Voices in the Hall is not quite so catchy a title - and there will be no official name change. Musical director Chris Latham said erratic recent weather together with long-term forecasts suggesting the chilly temperatures would continue meant the organisers moved the event to the fallback location.

He said patrons' comfort was always a primary concern.

"Last year's Voices in the Forest was held in a patch of warm weather and then it was too cold ...we don't want that to happen again."

He also remembered in the event's fourth year when it was decided to proceed in the Arboretum a 40 per cent chance of rain had been forecast that rose to 60 per cent on the day - and then everyone was drenched.

Latham said he simply didn't have confidence it would be warm and dry enough on the night to keep it at the Arboretum. He said people informally referred to the event as "Voices", emphasising the most important part of the event, regardless of where it was held: "A display of people singing."

Holding the event in Llewellyn Hall had one big advantage, he said: the singers would not need to be amplified, allowing their natural vocal talents to be heard in a suitable acoustic.

Among the singers this year is South Korean soprano Sumi Jo, who will be performing some of the repertoire made famous by diva Maria Callas, "a major inspiration on her life" and American tenor Richard Troxell.

"Both of them are equally at home with opera and Broadway composers."

Latham is no stranger to the vagaries of outdoor events - he was in charge of the biennial Four Winds Festival for four years, producing two editions in 2006 and 2008 - "It's named Four Winds for good reason" - and said people accepted the natural elements as part of the charm of such occasions.

"When we started Voices in the Forest, the reason for November was that Anne Sofie Von Otter had those dates," he said.

But he said after this year's concert, he and the other organisers would discuss the scheduling of future Voices in the Forest events given the conditions that have occurred in some years.

That will be in the future: but Latham also looked back at the event, which he began as a way to bring the best voices he could to Canberra. in part because the national capital isn't on Opera Australia's major touring circuit.

"I've been very, very proud of the quality of the singing," he said.

"My favourite, and the public's as well, has been Sumi Jo."

He said getting Sumi Jo - "the greatest voice I've ever heard ... she can sing anything" - to return to Canberra for her second Voices was a coup and was in part because she had such a good time in the national capital.

But he also loved other singers' voices including the Swede von Otter and the Latvian Inessa Galante. All of them, he said, combined superb technique with emotional depth.

Voices in the Forest is on in Llewellyn Hall, ANU on November 19 at 6.30pm. voicesintheforest.com.au.