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WARM WINTER SONGS, JUNE 2024

Our annual "Warm Winter Songs" concert has been and gone, with great satisfaction that we are still able to fill the house of over 100 and put on a very entertaining concert. We have grown in number over recent years, and this gives rise to an increase in the quality of the sound we are able to fill the St James hall, Drysdale with.
Quoting our MD Joy immediately after the event:
Very well done today.
You really did step up to provide happy, engaging entertainment for our capacity audience of over 100.
The audience was so appreciative and I hope you were able to hear that too. One supporter said he comes ‘cos he knows many choir members, but even if he didn’t have friends in the choir, he’d still attend because our singing is enjoyable and at a high standard.
Praise indeed.
Some memories of the event in the slideshow below.

CLAIRVAUX PRIMARY SCHOOL VISIT
24th May 2024

Following a very happy and successful sing with the Clairvaux Catholic Primary School students in 2023, we were invited back again to sing both to, and with the school's choir, made up of children from all year levels.
In a message to the Clairvaux school community, music teacher Sarah Ferguson (daughter of our member Anne), issued an invitation for parents to join in as part of the audience for this concert:
Come along to support this intergenerational event that celebrates the joy of singing at any age!
A few photos of the event below.

WINTER CONCERT 2023

It was with great anticipation that we awaited our "Warm Winter Songs" concert at St James after a long build-up of rehearsals and preparation for our final performance/get-together for the semester. With probably our largest choir since our beginnings, we were delighted to see a full house of over 100 in the audience - not that we needed any further motivation to perform at our very best. With our Musical Director and MC Joy introducing our songs and interacting with our enthusiastic audience, it was a memorable occasion for our members, and our reward was the enthusiastic appreciation of our large audience.
A wonderful day for the Coryule Chorus!
Below is a slide show of the occasion.

SEA SHANTY SPECTACULAR

We were honoured to be invited by the professional touring group, "The Shanties" to sing with them at their Potato Shed, Drysdale performance on Saturday evening, 4th March, 2023. With a couple of months notice to learn the chorus parts to their main attraction, "The Wellerman", and several rehearsals with their charismatic musical director, Elisha, we were ready, willing and able to support the Shanties during the 2nd half of their concert. After performing two of our own songs, we then supported them in The Wellerman, with most enthusiastic encouragement from the audience. It was a unique, exciting experience for us all. Below is a video and some photos of the occasion.

WE'LL WELCOME CHRISTMAS IN - 2022

Our final performance for 2022 happened in conjunction with St Andrews Uniting Church on Sunday, December 11th at their church hall. A full house prevailed, and were entertained with a concert of Christmas songs, both old and new, sung to a quality that many believe was our best ever! Certainly, the audience openly enjoyed both the serious singing, and their participation in some of the more well-known carols.
Below are some comments received following the performance. Also below is a slideshow of photos taken on the day, and the video "Rise up Shepherd" is in the Video page.

“The Concert was beautiful, Joy was awesome and Annette was brilliant”.
My friend is one of Annette’s art students who had not heard her sing before, attended with her 94 year old mother.
“We both got a little teary as it was so lovely “

“Hi Joy a great concert, thank you and the choir for the gift you gave us all. Vicki’

Bece wrote: “my Jane was full of praise for the quality of the choir and also for the variety of the program plus all the audience involvement.”

"Can I add my congratulations too, to the choir, for such an inspirational concert performance on Sunday?
I do love four-part harmony, and it was wonderful to hear those harmonies, - especially during passages where the instruments stopped playing and the choir sang unaccompanied!
It is a privilege to join with Bece and provide instrumental support for such a committed and enthusiastic group of choristers.
Thank you Joy, and thank you everyone!" Jean

"Thanks Joy, what a sensational concert it was. A true reflection of your diligence, skill, and hard work.
I found myself tearing up on two occasions during the concert - a bit hard to sing while choking back emotion. Also a bit hard to wipe tears away whilst wearing glasses ☺
I was sitting next to Bob and was in awe that, as a 92-year-old, he gave such a marvelous rendition of Rudolph. I've got 10 years to catch up to him so maybe there's hope for me yet.
Like Jean, I really enjoyed the harmony and am proud to be a member of the Coryule Chorus.
Bring on 2023!" Michael

PORTARLINGTON PROBUS GIG 2022

On Wednesday, 19th October we performed for the Portarlington Bayview Probus Club in the Portarlington Demons Football/Netball clubrooms to around 70 Probus club members. We had 7 Choir members who are also members of the Probus club, they being Bob Ball, Hetty Anbeek, Lindsay Noss, Peter Drew, Dorothy McColl, Marg Manning and Rob Casey.
A great time was had by all, with several choir members joining the Probus members for lunch after the gig.
Below are some photos and a video of this occasion.

