Jonathon Welch
The Choir of Hard Knocks.
Profile
Multi award winning singer, conductor, teacher, composer, producer, director, author and recording artist, Jonathon Welch is one of Australia’s most unique and diverse artists with a career spanning four decades.
Jonathon has performed around the World alongside many of the finest singers, directors and conductors including Baz Lurhmann, John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, kd Lang, Grace Bumbry, Frederica Von Stade and Dame Joan Sutherland in some of the world’s great Concert Halls and Opera Houses in- cluding Carnegie Hall, New York, Royal Albert Hall, London and Sydney Opera House.
Previous Experience
Choir of Hard Knocks: In 2007, Jonathon’s work creating choirs for the homeless and disadvantaged in Australia was the subject of the internationally acclaimed ARIA, Logie and Helpmann award winning TV documentary ‘Choir of Hard Knocks’.
Other documentaries:He also created the ‘Jailbirds’ documentary in the Victorian Women’s Prisons in 2009, was a Judge on the highly successful ‘Battle of the Choirs’ TV series for Channel 7.
Awards: Jonathon has been recognised for his outstanding commitment to the music industry, youth music education and his work with marginalised and homeless communities with the Victorian and Australian of the Year Local Hero 2008, ANZAC of the Year 2009, an Honorary Doctorate, an Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2009 and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders.
Social Inclusion: In 2009 Jonathon created and launched ‘Social Inclusion Week’ making Australia the only country in the world to celebrate Social Inclusion nationally, and in September 2012 launched his vision for the future of arts, cultural and wellbeing programs for all Australians with the ‘School of Hard Knocks’ and ‘Play It Forward’ programs in 2018.
Feedback
Just a quick note to let you know that Jonathon was absolutely terrific at the Novartis conference. He went over and above the call of duty with his workshop which everyone absolutely loved. He had an exhausting trip from Hobart to Port Douglas and still spent about 3 hours on his speech and workshop. He certainly was a highlight and loved by all. He also spent a lot of time at the end mingling with guests and discussing the Choir at length.
Wow! It doesn't get any better than a standing ovation from an AMP audience. All the delegate feedback rated Jonathon's presentation as the most outstanding presentation on the main plenary which is only fitting for a man who has made such a difference to so many disadvantaged lives and has forced a nation to look at the homeless and destitute through a fresh pair of eyes. Our production team really appreciated the amount of work that Jonathon was prepared to put in prior to the event to get it just right for this very critical audience. It's a powerful story that Jonathon tells, which needs to be told again and again and again. We have no hesitation in providing a personal reference to any client who is thinking of using Jonathon at one of their events.
Jonathon's presentation was truly inspirational. The relevance to the conference was perfect and he is a total professional.
Jonathon was such a lovely person and was a pleasure to work with. His presentation and indeed his story was captivating and inspiring.
