Paul Holley is a choral conductor and
educator. His personal warmth and passion for choral music have inspired many
singers to discover and develop their skills and achieve personal fulfilment as
choral musicians. With over 25 years of teaching experience in secondary
schools and many years of working with adult community choirs, Paul knows how
to connect with singers of all ages and enjoys collaborating with them in the
music making process.
Paul is a graduate of the Queensland
Conservatorium of Music where he studied choral conducting with Dr John
Nickson.
Presently Paul is the Associate
Director of Voices of Birralee and conducts two ensembles, The Birralee Blokes
and Resonance of Birralee. The Blokes have been bringing young men together to
sing since 2003. In addition to enjoying their music making and inspiring
audiences they have been successful in the ABC Choir of the Year Competition in
2006 winning the overall and People's Choice awards and were also Choir of the
World at Kathaumiwx in 2012.
Resonance of Birralee, a choir for
young adults has toured nationally and internationally most recently to perform
at Anzac Centenary Commemorations in France and Belgium. They have also enjoyed
making several recordings and perform regularly with the Queensland Symphony
Orchestra and Queensland Pops Orchestra.
Paul is also the co-conductor of the
national youth choir Gondwana Chorale that in January 2019 toured the UK and
the Baltics, and have previously toured the UK, USA and NZ.
As a choral educator, Paul is
dedicated to excellence in choral education and regularly features as guest
conductor/clinician at festivals, conferences and music competitions at home
and abroad. He also contributed a chapter to the book Male Voices: Stories of boys learning through making music (S
D Harrison, Ed, 2009, ACER).
In January 2016, Paul was awarded the
Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to choral music.