WINTER CONCERT 2022

After 2 long years of not singing to our audiences, Coryule Chorus held a "comeback" concert singing to a packed house at St James’ Anglican Hall.
The concert theme was Music From Around The World and the choir presented songs from Scotland, England, Ireland, USA, New Zealand and Australia. They also sang a moving rendition of a Ukrainian Kyrie in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
Musical Director, Joy Porter also included songs that highlighted the futility of war and a call for shelter and inclusion for those seeking refugee and asylum.

We were ably accompanied by Bernice Norman on flute and our guest pianist Ingrid Austin who has travelled each week from the Mornington Peninsula to rehearse with us. New choir member Heather Lawrence also accompanied the 4-part quartet and soprano soloist Annette Playsted.

The choir welcomed a number of new choir members singing in their first Coryule concert and look forward to many more performances with them into the future.
Choir members deemed it a truly wonderful time to be singing again to an appreciative full house.
Some photographic memories from this day are in the slideshow below.

SINGING FOR PEACE
Palm Sunday, 10th April, 2022

With the invasion of Ukraine uppermost in people's minds, Coryule Chorus decided to support a project for Melbourne choirs to work together to call for peace through song. Below is a photographic summary of our meeting at the iconic Portarlington Rotunda for a publicity photo-shoot, and of our performance.

WE'RE BACK!!! - CHRISTMAS CONCERT 16TH DECEMBER 2021

What a joyous occasion for the Coryule Chorus on this day, our first public performance since before Covid 19 hit us in March last year. Whilst we are still social distancing and not able to have quite as many in our St James hall, we still filled every available chair plus some with members of a very appreciative audience. We performed some of the songs we learnt on Zoom that we have brushed up considerably since returning to face-to-face rehearsals, and some old favourites including a selection of Christmas music befitting of the occasion.
A photo summary is shown below.

COVID, CHOIR & CORYULE!

What a year for the Coryule Chorus ...... Our final "normal" Choir rehearsal was held in March 2020, and little did we know that it would be our last "normal" rehearsal for over 12 months! After getting together on Zoom for much of the remainder of 2020, we were at last able to meet in person, albeit singing socially distanced in masks, early in 2021. Whilst this was better than singing on Zoom, it was still very unfulfilling compared to unrestrained singing. However, on 22nd April, we finally took the plunge and had our first rehearsal unmasked, although still observing social distancing requirements. There was definitely an air of anticipation in the room as we sang so enthusiastically, Joy had to quieten us down! It was a double celebration as it was also one of our long-standing members, Bob Ball's 90th birthday and still in great voice!. Below are some photos of this first joyous occasion!

2019 CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Another very successful concert for the Coryule was held on Thursday November 28th at our now regular home base, the beautiful St James hall. This was our Christmas concert for 2019, where we sang a variety of Christmas carols and songs. A very enthusiastic and appreciative audience of approx 70 were in attendance, and the choir were in their very best form. Below is a slide show of the occasion.

SENIORS FESTIVAL 2019 CONCERT

The month of October each year has become synonomous with the celebration of our Seniors in the community. Our concert is one of the many activities put on both for and by Seniors across the State, and each year we get great support from our own local community at this event. With close to a full house, the choir sang with all its pent-up enthusiasm and skill to provide an appreciative audience with some great entertainment. Soloists were Annette Playsted and Bob Ball, with a quartet, a duet and a piano/flute number also mixed into the program. The afternoon concluded with the obligatory delicious afternoon tea, where the singers and audience intermingled in a lovely atmosphere. Re-live the occasion by viewing the slideshow below, courtesy of Yvonne Casey's photography.

