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An Australian a cappella group will be performing at New York City's famous Carnegie Hall, after concert organisers came across its YouTube channel.
The musical act, which performs popular songs using only their voices with no instrumental accompaniment, began in 2014 at Western Australia's Curtin University to help bridge the gap between staff and students.
Rhythmos Choir, which has about 30 members, uploaded its songs to YouTube where Carnegie Hall concert organisers heard the group's work by chance.
The group was then invited to sing at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of The King's Singers — a choral group from King's College at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Dr Jonathan Paxman, a lecturer in engineering and science at the university, is also the choir's conductor.
"It was a real bolt from the blue. We weren't expecting that at all," said Dr Paxman.
"It turned out that the concert promoters had seen some of our performances [of] King's Singers' arrangements on YouTube and they reached out to us."
The group will perform at the iconic venue in April, along with acts from the United States and Germany.
"We were invited along with a number of other choirs from around the world to participate in that performance … it's going to be a magical experience," Dr Paxman said.
They were the only Australians to be invited.
Human voice as an instrument
A cappella music, which was thrust into the limelight in 2012 by the movie Pitch Perfect, is performed entirely by the human voice.
"Singing is a whole body activity, it's the most fundamental instrument really and singing is such a wonderful activity for people to be involved in — it's great for your mental and physical health," Dr Paxman said.
For international student Phuong Anh Nguyen, singing brings happiness and a sense of community.
"The feeling after we've done a piece and everyone is just harmonising and making those beautiful sounds … just knowing that we've made people happy is the most rewarding feeling," Ms Nguyen said.
She said she was looking forward to travelling to New York to perform on stage for the group's largest audience yet.
"We are really excited for bringing what we've got and joining the choirs around the world for such a prestigious event," Ms Nguyen said.
Choir brings staff, students together
Dr Paxman was inspired to start Rhythmos Choir after getting involved with music while studying at Cambridge.
"I was singing with the Queen's College Chapel Choir and I also started conducting my own ensembles over there," Dr Paxman said.
"That was really where I started to learn the skill of conducting a choir and directing music ensembles.
"There was a gap here for a good performing ensemble that involved students … we had some auditions and we had a small group of singers … and we've just built year on year since then."
Before New York, Rhymthos Choir will be rehearsing for its Perth Fringe World debut at Edith Spiegeltent next month.
Topics: music, arts-and-entertainment, bentley-6102, wa
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