IN a port city that knows a thing or two about tradition, grit and a good singalong, there’s something quietly remarkable happening up the road.
In 2026, the Perth Male Voice Choir clocks up 100 years — and shows no sign of clearing its throat for a final note.
What began in 1926 as a modest concert party of Perth’s Commercial Travellers Association has, over a century, grown into one of WA’s most enduring choirs.
No fuss, no fanfare – just men turning up, week after week, to sing.
On August 14 this year exactly 100 years to the day since their first major public performance, the choir will take to the stage at Fremantle Town Hall under musical director Simone Bishop for a centenary concert that leans into both history and a bit of theatre.
Expect guest artists Paul O’Neil and Teddy Tahu Rhodes, a brass fanfare, vintage 1926 cars parked out front, and more than a few audience members dressed for the Roaring Twenties.
There’ll also be a premiere of a new work, A Century of Singing, by accompanist Andrew Angel.
• The Perth Male Voice Choir is celebrating their centenary.
Rooted in the rich Welsh tradition of four-part harmony, the choir still delivers the kind of sound that can leave you spellbound.
These days about 65 voices make up the group, drawn from all corners of the metro area, from Mandurah and Fremantle to Quinns Rocks.
Over the decades, the choir has become a familiar presence at concerts and community events across the state and beyond.
There’s been travel too, with a tour of the Cotswolds and South Wales culminating at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where they joined a massed choir in a performance still talked about by many with a glint in the eye.
More recently, a 2024 tour through Chester and North Wales saw the group performing alongside some of the region’s finest choirs.
Less formal moments involved spontaneous singing in Chester announced by the Chester town crier and on the top of Mount Snowdon to the delight of passing onlookers.
Back home, plans for the centenary year are shaping up as something special.
The choir will take its program across Perth and into regional centres including Bunbury and Kalgoorlie.
But it’s Fremantle that will host the headline act.
Celebrations wrap up on November 1 with a joint performance at Churchlands Concert Hall alongside WA Brass – and an ambitious goal to gather “100 men for 100 years” on stage.
But beyond the concerts and the milestones, it’s the sense of community that resonates.
This is a choir built as much on camaraderie as on chords – on post-show drinks, pub singing, shared laughs, and the kind of community that welcomes partners and friends as part of the fold.
In an era of short attention spans and endless digital noise, here’s a choir with a century of practice – doing something simple, connecting and deeply human; singing and harmonising together.
Not a bad way to mark 100 years or to start the next.
You can come along and check the choir out in person and online on the PMVC website: http://www.perthmalevoicechoir.org
Rehearsals are every Wednesday from 7.30–9.30pm at Royal Park Hall, 180 Charles Street, West Perth. Interested? Contact the choir secretary on perthmalevoicechoir@gmail.com
by ELLIS GRIFFITHS
Perth Male Voice Choir president