Lliane Clarke speaks to the emerging composers featured on Moorambilla Voices’ brand new Christmas album Yindyamarra.

For Moorambilla Voices’ Christmas CD, Yindyamarra: A Prospect of Peace, launched last Saturday in Dubbo Regional Theatre, Artistic Director Michelle Leonard commissioned seven Australian composers to draw on the contemporary and uniquely Australian Christmas experience. The songs are framed by the subjects of the traditional Ceremony of Carols – or the Seven Lessons. Three of those artists were emerging young women composers, at the very beginning of their creative careers.

“There’s a gap in the Australian choral music repertoire for children at Christmas – let’s face it many young people are still singing songs about snow! I love the idea of filling that gap with fresh repertoire,” says Leonard.

“And after 12 years, I felt it was time for Moorambilla Voices to make a recording, so I wanted to use this as an opportunity for Australian composers, which includes young women. I also wanted to share the beautiful and unique choral sound that our young, treble voices from regional Australia create. There is a beautiful moment when the children create a soundscape of bird calls. They are so good at it! They literally bring their...