are going to ensure that we will be developing and providing music for the community for years to come.

Even though the name changed, the Queensland Show Choir’s priority and passion is still developing the singing and performance skills of children and young adults. QSC is also honoured to produce the annual Brisbane Sings show, which brings together hundreds of singers from dozens of choirs to perform at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

“I believe in the values of our organisation. It is inclusive. It is caring. It is family.” Daniel Crump, Former Artistic Director, Queensland Show Choir

QSC Alumni

The QSC/QYC has been the launching pad of choir of choice for many accomplished singers and performers including:

David Kidd

Co-Producer of Brisbane Sings and Tenori.

Tarita Botsman

International opera singer, director, writer and founder of The 7 Sopranos

Craig Allister Young

Cellist with QSO (Queensland Symphony Orchestra), MD for Brisbane Sings and Symphony for Tomorrow, Song-writer, Composer

Deborah Rogers

International opera singer, soloist, member of The 7 Sopranos

Jason Barry-Smith

Opera singer, voice teacher, choral arranger and conductor

Queensland Show Choir President’s Trophy

Since the Queensland Show Choir’s priority and passion is developing the singing and performance skills of children and young adults, one of our key annual events is President’s Trophy Night (PTN).

The first PTN was created by Queensland Youth Choir (QYC) founder Robert Clark in 1987. The first winner was Andrea Gallagher, sister of Simon Gallagher, and it was held in the Windsor Community Hall. This was envisaged as a one-off event, but was eventually repeated a few years later and has became an annual event in the QYC, and later, Queensland Show Choir’s calendar ever since.

PTN is where our younger members get to perform, have fun and develop artistically, in a safe environment in either solo or small group acts. The event is run in a talent quest format with members performing in heats, usually to a smaller audience with finalists selected to compete on finals night (PTN). Finalists are grouped into categories and judged on performance and musicianship and are given constructive feedback to further their growth. As well as prizes and trophies in each of the categories, the overall winner is awarded the President’s Trophy, a perpetual trophy, proudly on display in our rehearsal space.

There has been a varied line-up of judges over the years – including various members of the Queensland Parliament, the Theatre Industry and leading figures in the Arts Community, however in recent years we have opted for musical professionals to ensure the level of mentoring is the most beneficial for our young members.