The Manning Valley Choral Society (MVCS) is celebrating its Ruby Anniversary this year, marking 40 years of music-making that has taken choristers from church halls to shopping centres across the region.
The choir was officially formed in 1986 by Mr Kevin Mills, a Taree-born tenor who went on to perform with the Australian Opera Company. He merged two local choirs, known together as the Greater Taree City Choral Society, into a single group focused on spiritual and classical works, cantatas and formal SATB arrangements.
By 1989, the choir was ready for something bigger. Mr Mills and the choir staged “The King and I” with a double cast, with more than 100 participants appearing on stage nightly.
The 1990s saw the choir revive the Music Hall genre, travelling to local halls to bring music directly to audiences. Easter and Christmas programmes featured more formal, reverent works such as Maunder and Handel, while Gilbert and Sullivan excerpts, including HMS Pinafore, Trial By Jury, The Gondoliers and The Mikado, became popular fixtures that remain part of the repertoire today.
In 1996, the choir was renamed the Manning Valley Choral Society, better reflecting the geographical spread of its choristers and audiences beyond Taree. Two years later, in 1998, the choir began sponsoring the winner of the 16 Years and Under Championship at the Taree and District Eisteddfod, a tradition that continues today and encourages young people to pursue singing and performing.
The 2000s brought a shift towards modern composers such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and tributes to global music. The choir also staged the world premiere of a radio play and musical melodrama, “Black Coffee”, featuring the songs of Irving Berlin. The show was the brainchild of one of the MVCS stalwarts and proved popular enough that similar programmes followed, introducing audiences to the music of Gershwin, Porter and Kern.
The choir found new momentum from 2010, as television shows such as Glee and the Pitch Perfect films sparked a broader resurgence in choral singing. MVCS diversified into more contemporary arrangements and popular pieces, adding themed and heritage music, tributes to the Beatles and the 1960s, and songs made famous by animation. This year, the choir has returned to the origins of vocalising, with a season built around folk singing.
Honorary historian and committee member Ruth Crossman, who compiled the choir’s history, wrote that it is “an inclusive, friendly and safe choir, with a love of singing being its only pre-requisite,” noting it has been served by many local and talented directors, accompanists and choristers over the years.
Over four decades, the choir has performed in venues across the Manning Valley, including the Manning Entertainment Centre’s auditorium and studio spaces, the Manning Regional Art Gallery, local service and bowling club stages including in Forster, outdoor locations, shopping centres, local halls, church venues and school halls.
Choristers have sung for community organisations, weddings and special events, at aged care facilities, in combined choir concerts, and as regular contributors to local Christmas Carols by Candlelight gatherings. The choir also regularly took part in the former bi-annual Taree City Festival.
The anniversary year has already included several milestones. On Saturday, 20 June, MVCS supported the Sydney Male Choir in Taree as part of the visiting choir’s annual regional tour, “Travelling North With A Song”. The choir then marked its 40th anniversary with a luncheon on Saturday, 11 July.
The celebrations continue in September, when MVCS takes to the stage in Taree and Forster with “Inspired by Folk: 40 Years of Song”, a programme reflecting the diversity of folk music, which the choir describes as the origin of all music styles. On its website, the choir notes the 2026 folk programme has been put together by Paul McDonell, and that it also sang alongside the Sydney Male Choir this year. The choir holds rehearsals at the Taree Presbyterian Church Hall on Thursday nights from 7pm to 9pm and welcomes new members, with a love of singing the only requirement to join.
Tickets for “Inspired by Folk: 40 Years of Song” are available now through TicketSearch.
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