Southern Stars and Western Skies – Modern Classics from America and Australia

FOUR CHOIRS FESTIVAL 2026

Over several decades, every second year, the Murray Concert Choir from Albury-Wodonga, the Beechworth Singers and Vocal Dimension, Wangaratta combine to perform major concert works, usually with an orchestra, as the Three Choirs Festival. These bigger concerts allow the individual choirs to perform major works that would normally be outside their usual concert’s capacity.
Recent festivals have included Handel’s Messiah in 2019 and Gloria, featuring settings by Vivaldi and John Rutter in 2023.
This year, as an exciting bonus, our former musical director, Patti Graetz, is bringing her current choir and musicians from Phoenix, Arizona, on tour to Australia and joining with our three choirs to create the Four Choirs Festival, now with an international flavour!

Appropriately, the concert repertoire will consist of pieces by Australian and American composers. A wide variety of music in different styles will be performed for local audiences in Albury-Wodonga and Wangaratta. Among the Australian composers to be featured will be two from Albury: Daniel Brinsmead, with his beautiful suite
“The Firebird,” and Paul Tasker, whose setting of Henry Kendall’s poem, “Sutherland’s Grave,” will be premiered at the festival.
A combined choir of over 130 singers and a full orchestra of 45 musicians will impress all music lovers with their quality performances of some great music.