Joshua Clifford is a conductor, voice teacher, performer, and lyricist based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Currently, he works at Kenmore State High School, Centenary State High School and Ambrose Treacy College (ATC) as a specialist singing teacher and choral director He manages a busy teaching schedule, and the diverse range of high-school ensembles he conducts includes youth choirs, tenor/bass ensembles, and mixed-voice adult groups.
Joshua received the 2024 Sydney Symposium Choral Foundation Scholarship, allowing him to participate a self-directed study plan across the US and UK in 2025. This included the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conference in Dallas, Texas. Activities in the UK ranged from rehearsal/performance observation (BBC Singers, The Sixteen, BBC Symphony Chorus, Selwyn College Chapel Choir, London Oratory), one-to-one conducting lessons (Dr Sarah Tenant-Flowers, Patrick Russill, Tori Longdon, Amy Bebbington), and performing Mahler 8 with the London Philharmonic Choir & London Philharmonic Orchestra led by Edward Gardner.
This year, both the Senior Choir at Centenary SHS, and the the Kenmore SHS Chorale reached the Choral Fanfare Metropolitan South & North Regional Finals respectively, the only conductor to have ensembles in more than one Region. In 2024, Joshua toured with 59 students from ATC to the Australian International Music Festival in Sydney where the choir received a Gold award in the competitive event, and he had the thrill of conducting on the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall stage.
Passionate about community music-making, Joshua is also the director of the Hillbrook Chorale, who produce their own concert series, collaborate with a range of local performers and ensembles, and have presented Australian premieres including Joe Twist’s ‘Wattle Sky’. For several years, he worked with Voices of Birralee as a senior musical assistant and with them toured to Canada, Austria, France, Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia. Joshua has also worked on Don Giovanni (2018) and Tosca (2019) with Opera Queensland and Il Trittico (2020) with the Cuskelly Summer School on the production team. Other music collaborative work includes; accompanist for QLD Music Festival’s “Help Is One It’s Way” (2019) and “Absolutely Everybody” (2021) choral projects led by Dr Jonathon Welch; and audition repetiteur for QLD Theatre Company/QPAC’s new musical Round the Twist.
Joshua regularly adjudicates vocal & choral competitions for both schools and community organisations. Joshua’s work with the Australian National Choral Association (ANCA) ranges from serving as Immediate Past President of the QLD/NT Chapter, and as current Editor of for the national choral magazine ‘Sing Out’. As a versatile cross-trained singer, Joshua straddles both contemporary and classical performance contexts comfortably. He performs as a lead jazz vocalist with the Jindalee Jazz Orchestra, and as a classical singer in choral masterworks with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Joshua’s interest in writing has led to collaborations with composers including Joe Twist, Jenny Moon and Paul Jarman, whom he has written lyrics for in the creation of new choral works. In his spare time, Joshua loves to cook and read voraciously.
Joshua Clifford 