OPEN REHEARSAL 2019

Following the success of our 2017 Open Rehearsal, we decided to put our format on the line again on June 27th 2019. Once again, we were able to attract a decent sized audience of around 50 to see and hear our MD, Joy put us through our paces with some of our well practised songs such as Shelter, Be Still My Soul, You Raise Me Up and Hallelujah, mixed in with some unfamiliar material and some round singing involving the audience. A highlight for both the choristers and the audience was the appearance of our guest accompanist, Frank de Rosso, filling in for our regular accompanist, Jean Badenhop, fresh from his recent Queens Birthday OAM for his services to music.
A well received afternoon tea was a fitting way to end the entertainment and our semester of music as we entered our 2 month break for the winter.
Thanks to Tim Robinson for the photos of the occasion below.

A NURSING HOME VISIT

One of the prime roles of a community choir such as Coryule is to visit the several Nursing Homes and Aged Care residences in our district and sing for them. The joy on the faces of the residents as we sing our songs for them is a joy to behold. This is why we sing!
The following slide show is of a recent visit to the new BUPA facility in Newcomb. Look closely at a few of the shots and you will see the bubbles we were blowing when we sang "I'm forever blowing bubbles"!

THREE CHOIR CONCERT
13th October 2018

Christian College Auditorium, Drysdale was the setting for the getting together of three choirs - the prestigious Sydney Welsh Choir, the Geelong Welsh Ladies Choir and our own Coryule Chorus. All proceeds , which totalled around $6500, was raised to be distributed to the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.
A very enthusiastic audience of around 300 took up almost every seat in the gallery. Each choir performed their own bracket of songs, and then just before interval, we all sang "Why We Sing" under the flamboyant direction of SWC conductor, Viv Llewellyn. After interval, all choirs together sang Calon Lan, Hallelujah, Cwm Rhondda and Go Now in Peace - a most uplifting experience for all concerned! We finished the program off with both the Welsh and Australian National Anthems.
A big thankyou and well done to our own Maurice Duffill, who was the inspiration, and did much of the hard work in putting this event together.
See and hear the 3 choir performance of "Hallelujah" on the video page of this website.

WARM WINTER SONGS 2018

Much anticipation for this performance following our workshop with Sally Wilson, and the hard work paid off as a great audience seemed to be very appreciative and generous with their applause after each of the songs. A few oldies, and some new work were put to the test, and all seemed to work out well. A few photos below to recall the day. A fund-raiser for St James.

ANZAC DAY 2018 at OCEAN GROVE

A beautiful morning greeted us for our performance at this year's ANZAC service at the Ocean Grove Cenotaph. Our performance included the moving "We will remember them" with Annette Playsted headlining some beautiful chorus harmonies during the laying of the wreaths.
All photographs courtesy of christinadewater.com

AUSTRALIA DAY 2018
at
SPRINGDALE ART EXHIBITION

Our annual Australia Day performance at Springdale in conjunction with the Art Exhibition co-ordinated by our own President/Soprano Annette Playsted.

RECORDING OF CHRISTMAS CD
20th JANUARY 2018

After several months of planning and preparation, the day of recording our Christmas CD, and the follow-up to our first CD, "SOFT RAIN", had arrived. The Christian College (Bellarine) auditorium was a first class venue for this event, and the floor was set up with microphones strategically placed to pick up the optimum voice levels within each of our SATB sections. Recording went from 10.00 am until 3.30 pm with a lunch break and a couple of tea breaks to keep us energised. A marathon effort by our sound engineer Adam Casey and his daughter/assistant Kendra, as well as our Musical Director, Joy Porter and musicians Elaine Holman (piano) and Bernice Norman (flute) inspired the rest of us to perform at our highest possible level. We eagerly await the release of the CD (yet to be titled).

BELLARINE CHORAL FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 15th OCTOBER 2017

The inaugural Bellarine Choral Festival was held at the Barwon Heads Community Hall on Sunday 15th October. Three choirs participated - Sing Australia - Geelong, Barwon Heads Chorale and our own Coryule Chorus. We all had a turn to present our own songs, and at the end of the concert, all three choirs took the stage together for a stirring rendition of "I Still Call Australia Home". An afternoon tea was provided for after the show by the Barwon Heads group. This was the first of, lets hope, an annual event getting together choirs from the Bellarine.

