THE hugely popular Australian Rugby Choir is coming to Wesley Uniting Church for the Lunchtime Live series next week with a variety of works from such composers as Bizet, Fauré, Verdi, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Oscar Hammerstein.

Veteran musician Lucy Bermingham is the present musical director of the community-based, four-part male voice choir in the tradition of the great Welsh male choirs.

Karen de Silva is the principal accompanist.

As the name suggests, the choir has a close association with rugby football.

Formed at the invitation of the ACT Rugby Union to support the ACT Brumbies, it performed for the first time at Bruce Stadium in March 1996 and has sung at every Brumbies home match since then. It has about 80 members and rehearses at the Woden Tradies Club.

The choir’s patron is “CityNews” music reviewer, Lt Col Ian McLean, and also has a longstanding relationship with the Australian War Memorial, for whom it performs about 15 times a year.

And it’s not just for Canberrans. The Australian Rugby Choir has also performed in the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall and Sydney Town Hall and will sing this year at the London Festival Hall and Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne.

The Australian Rugby Choir at Wesley Uniting Church, 20 National Circuit, Forrest, 12.40pm to 1.20pm, May 9. $2 or paper note entry. Refreshments – gold coin. Tickets at the door.