Did you know that Lismore has its own vocal group of musical stars that has been performing and touring for 37 years?

Isabella A Cappella is truly a shining feature of the arts landscape of the Northern Rivers as you will agree if you've ever seen them live. And finally with a shift in public singing restrictions and performance, we may get a chance to see the group back onstage as early as next month.

Isabella's Musical Director, Grace Cockburn said “Our challenge recently has been to find a space that can accommodate what we do and the number of us in the group that also sticks to the covid rules about singing together. Last week with the five person rule still in place we were asking local shops about singing in undercover car parks and loading docks as rehearsal space!”

Founded in 1984 by the late Isabel Atcheson, Isabella A Cappella was created to give students and staff at the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education (now Southern Cross University) a chance to sing and perform together.

The line up has changed significantly over the years and the baton been passed to different musical directors. A pandemic, a lock down, a cancelled international tour and tight restrictions on indoor singing has not thwarted the current group of nine and their inspiring director who has big plans for 2021.

“I would really like to continue our delayed plans to record an album and eventually... tour Japan,” Grace says.

As of yesterday indoor singing restrictions have finally eased which is great news for Isabella and indeed all singing groups and church goers.

“ We're all just so keen to get back to it and sing our way into this new year...we weren't able to perform at all last year.” Grace said.

The group consists of 4 male and 5 female voices ranging from bass to soprano. The repertoire is an eclectic mix of blues, folk, pop and jazz ‘a cappella’ arrangements, many of which are specifically arranged or adapted by Grace or previous musical director Dylan Curnow.

The current focus of the repertoire is work by Australian and New Zealand artists with a view to record an album of this fresh material and promote it in Japan on tour when travel restrictions allow, hopefully late in 2021.

The choir established an association with Japan in 2000 when Tazuko McLaren, a Japanese language lecturer, was raising money to build a Japanese Student Centre at Lismore’s Southern Cross University. She asked Isabella a cappella, under the-then directorship of Jude Magee, to sing at a function after the booked artists cancelled.

She was so impressed with the performance that she invited the group to tour Japan to raise money for the Japanese Student Centre. Isabella a cappella raised over $50,000 for the centre, which on completion became known as the Father Tony Glynn Japan-Australia Centre. Father Tony Glynn was raised in Lismore and is credited with driving the Australian post-war reconciliation movement with Japan.

He worked closely with his brother Father Paul Glynn, who in 1963 successfully instigated the establishment of Lismore and Yamatotakada as the first Australian/Japanese sister cities.

To date the group has toured Japan 11 times, in the past receiving significant financial support from the Australia-Japan Foundation, in addition to some funding provided by Southern Cross University and the group themselves initiating creative fundraising events in the community.

In previous years the choir has performed at numerous local venues and all official SCU events at both Lismore and Gold Coast campuses, including entertaining at graduation ceremonies and wowing crowds at O Week celebrations. Unfortunately due to covid those events have not allowed for live performance since late 2019.

Luke McKelvey, bass singer and member of the group since 2018 said it was a challenge rehearsing during covid last year.

“It was frustrating really, a lack of connection, watching Grace on a screen, a far cry from usual rehearsal.”

He says the group is still strong thanks to her professional and flexible leadership.

“Grace doesn't let adversity hold her back...she tried everything that she could to not let the group fall over...and she has succeeded and carried us through with her commitment. We all just love making beautiful music together and we want to share it.”