$30,000 gift sweet music

LOUISE NUNN 

A RETIREE turned arts benefactor has donated $30,000 to help community choirs and establish a website to sell their music around the world.

Val Kilgour, of Hallett Cove, is behind Choralworks Inc, a not-for-profit organisation raising money to commission major new choral works and their first performances.  A music lover who says she has experienced the healing power of singing with other people, Kilgour dug deep to help community choirs.  

“My driving force is that I absolutely believe in the healing and motivational aspects of singing in a group,” she said.  “My own experiences have shown me it’s extremely inspirational, but we’ve also seen this with groups like the Choir of Hard Knocks, and I know that community singing is helping a lot of people struggling in rural areas.”

Kilgour joined a choir when her husband died and she lost her job in the mid-1990’s.  She created Choralworks Inc. in 2007 to address issues of cost and copyright that make major new works very difficult for community groups to access.  Choralworks’ first commission, Adelaide composer Timothy Sexton’s Songs for a Distant Land, will have its premiere in September.

Kilgour said Choralworks Inc. would be relying on donations and sponsorship to achieve its objectives. “The idea is to encourage contemporary composers to write major new works for community groups” she said.  “We also want to encourage more young people to join in and reap the benefits that can flow from being part of a community choir.”

Tax-deductable donations to Choralworks Inc. can be made through AbaF (Australia Business Arts Foundation) at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For more information about Choralworks Inc. go to www.choralworksinc.com

(This article written by Louise Nunn was published in the Advertiser, Saturday 11 April 2009)