Choir

Choir

The Auroville Choir has become a well appreciated presence and pleasure in the Auroville society and continues to grow and mature.

Nuria, its director, tells us the following:

I first took up the direction of the choir in 1993, after of two years of working with Aurovilian Pushkar who had initiated the choir. I had no previous experience in conducting and the group at that time (23 members) consisted mainly of beginners. Together we started a learning process, and during the first two years I worked mainly from my own experience as a singer, as well as the from knowledge I had gained from my studies. At the time I wasn't planning to continue this work, I would just keep the choir going until someone else would come and take over.

However, having started to acquire books and other materials on conducting, I begun to very much enjoy the work. Furthermore, different professionals in the field had come and given workshops for the choir, and I learned a lot from them and started getting more and more into it..

Today the choir has 40 members and has reached a pretty good level. My conducting also has advanced and by now there is a real unity and harmony among the members of the group. This is an enriching and gratifying outcome for which I feel very thankful.

In December last year we performed a challenging piece entitled 'New Year's Music' composed by Swedish composer Johannes Janson. For the first time the choir performed in combination with an Auroville orchestra. The venture was a great success and we performed several times over the new year period.

CHILDREN'S CHOIR

The Children's Choir started in 1995. The children had just finished working during the holiday period with Holger on one of his compositions, the opera 'Beyond Sleep and Awake'. During the rehearsals and performances of the opera a real group had formed, so I suggested we go further with the singing and the children happily agreed. Since then the group has gone through many different phases and changes, forcing me to continually change the type of music. Today, the group counts 26 children ranging from 8 to 14 years. They remain very enthusiast in their singing and participation, and it's a joy to work with them.