Who are we?
Strange Weather Choir is a local community choir in Canberra consisting of around 40 singers whose passion for music inspires and moves audiences. Our unique sound and exuberance have seen the choir grow to become popular across the Canberra region. Our love for singing is infectious and our broad repertoire is sure to connect with a broad range of audiences.
We believe that anyone interested in making music is capable of singing if given the opportunity, proper training and support. The ability to read music is not required.
Our members are people from all walks of life; young adults to retirees. What unites our diverse members is not culture, gender, sexual orientation or faith but simply our love of singing together in a supportive environment.
We are supported by an incredibly talented team:
Our Musical Director is Daniel Bennett.. Dan is an accomplished Choir Director, his passion and musical talent ensures our rehearsals are focussed and our performances are schmick! You can read more about Dan here.
Our Assistant Musical Director and accompanist is Lucus Allerton. Lucus is incredibly talented and brings his energy and enthusiams to our rehearsals and performances. You can read more about Lucus here.
Where did our name come from?
Our name was created from the titles of two great jazz/blues classics—Strange Fruit, a haunting Billie Holiday song and Stormy Weather, a Lena Horne bluesy torch number about love gone wrong.
What kind of music do we perform?
We perform a wide variety of music, both accompanied and unaccompanied. Our songbook spans all genres of music including folk, contemporary, gospel and Australian songs.
Where do we perform?
We perform at a variety of events and festivals around Canberra and the region. We pride ourselves on our strong community spirit with our committment to charity and community performances. Some of our recent performance highligts includes:
- National Folk Festival 2023 (and in 2022 and 2019) - we were privileged to have the Australian band The Maes in the audience in 2022 to hear our rendition of their beautiful song 'Head Over Heels'
- Performances at Smtihs Alternative, Hall Christmas Carols, St Johns Community Fair, the National Gallery of Australia, the Moruya Jazz Festival, Old Parliament House, Wagga Wagga Jazz Festival, the National Museum of Australia, the High Court of Australia (and more)
- Fundraising concerts at the High Commission of Botswana
- The Australian National Eisteddfod
- Placing second in the Sacred Section in 2016, being awarded best Multicultural Performance in the Australian Choral Challenge
- We broke our own audience record when we performed our ‘Coming of Age’ concert in front of well over 700 people at Llewellyn Hall
- For more information on our upcoming performances, please refer to the Events Calendar.
Benefits of being Strange Weather member
- Be welcomed by a group of likeminded music lovers
- Meet new people and make new friends
- Sing some wonderful songs with a great group of people
- Learn music and develop singing skills through weekly rehearsals
- Perform with an energetic group at a variety of special events and cool venues
- Access online resources to help you learn the music, including audio files of your part
- Enjoy singing with a community of people who love singing!
