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The dedication of an Avondale College senior lecturer to musical excellence has earned Avondale Singers an invitation to New York City's Lincoln Center next year.

Dr Robb Dennis and the singers plan to join other local vocal ensembles in a performance of Mozart's Requiem in the center's Avery Fisher Hall on June 21, 2009. However, the Sydney-based Wesley Institute Choir may join the singers. The all-Australian performance would, according to Robb, fulfil a dream of Dr Jonathan Griffith, the artistic director and principal conductor of Distinguished Concerts International New York, from whom the invitation came.

A soprano friend of Robb's, Doris Brunatti, encouraged Jonathan to extend the invitation. Doris and Robb both sang solos during a performance of Handel's Messiah by the Utah Symphony at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Doris is now the Lincoln Center's program coordinator. "She encouraged me to submit the singers' 2007 performance of the Messiah as an audition," says Robb.

The audition must have impressed. "I am excited about the prospect of working with you," writes Jonathan in his letter to Robb, dated May 30, 2008. "It is only fitting that you are given this unique opportunity to perform in one of the world's greatest concert halls, which in itself represents excellence and musical achievement."

Contact Robb (4980 2207, robb.dennis@avondale.edu.au) if you are interested in joining the singers and travelling with them to New York City.