OPEN REHEARSAL - 1st June 2017

The Coryule Chorus opened its doors to the public at St James hall on Thursday 1st June, 2017, and were delighted with the response it received. About 50 visitors attended our rehearsal, and listened, joined in and applauded the choir as we went through our paces with warm-up routines and exercises, picked some of our showpieces apart, and learnt some new work. Of course, there were no complaints at the conclusion of the activities when we all came together for some delicious afternoon tea and a chat.
It was a very different but satisfying exercise as an alternative to the normal concert style presentation. Check out the photos (thanks to Tim Robinson) from the event below.

ANZAC CEREMONY AT OCEAN GROVE
25th April 2017

SENIORS FESTIVAL 2016
MUSIC LEAPS THE GENERATIONS
AT THE POTATO SHED, DRYSDALE
CORYULE CHORUS WITH NEWCOMB SECONDARY COLLEGE SENIOR BAND

On Thursday 6th October, the Coryule Chorus were excited to be able to perform at the Potato Shed, Drysdale with the Newcomb Secondary College Senior Band.

MUSIC IN THE AIR
15th June 2016

AUSTRALIA DAY 2016

The closing of the Springdale Art Show was the setting for our Australia Day performance. A more creative arrangement of the choir's positioning amongst the exhibits was a hit, and surprised us all with the accoustically better sound we seemed to be able to generate. A few photos to commemorate the happy occasion, topped off with a coffee at the Zoo Cafe next door after the event. Slide show photographs courtesy of Ian Rollinson.

Trip to St Leonards UC, Brighton

This was a first! Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 was the day we did our first concert in Melbourne. Community buses were organised to get us there, and what a lovely Church we got to perform in! See for yourself below.

Drivers John and Tim herd us onto the buses.

Reminded us of school days.

Relaxing before the show.

Guess what Merilyn ... it's a camera!

How we look from above.

Elaine keeping us together.

Our appreciative audience.

That's us done for the day! (except for the encore of course!)

CD LAUNCH CONCERT
15th October 2015

St James Hall was the venue for the launch of our long-awaited, much anticipated CD, "SOFT RAIN". The concert featured all of the 10 songs on the CD, plus a few others, and was attended by an audience of around 75.

CD's for sale!!!

What we look like from the back row - a picture frame!

Team effort!

In full swing!

From another angle.

Who will buy from our lovely salesladies?

....... and almost a full house.

The architects of our CD: Cover design (Gillian), Sound Engineer (Adam) and Musical Director (Joy)

ST. ANDREWS UNITING CHURCH CONCERT
20th September 2015

A photographic record of our performance at St Andrews UC, Portarlington.

Ye shall have a song - without books!

No-one ever sits in the front row ..... ??

Heads down - grrrr!

What is Ian thinking??

Looks like we are "ooh" ing!

Our popular quartet.

And the band played ..... Moon River!

All done - time for a cuppa, and ........

Yummmmmm - cookies!!

Our mascots looking over us!

CD RECORDING DAY

Saturday, 20th June 2015 will go down as a huge day in the history of the Coryule Chorus. With 27 singers, 3 musicians, a musical director, sound engineer, a roadie, a photographer and 2 gophers, we all assembled at the impressive Christian College Auditorium in Drysdale set for what was to be a new and interesting experience for most of us. After Sound Engineer Adam Casey's mammoth task of setting up the room with a vast array of recording equipment, we recorded 10 songs, some requiring up to 3 takes for our CD. Thanks to Yvonne and Tim, below is a snapshot of the day.

In the foyer eagerly awaiting - what are we in for?

The grand piano miked up - the "no go" zone.

A photo of us being photographed!

Receiving the Engineer's instructions!

In full swing....

Our hot Lizzy wasn't going to get cold!

Our soaring sops - don't cry Meryn!

Our altos up close and personal.

Not too boofy please basses!

Katrina turns the pages very quietly!!

Adam - with his view from the top.

A great perspective of the day - from the control room.

Our tenors adding their part.

All the mic's in front of us - a bit scary!

Bece - our pocket rocket!

Here we all are - the Coryule Chorus!!

A grand experience for us all!

ANZAC DAY AT OCEAN GROVE, 2015

A memorable occasion on ANZAC day, 2015 at Ocean Grove, where we were invited to provide the music, along with the Newcomb Secondary College band, for the ceremony performed in front of approximately 3000 spectators. We led the singing of the three hymns, "Our God our help in ages past", "Abide with me" and "The Recessional", as well as our own performance of "Honour the Dead" performed during the official laying of the wreaths by the many dignitaries present. Below is a snapshot of the day.