‘Music and merriment’: Singularity Choir perform for Ugandan charity

Marco and Giuseppe look forward to meeting you at St Margaret's for a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers. Picture: MARGARET TYSON.

By Mikayla van Loon

A long-held fundraising partnership will return next week as the Singularity Choir and St Margaret’s Uniting Church come together bringing music and joy to support disadvantaged Ugandan young people.

The Choir will once again perform one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most credited plays, The Gondoliers, at the church in Mooroolbark on Sunday 23 June.

The performance, which starts at 2pm, is in support of Rubaga Youth Development Association (RYDA), a not-for-profit founded in 1992.

“It is dedicated to providing vocational and life skill training for orphaned and vulnerable youths aged 12 to 18, male and female,” RYDA support coordinator Doug Wiliams said.

“They continue to accommodate, teach, feed and care for 100-200 young people at their Kampala live-in campus.”

St Margaret’s Uniting Church has been supporting the Ugandan association since 1996 and the concerts are just one of the ways it fundraises for the continuation of the program, which receives no government funding.

The Singularity Choir will donate their time to put on a display of incredible talent and song.

Presenting The Gondoliers, a story of two men, Marco and Giuseppe, raised as brothers, despite one being a prince and the other a commoner, set in the ancient city of Venice.

Which one is which however, is the plot twist – their father, King of Barataria, could not remember and died before being able to reveal who was who.

Add in a love interest who seeks her husband with catchy, lyrical, harmonious music, fabulous period costumes and an enthusiastic choir, Mr Williams said “the outcome must surely be an afternoon of music and merriment not to be missed”.

Everyone is welcome to join the day. Tickets at the door: $10 per person (eftpos available) including afternoon tea. All proceeds go towards RYDA.