Astrid Jorgensen

Jorgensen was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, and emigrated to Brisbane, Australia, in 1998.[1][2] She attended Lourdes Hill College in Brisbane, graduating in 2006 as college captain.[3] In school she had lessons in piano, violin, and voice.[2]

She studied a Bachelor of Arts (Music) and a Graduate Diploma of Education at the University of Queensland,[4] and a Master of Music Studies (Vocal Performance) at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.[1][5] While at the University of Queensland, Jorgensen trained in the Kodály method.[4]

In 2011 Jorgensen formed the band Astrid & the Asteroids.[6] The group was awarded the Billy Thorpe Scholarship at the 2012 Queensland Music Awards,[7] and later disbanded in 2014.[6]

After graduating from university she worked as a high school music and vocal teacher in Brisbane and Townsville and conducted multiple community choirs.[8]

In 2017 Jorgensen founded Pub Choir in West End, Brisbane.[9][10] At each Pub Choir event, Jorgensen arranges a popular song and teaches it to a non-trained audience in three-part harmony, concluding with a performance which is filmed and shared on social media.[9] Pub Choir gained international attention in November 2017 when their rendition of Zombie by The Cranberries went viral online.[11]

In 2018 Jorgensen was the resident choral arranger and conductor for Neil Finn’s Out of Silence show at HOTA.[12] She arranged the songs Sisters and Ready or Not on the Spinifex Gum album Sisters with Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill from The Cat Empire. She was a featured guest in Tim Rogers' Liquid Nights in Bohemia Heights shows in 2019.[13]

In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent cancellation of planned Pub Choir events, Jorgensen launched "Couch Choir".[14][15] She arranged and uploaded three vocal harmonies of the song (They Long To Be) Close To You by The Carpenters to social media, inviting anybody to learn a part, film themselves singing it, and send it back for inclusion in a final video.[15] There were over 1000 submissions from 18 different countries, and the project was featured on Australian Story.[16] The final video was also shared by Richard Carpenter.[17] Jorgensen continued to host free "Couch Choir" events throughout the pandemic, attracting tens of thousands of participants from over 50 countries.[10]

Jorgensen has also worked as a producer for ABC Radio Brisbane,[5] and has performed as a keyboardist in Australian indie rock band The Grates.[18]

In 2021 Jorgensen was a consultant executive producer for the television special Australia's Biggest Singalong!, which was broadcast live on SBS from Sydney Town Hall.[19][20] The two-hour special was co-created by Pub Choir in collaboration with Artemis Media and SBS and was hosted by Julia Zemiro and Miranda Tapsell.[19] Throughout the interactive special, Jorgensen taught the live audience and home viewers a vocal arrangement of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" by Hunters & Collectors in real-time.[21][22]