The Consort of Melbourne

The power and beauty of human voices in perfect harmony

The Consort of Melbourne is an elite vocal ensemble that champions both historic and contemporary repertoire, comprising a core membership of eight of Melbourne’s finest chamber singers under the artistic direction of Steven Hodgson.

Typically performing a capella (unaccompanied) with one singer per part, The Consort of Melbourne brings 1000 years of vocal music to life with an intimacy and verve that leaves audiences spellbound. Our concert programmes include celebrated masterpieces heard alongside rarely-heard musical gems, exploring the full expressive potential of the human voice.

The Consort is an extremely versatile ensemble and, although we usually appear as an octet, we have performed at smaller venues and functions as a vocal quartet and at larger venues as a choir of up to 30 singers. The Consort has presented a regular concert series at Melbourne Recital Centre for many years, and has also been invited to collaborate with groups such as the Rolling Stones, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, the Song Company, La Compañia and Spiritualized.

Since its establishment in 2008, The Consort of Melbourne has continued to engage the concert-going public with fresh and exciting performances in a wide range of genres. It has featured on ABC Classic FM on frequent occasions, including a broadcast of works by Percy Grainger and also Claudio Monteverdi's famous Vespers of 1610.

Our Story

The Consort of Melbourne was founded in 2008 by Peter Tregear and Warren Trevelyan-Jones. It is inspired by the best European musical traditions, to which it brings a uniquely Australian freshness and vitality. The Consort gave its debut performance in September 2008 as part of Musica Viva Australia's Menage series. In 2009 it was invited to present a series of five concerts at the new Melbourne Recital Centre.

In 2011 the Consort made its debut at the Melbourne Festival with the Kronos Quartet giving the Australian premiere of Terry Riley's Sun Rings to critical acclaim. In 2012 the Consort opened the musical programme of the Festival with a series of performances of Dietrich Buxtehude's cantata cycle Membra Jesu Nostri, accompanied by specially commissioned photographic projections in St Paul’s Cathedral. In 2013 Consort performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in The Crowd, a collaboration between the ACO artistic director Richard Tognetti and cinematographer Jon Frank. 2014 saw the Consort backing the Rolling Stones at Rod Laver arena for their On Fire tour. In 2017, Consort appeared alongside British 'space-rock' band Spiritualized for Arts Centre Melbourne's Supersense festival, and with drag legend Taylor Mac for A 24-decade history of popular music, the headline act for the Melbourne Festival.