Big acts headline the Festival of Voices' return to Launceston

The well known winter festival now in its 18th year has typically been held in Hobart and came to Launceston for the first time in 2022.

This year the festival includes a collaboration between The Australian Voices and the City of Launceston choir Vox Harmony.

It also brings back Wine Country, the Dolly Parton Singalong at Josef Chromy Winery, in Relbia.

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Launceston resident Stephen Leek, co-founder and long-time conductor of The Australian Voices, said he was pleased to see the choir performing as part of the Festival of Voices.

Mr Leek, who has been described as "the father of contemporary choral music in Australia said he was looking forward to The Australian Voices performing some of his compositions.

The Australian Voices, which celebrates its 30th anniversary, will perform at Holy Trinity Church on July 5. The choir is led by Brisbane-based composer and conductor John Rotar.

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Denise Sam, musical director of local choir Vox Harmony said that it was "incredible on many different levels" to be performing with The Australian Voices.

"From my perspective, it's a professional development opportunity to work with a group and the conductor of that calibre. But for the choir it exposes us to a different style of music and it challenges us," she said.

Vox Harmony is the City of Launceston's choir and performs regularly at official events. It has been active for 15 years and sings a wide variety of music.

Ms Sam said the chance to sing "beautiful Australian music " was the "most exciting thing" about the festival.

Some of the pieces that they'll be performing "have a really Australian sound to them," she said.

"We're not used to hearing that and so audiences love that, when they hear that unique Australian sound.

"There's a lot of twang in the sound and you can imagine the landscape when the sound is created."

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"There are many famous choirs around the world but Australia is starting to fly the flag in that regard now and starting to be considered as a nation that does produce beautiful choral sounds," Ms Sam said.

"It's taken us a long time to get to that point."

While choral festivals tend to attract a narrow range of people, she hopes that broad range of audiences will be drawn to the event.

Audiences are "always overwhelmed by the beautiful sound that can be made by the human voice," she said.

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