Culture via choir – Lachlan McLean from Pakenham and James Ruiz from Narre Warren North are heading to China this month with the National Boys Choir of Australia. 52588 Picture: Kim Cartmell

By Lilly O’Gorman
LOCAL schoolboys Lachlan McLean and James Ruiz will tour China this month with the National Boys Choir of Australia.
From 16 September to 6 October, the choir will perform in prestigious venues in cities all throughout China, including Melbourne’s sister city Tianjin, as part of the Australian Government’s Imagine Australia (Year of Australian Culture in China) program.
It is an exciting achievement for the singers, who are two of only 42 boys to be selected from the 200-strong choir to represent Australia.
Fourteen-year-old James from Narre Warren North is most excited about going to a huge water-themed amusement park in Hong Kong and also singing some brand new songs.
“It was really exciting to find out that I was going to go on tour. It was a good feeling to know id been picked out of 150 or so other boys,” he said.
“You get to go all over the world and meet people and go places that you never thought possible.”
Twelve-year-old Lachlan from Pakenham is looking forward to staying with his host-sister, a Chinese chorister, whom his family hosted when she toured Australia.
“The best part is you get to see all different types of places. We did a tour of Queensland last year to film the Qantas ad, and we went to Shanghai to perform at the World Expo, performing in front of the Governor General and other official people,” he said.
Lachlan said it takes dedication to be selected for international tours.
“You need to focus hard during normal rehearsals to demonstrate you can be trusted and well behaved,” he said.
“You need to put in the hours at home to learn music. I learn fast so I don’t practise that much, but sometimes my mum makes me practise.”