About Leichhardt Espresso Chorus
The LEICHHARDT ESPRESSO CHORUS is a non-auditioned choir of 80 from Sydney's inner west. As the inaugural winner of the national music in communities award, state runner up in the ABC Classic FM choir of the year competition and choir in residence for the Australian music festival Moorambilla, we are redefining the capacity of community choirs.
We foster new Australian choral music by commissioning local composers and we promote the value of choral music (especially to remote communities and children) through an extensive performance and touring schedule, including workshops and joint projects.
Each year we run concerts, with orchestra, featuring major works from the traditional choral repertoire (recently Bernstein, Bach, Handel, Orff and Mozart), as well as championing "new works" concerts in leading venues and recording for ABC radio – notably Sunday Live. These "new works" concerts have recently featured Walker, Gordon, Leek, Whitwell, Byrne, Jarman, Schultz and others. We have created "Carols on Norton" (a free outdoor event for the choir with full orchestra, children's choir and lantern parade that is now in its 7th year) as a vehicle for community celebration at Christmas.
Since its inception in 1998 the choir has been led by artistic director Michelle Leonard. We are currently accompanied by Luke Byrne.
