Community
5 February, 2026
The biggest performance yet
COOINDA’S talented choir will join the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a one-night-only performance at one of the nation’s most iconic stages.
Choir members John Ongley, Chris Pratt, Helena Drake, Rowan Stevens, Ray Urban and Anne Small (choir member who will be unable to attend the performance) have been practicing ahead of a Friday, February 13 performance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl – with a capacity crowd of up to 10,000 expected.
The group will be part of the Find Your Voice Collective (FYVC), bringing a 170-member choir together with orchestral musicians for a program of original contemporary works developed over 12 months of collaboration.
Songs and stories celebrating the full spectrum of emotion and experience sit at the heart of the night, a body of work drawn from ten songwriters and artists who identify with disability alongside four world-leading composers and an extraordinary collective of performers.
Every element of the program reflects the depth, complexity and beauty of shared humanity.
Cooinda disability support worker Clare Neal said participants had been involved with FYVC from the very beginning in 2017.
“It initially began with Tom Richardson, one of the directors of the collective, who came along to a meeting at Cooinda and asked if we would like to be involved,” she said.
“Our group put their hands up and have been involved ever since – with our first performance in 2018 at the Lighthouse Theatre for the Rotary Peace Concert.
“It was so successful the Port Fairy Folk Festival approached for us to perform, and we’ve done it frequently since then.
“These guys are so dedicated – they go to choir after working all day to head out to Warrnambool for a few hours to rehearse.
“They learn lots of songs, perform with famous people and now they’re even working on their own original songs – so it’s a very professional outfit.”
Mrs Neal said the participants have made a name for themselves as the original start up group, honing their skills over the years while also building lasting friendships.
All of which has led to next Friday’s performance, taking to the stage in front of an international audience with up to 10,000 people in the crowd.
“It’s almost unbelievable,” Mrs Neal said.
“Once we stand on stage next Friday at our rehearsals it might kick in then, looking out off the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and knowing we made it.
“This was a dream – we have a connection with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra who saw how far we’ve come and wanted to work closer with us.
“They don’t just do things like that but they’re doing that with us, so we’re very privileged but we’ve also worked very hard to reach the standards that they need but we’re definitely going to put on a huge show.”
FYVC unites more than 250 people from over a dozen south west Victorians into one collective voice, welcoming all ages, genders, abilities, ethnicities, sexual preferences, religions and backgrounds.
Through art, education and advocacy, FYVC offers allyship to people with lived experience of disability, creating space not just to participate, but to lead, shape and be heard.
Alongside this landmark performance, FYVC continues to expand its creative ecosystem through Find Your Voice Records, the collective’s newly established label supporting disabled and neurodivergent regional artists from development through to recording, release and promotion.
In 2026, the label will release its inaugural catalogue, including new music from Triple J Unearthed feature artist GK and Julian Paterson.