26/8/1999

My association with the National Boys Choir came about when one of the parents, a former journalist colleague of mine, asked if I'd be interested in compering the Choir's Annual Concert at the Melbourne Concert Hall.

It wasn't a hard decision. I have a great passion for classical music, especially choral works, so I said yes. And I have enjoyed the association immensely from that moment on.

Christmas is without a doubt, the busiest time of year for the boys. They have a schedule that even seasoned performers twice their age would have trouble keeping up with. Add to that, the Qantas commitments with the Australian Girls' Choir, and you have a month that's virtually non-stop.

I took one look at the combined schedule and decided on the spot there had to be a documentary in it.

A couple of days later I'd worked up the shooting schedule and budget and to my absolute delight the Ten Network's Program Director, David Mott gave me an instant response …… something program directors don't normally do. He simply said, "Make It! Have a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing the finished product."

It was a week before Christmas by then and I don't think I stopped running from then on.

All up, I used eight camera crews in Melbourne, Canberra and Los Angeles just to keep up with these kids through an amazing month.

They sang Carols in Canberra for the politicians at Parliament House - classics at two sell-out Concerts at Melbourne's Concert Hall - and more Carols at their annual National television appearance on Carols by Candlelight.

Then they piled into a jumbo jet for two weeks in Los Angeles singing for Qantas everywhere from Disneyland to Catalina Island, to the not so exotic surroundings of a hanger at Los Angeles Airport.

If you count their appearances on American Network TV, (all from that hanger incidentally), it's fair to say their performances in that single month would have been seen by millions.

But that was just the warm-up for the main event. The reason for the Los Angeles trip was to get maximum exposure in advance of the launch of the Qantas commercial on United States television on Superbowl Sunday.

The nationwide telecast of the Superbowl is the number one event on U.S. Television.

Qantas had outlayed a small fortune to run the Choir's commercial in the crucial hour leading up to the big game.

For sixty seconds, they'd be singing to tens of millions of people.

But by then, this Choir that calls Australia home was well and truly back down under. No longer international celebrities, just Aussie kids catching up with summer, getting ready for school.