Our Story

The Cantabile Choir is a 25-voice female choir from Canterbury College , a co-educational Anglican college located at Waterford, Queensland. Girls within this ensemble range in age from thirteen to seventeen and entry is through audition only. Established in 1993, The Cantabile Choir started to develop a reputation for excellence throughout the local choral community, competing in several competitions and eisteddfods. In 1998 the choir was undefeated in both major state choral competitions, the Tropicarnival Eisteddfod on the Gold Coast and the 'A – Grade’ section of the Australian Academy of Music Choral Competition. The Cantabile Choir were then invited to perform at the Sydney International Choral Festival in both 1998 and 1999, a highlight of their participation in this festival being their performance at the Sydney Opera House in July, 1999.

In February, 2000 The Cantabile Choir auditioned and were accepted to compete at the Vienna Youth and Music Festival. The Cantabile Choir competed amongst an extensive field of female choirs from countries including China, Hong Kong, USA, Australia, Romania, Iceland, Canada, Croatia and Denmark and the ensemble was awarded Third Place overall – an incredible achievement for such a young choir.

After their return from Vienna, The Cantabile Choir was invited to perform for the Australian Prime Minister, the Honourable John Howard, when he visited Queensland in 2000. The Cantabile Choir was also invited to perform at the Opening Ceremony of the Goodwill Games in Brisbane and was awarded “Most Outstanding Secondary School Choir” at the Gold Coast Tropicarnival Eisteddfod in September 2001.

In October, 2002, The Cantabile Choir travelled to Busan, Korea to compete in the Second World Choir Olympics, the largest choral competition in the world which attracted over 350 choirs, involving over 15,000 participants. The Cantabile Choir was the only choir to represent Australia at the World Choir Olympics and they were awarded fifth place in the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices section within the Olympic Qualifying competition.

In November 2003, The Cantabile Choir was invited to perform at the National Gospel Happening in Canberra, an enormous festival that attracts performers of Christian music from across the nation and overseas. The Cantabile Choir performed at several events throughout the festival including the opening Yamaha Celebrity Gospel Concert in St Christopher’s Cathedral, where they providing backing vocals for celebrity performers including Roma Waterman, Vika and Linda, Kamahl and acclaimed gospel singer Francine Bell. Other performances included the Australian Gospel Music Industry Awards, performing for the Parliamentary Leaders at Parliament House and also a performance at the National Art Gallery.

In 2004 The Cantabile Choir competed again at the Third World Choir Olympics held in Germany. This time, the event involved nearly 20,000 singers from 84 countries. The Cantabile Choir competed in three sections of the competition and were awarded Three Silver Medals for Australia, becoming the first Australian choir to ever be awarded a Choir Olympic medal.

In recognition of their international reputation and musical achievements, the girls in the The Cantabile Choir Choir were appointed as Honorary Ambassadors for Queensland Tourism by the State Minister for Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine, Mrs Margaret Keech in 2004. They are the first school-based group to ever be awarded this honour. They also received personal letters of congratulations for their achievements from the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr John Howard.

Towards the end of 2004, The Cantabile Choir were invited to perform the theme song Beyond the Sea at the launch of Gold Coast Tourism’s ‘Very GC’ Campaign, held at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast.

Highlights of The Cantabile Choir’s 2005 performance year included singing the US and Australian National Anthems at an International Basketball Event, entertaining over 400 guests at the annual Three Codes Football Gala Dinner at Wynnum-Manly Leagues Club and performing on behalf of Gold Coast Tourism during opening night celebrations for the Tourism Futures Conference at the Marriott Hotel, Gold Coast. The Cantabile Choir were also featured as ‘Spotlight Artists’ in the finale of Brisbane RiverFestival 2005. The concert, ‘Sing for Water’, held on the River Stage in front of an audience of several thousand, featured Kate Cerebrano as the special guest artist and was sponsored by Channel Nine.

The Cantabile Choir competed again in the Fourth World Choir Olympics (renamed World Choir Games) in July 2006 in China. Competing against hundreds of choirs from around the world, these talented girls not only won another Three Silver Medals for Australia but they were also invited to represent the entire Oceania region by performing at the Opening Ceremony. Their performance was before an audience of 8,000 and was broadcast live on Chinese television. (China 2006)

Other highlights in 2006 included: representing both Queensland Tourism and Gold Coast Tourism performing with Christine Anu at the Australian Tourism Awards, Gold Coast Convention Centre; featured on Channel 10’s ‘Toasted TV’; performing at ‘Opera in the Canefields’ with Opera Queensland; a performance with Australian Idol stars Dan England and Anne Robinson at the Cyclone Larry Concert in the Parklands and a performance at the Anglican Schools Conference.

In 2007, The Cantabile Choir continued their busy schedule and were engaged for numerous corporate dinners and special events including: their annual appearance at ‘Opera in the Canefields’ with Opera Queensland; a performance at a Breakfast for the Queensland Government Ministers as part of the State Labour Conference at Southbank; the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation Christmas in July event at the St Lucia Golf Club; the Barrier Reef Pools Conference at the Sheraton Mirage; the Beenleigh PCYC/Amp Dinner and the Cisco Retreat Dinner on Cooroy Mountain. A highlight of the The Cantabile Choir year was their “Voices from Heaven” concert, which featured special guests from Opera Queensland, which was held in the stunning St Mary’s Anglican Church, Kangaroo Point. (Recent Events)

The Cantabile Choir has continued to work in partnership with their Principal Sponsor, Buildev Development (Queensland) , performing at two major Buildev events in 2007. In July, The Cantabile Choir sang at the Official Opening of new Buildev city office performing for over 50 VIP guests, including ten Ministers from the Queensland Government and the now retired Premier of Queensland, The Honorable Peter Beattie. In September, The Cantabile Choir had the honour of performing for the Prime Minister of Australia, The Honourable John Howard M.P. at a boardroom dinner hosted by Buildev Development (Qld). This event was an exclusive invitation-only event, which was attended by Mr Howard (as Guest of Honour) and his Senior Policy Advisors; Buildev Development Director, Mr Craig Dowling; Buildev Business Relationship Manager, Mr Phil Kesby; Buildev Management Staff and VIP guests.

In June 2008, the Canterbury College Cantabile Choir was one of 16 choirs featured on Channel 7’s “Battle of the Choirs” television program. See our BOTC photos and video footage here.

In July 2008, the Canterbury College i>Cantabile Choir competed at the 2008 World Choir Games, held in Austria, where they won a GOLD medal for Australia. The Cantabile Choir competed in three sections of the World Choir Games, winning a Gold Medal in the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices Section; with several members of the international choir jury awarding the choir perfect scores of 10 out of 10. In addition, the choir received two Silver Medals in the Gospel Open and Popular Open sections of the competition and 2nd Place overall in the Vienna Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival.

In recognition of their international reputation and outstanding musical achievements, the Cantabile Choir was presented with the Keys to Logan City by Logan City Mayor, Pam Parker, in November 2008.