The SCUNA Choir

The Australian National University Choral Society (SCUNA), has an established reputation for high quality performances, and is one of Canberra’s premier choirs. SCUNA’s Musical Director is Jonathan Powles, a conductor, composer and musicologist, who studied with Ross Edwards and Peter Sculthorpe.

Founded in 1963, the choir has performed both lesser known and more familiar masterpieces of the choral repertoire. Concerts in recent years have included Mozart's Grand Mass in C Minor, Fauré's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Rossini's Petite Messe Solemnelle, Rachmaninoff's Vespers, Requiems by Brahms, Duruflé and Mozart, and pieces by Bernstein, Britten, Byrd, Dvorák, Haydn, Pergolesi, Sculthorpe and Victoria. In the past four years, SCUNA has collaborated with the National Capital Orchestra in three major concerts: Beethoven's Symphony No.9, Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem and this year an all-Mozart performance culminating in the Requiem in which, according to the Canberra Times reviewer, SCUNA “excelled throughout.”

For the second half of 2010, SCUNA is planning a program of American and Australian works (including premieres of pieces by Ruth Lee Martin and Jonathan Powles) of music around the themes of migration and journeys. A Christmas concert in the Australian National Botanic Gardens will continue last year’s successful collaboration with the Gardens.

SCUNA’s membership draws from students, staff, alumni, friends of the ANU, and the wider Canberra community. SCUNA is affiliated with the ANU Students’ Association and is a member of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies’ Association (AICSA). The choir welcomes new members and is non-auditioned.

Rehearsals

Choir rehearsals are on each Wednesday 7-9:30pm.
Lecture Theatre 2, Manning Clark Centre, ANU. (Campus map building 26a)

New members are welcome any time! Just come along to rehearsal. If you're new and you're lost or unsure about anything ask any of the committe members, whom you will undoubtedly meet on your first night.

Rehearsals are generally followed by drinks at the Wig and Pen pub in Civic. Lifts home after rehearsal or after Pub can be arranged during the mid-rehearsal break.