de Vilder’s choir sings in a wave of change

Music and song have always heralded changing times.

Sting’s music helped tear down the iron curtain, jazz paved the way for rock and roll and The Beatles sang in the shifting sands of the ’60s. 

Now a new wave of musical change makers is emerging from the hardships of the world’s recent experiences. 

Avoca-based composer Yantra de Vilder has hit a high note with her Ephemeral Choir at this year’s 50th Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, held on Saturday, May 20. 

The choir was undoubtedly the musical highlight of the counter-culture festival, first held in 1973. 

The choir’s original songs called Credo were composed by de Vilder during the pandemic and the following floods.

They sing of the hardship, isolation, division and the ultimate rise and unity of people and communities affected. 

The Ephemeral Choir was originally assembled by de Vilder prior to the lockdown. 

She held practices at her Avoca studios with an eclectic mix of singers.

In 2022 the choir and accompanying musicians opened the 5 Lands Walk.

They later performed in various locations around Sydney, often as part of de Vilder’s other initiative Pianos for the People—a project which restores old pianos and places them in public places in need of musical rejuvenation. 

The Ephemeral Choir now has a branch in Mullumbimby, where de Vilder has a studio.

Choir members from the Central Coast and Northern Rivers joined together in the old Presbyterian Church in Nimbin to perform.

De Vilder was on her mini-grand piano playing, leading the choristers accompanied by a themed light projection show.

The capacity crowd was carried through the narrative of the songs, collectively called Credo, toward the crescendo of the song Freedom.

The crowd burst into spontaneous applause and foot-stomping as if heralding in the transition of a new age.

David Abrahams