Singers of Southern Tasmania Inc. (SoST) is a not-for-profit organisation of dedicated community musicians. Its primary purpose is to promote an interest in choral music and generate an atmosphere of camaraderie and wellbeing. 

SOST is a non-auditioned choir that encourages a sense of community inclusiveness while aspiring to high performance standards that reward both performers and audience alike. 

We believe that a love of music unites people in joy and harmony, and it nurtures and sustains the spirit of people in all walks of life, all levels of ability, and living in all kinds of environments.

I am proud to be patron of Singers of Southern Tasmania and delighted to provide this patron’s message for the new website. The SoST mission statement affirms a belief that “a love of music unites people in joy and harmony and it nurtures and sustains the spirit of people in all walks of life, all levels of ability, and living in all kinds of environments.”   A love of music is a precious gift. Like so many of you, from a very young age, music has enriched my life beyond measure and even to this day my love affair with music never stops.

I write this message to you on World Music Day 1 October 2020. World music day was initiated by Yehudi Menuhin in 1975.  It is organised by the International Music Council, the world’s largest network of organisations, institutions and individuals functioning in the field of music, to foster, like Singers of Southern Tasmania, access to culture for everyone and to establish global harmony through music.

It has been demonstrated over and over again during the course of the Covid 19 lockdowns, as we seek solace and reach out in kindness to each other, that music is one of the greatest unifiers of humanity. There are those who would argue that music, in particular singing, is intrinsic to human existence and that love and music are inherently related because music happens in that place where intellect and heart converge in the human spirit.

So, as patron, I thank you, Singers of Southern Tasmania, for giving your love music to others. I commend and congratulate you on fostering the innate human aptitude to engage with music, this most precious of gifts, by promoting an interest in choral music and the joy of singing, and encouraging “a sense of community inclusiveness while aspiring to high performance standards that reward performers and audience alike.” A wonderful service to our community.

Frances Underwood
1 October 2020.

Matt Anning (Conductor and Choral Director)

Matt Anning has directed Singers of Southern Tasmania since 2015.  He has prepared the choir to participate in Festival of Voices every year for works including Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion; Cherubini’s Requiem;  Mendelssohn’s Elijah;  Brahms’ A German Requiem and Haydn’s Creation. 

Matt has also led the choir though performances including Handel’s Messiah, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Faure’s Requiem, works by Rutter, Forrest, Taverna, Britten and many others.   

Hans Kooij (Accompanist and Concert Director)

Hans Kooij studied piano at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music during the early 1990’s.  Subsequently he worked as repetiteur and accompanist for several companies and institutes including Queensland Ballet Company, Queensland Lyric Opera, Sydney Dance Company, Queensland Dance School of Excellence, Victorian College of the Arts, Brisbane College of Advanced Education and Royal Academy of Dance.  In the late 1990’s he moved to Tasmania to continue his studies at the UTAS Conservatorium of Music, where he graduated with Honours in 1998.  During that same year he presented the  Australian premiere of the complete works for piano by Dutch composer Willem Pijper, which was also recorded for ABC Classic FM.

For the past 2 decades Hans has worked as choral conductor and accompanist for several local choirs including Sing Australia and Singers of Southern Tasmania, as swell as numerous school choirs.  He has also conducted several musicals and concerts including Sweeney Todd at Hobart College, and Carmina Burana with the Derwent Symphony Orchestra.  Currently Hans teaches piano at Dominic College, as well as privately and continues to work as a conductor and accompanist with several community groups.

Outside the rehearsal schedule, Ruth Lawry generously offers  her time and expertise for each voice type as a means to consolidate and revise what has been learnt in the previous rehearsal.