To mark the Millennium, The Boîte undertook a new, innovative project – the Melbourne Millennium Chorus. Melanie Shanahan, as Musical Director, led the development of a concert that featured a 400 voice community choir drawn from across Victoria and performed at the conclusion of The Boîte Winter Festival, in the Melbourne Concert Hall. The Chorus supported performers from diverse backgrounds including Bulgarian, South African, Zairean, Georgian, Italian, Austrian and anglo-Australian, Aboriginal and Maori cultures.
The event attracted an audience of over 2200 people and was financially the most successful single event The Boîte had staged. Referred to as the highlight of Melbourne’s 1999 music calendar in The Age, the success of this first Millennium Chorus ensured it would become a central feature of The Boîte Calendar of events for twenty years.
As described in the the 10th Melbourne Millennium Chorus: A retrospective, DVD and CD booklet:
‘The Millennium Chorus concerts have come to personify multiculturalism in an Australian context, by featuring individual performances from a wide range of cultures, and combining them with a theme, and the enduring presence and artistry of the choir. The entire Boîte production team, and the many performers who have taken part over the years, have created a living expression of community harmony that should evolve and flourish for years to come.‘
The Boîte Millennium Chorus finale So Far, So Close was staged in 2019.