AFTER months of being sworn to silence the sound of the Find Your Voice All-Abilities Choir will be broadcast into national living rooms from the Australia's Got Talent stage on Sunday night.
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An all-hands-on-deck operation took the 170-member choir to Melbourne's Palais Threatre in May to record the performance to their biggest ever live audience, and one set to be dwarfed by the television audience.
Warrnambool musician Tom Richardson said the 2500 member audience was the most vibrant and energetic the choir members, about two-thirds of who have disability, had ever performed to.
"Getting on stage in front of the judges has validated everything people are trying to do with the choir," he said.
"At the end of our performance we received a standing ovation.
"All the judges come up on stage to take selfies with the choir members."
Richardson said the performance was very special for one of the choir members who was able to get photos with all of the judges and crew.
"Ryan lives with autism and couldn't stay in a room with loud noises when he first started with the choir," he said. "Now he was in the middle of everything getting selfies. It's amazing how far he has come."
One-third of the members auditioned for the show in Bendigo in February, before the show invited them to Melbourne, but the result of their performance is yet to be revealed.
Choir co-ordinator Kylie Thulborn, who managed the logistics and also sang on stage, said the experience was "mind blowing".
"We rocked up in true country style, this band of musical mischief makers and sharing what we love with the people in that auditorium on that day," Thulborn said.
"It was a joy for many of the choir members to be in the presence of the judges, and the acknowledgement by the media that this choir is talented."
Thulborn said she never anticipated that the choir would be performing to a national audience.
"We never anticipated how far we would go because we always live in the moment of the performance and really value each moment," she said.
Catch the Find Your Voice All-Abilities Choir's performance on Australia's Got Talent on Sunday August 18 at 7pm on Seven.
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