Sarah McNabb has just been announced as the 2026 Assistant Conductor for Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand, the body that governs our national choirs. The one-year role is part of a dedicated annual mentoring programme to develop the country’s future choral leaders. Sarah will work across the national choirs gaining insights and experience from each music director. She’ll also benefit from the mentoring of guest conductors, from both Aotearoa and overseas, who will be working with CANZ across the year.

“I am beyond excited for the learning and growth ahead of me,” says Sarah, “It’s a privilege to have this opportunity to work with the amazing CANZ team, contribute to these incredible ensembles and be part of this year’s music-making journey.”

During her tenure, Sarah will get to conduct some of the repertoire for New Zealand Youth Choir, New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir and Aotearoa Choral Academy, and she’ll be able to observe the country’s premier chamber choir, Voices NZ.

“We’re delighted that Sarah has accepted the position of CANZ Assistant Conductor 2026 and thrilled to welcome her into the whānau,” says Jessica Kinney, Manager of Artistic Planning and Outreach for CANZ, “Amid tight competition, Sarah’s ethos and passion for the artistry and education of choral music shone through, and we look forward to seeing what her talent and musicianship brings to our choirs in this key leadership training role.”

Originally from the US, Sarah moved to New Zealand in 2009 following a stint teaching English in Tonga. Her music teaching career began on Waiheke Island where she established Waiheke High School’s first choral programme. Sarah is head of music at Macleans College, leading a thriving choral programme and overseeing five choirs and more than 400 students. In 2024, Macleans College Chorale took out gold at the World Choir Games in Auckland and sang as part of its mass choir. Sarah has also directed community choirs, including as part of the directorship team of All Together Now. She has been a passionate choral singer since the age of seven when she joined Essex Children’s Choir. Since then, Sarah has sung with show choirs, university chamber and madrigal choirs and was part of MUSE: Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir. In New Zealand, Sarah has sung with Waiheke Island’s Sister Shout and the Auckland Chamber Choir, and she currently sings with Luminata Voices. Sarah has a Bachelor of Choral Music Education from Butler University (Hons) and a Master of Music from The University of Auckland, where her 2022 thesis was titled: The singer’s understanding of imagery and metaphorical language as teaching tools in the secondary-school choral rehearsal.

For more information: Rachel Healy, Publicist, T: 027 2706105, E: rachel@rachelhealy.co.nz

Stabat Mater

NZSO
Auckland Town Hall

September 3

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The NZSO latest concert “Stabat Mater featured two works based on the image of the Virgin Mary standing at the site of Christ’s crucifixion which had led to numerous compositions and art works has which has added to the church’s iconography and rituals.

Rossini’s Stabat Mater complete in 1841 was based on the medieval Latin poem describing the Virgin Mary’s grief at the crucifixion of her son while Victoria Kelly’s Stabat Mater was a response to both Rossini’s work and the medieval text. Kelly’s work was less of a sorrowful meditation on to the event but rather a reflection on the misogynistic nature of the text.

Rossini’s Stabat Mater featured three New Zealand singers: soprano Madison Nonoa, mezzo-soprano Anna Pierard, tenor Filipe Manu along with Australian bass-baritone Jeremy Kleeman.

The singers were joined by Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, which also performed during Kelly’s new work.

The orchestral opening of Rossini’s Stabat Mater was very operatic contrasting with the low, soft sounds of the choir, as though angelic voices were descending.

The Air that followed had a rather breezy tone and Filipe Manu finely nuance delivery was rich in emotion as he sang about the sword that pierced the Virgins heart. Jeremy Kleeman in a later Air displayed a fine tightly controlled voice with a luxurious sound.

The duet revealed the colourful voice of Madison Nonoa along with the more fulsome sounds of Anna Pierard. Together they were able to convey the torment and grief of the Virgen.

The Quartet which saw the four soloists elegantly interpreted the text, their voices complementing g each other. Their singing did highlight one of the problems with Rossini’s major failing with the work in not assigning characters at the crucifixion to the individual singer – The Virgin, Mary Magdalen, John, the two thieves.

In the Cavatina section Anna Pierard showed drama in her voice along with some terse vibrato and in her Air  Madison Nono started off with barely a whisper which was take up by the choir which turned inti a thunderous sound, her light, piercing  voice seeming to be the Virgin overwhelmed by the choir

In the final quartet the four soloists emphasised their individua voices, seemingly disconnected unfocussed somehow replicating the discord and cacophony which would have occurred during the time of the crucifixion. All this was brought to a conclusion with the chorus and their transcendental Amen.

Victoria Kelly’s response to the medieval text and Rossini use of it “provoked an overwhelming sense of rase and sorrow in me” she has written. Rather than see the texts and the event form a religious perspective she has seen the misogynistic and religious oppression which is tied to much of the church’s teachings. She has taken a revisionist approach and her text for the work is full of critical lines such as

“She wants no choirs castrated,

No congregation tithed,

no people bound and silenced.

no false priests fellated.

The work opening with a low electronic sound leading to the murmuring strings which created a sense of travel or /transition as though we were being transported back to an earlier time.

Much of the time the work sounded like a lament, the sombre singing of the choir and the music interwoven, the text reinforced by the tension and intensity of the choir.

The choir displayed a nice balance between singing and choral speaking their quality, pitch, power, tempo, effective in conveying the meaning and emotion of the work.

The phrase” She does not mourn” occurred several times through the work and was repeated at the conclusion as the words slowly and softly disappeared.

The dark brooding sounds of the final moments of the music contrasted with the angelic voices of the choir and rather than end with a b ang something triumphant like the Rossini it ended with a whimper.

Making her New Zealand debut was Italian conductor Valentina Peleggi whose lively conducting, sweeping gestures and close attention to the soloists and choir ensured an impressive performance.

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Rossini Stabat Mater: A mother’s love

Presented by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Conducted by: Valentina Peleggi

Michael Fowler Centre, 2nd Oct 2025

Reviewed by: Tamsin Evans

Rossini Stabat Mater: A mother’s love put side by side two interpretations of the 13^th-century Christian hymn that portrays Mary’s suffering during the crucifixion of her son. Each was quite different from the other and both were unlike traditional settings. Victoria Kelly’s Stabat Mater was commissioned by the NZSO as a response to Gioacchino Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Rossini’s piece strongly reflects his career composing operas in the bel canto style of virtuoso singing and elaborate vocal ornamentation.

Although the melodic and dramatic influence was there, it did not overwhelm the seriousness of the text which came through in the performance. Valentina Peleggi’s direction brought out the mood of each verse and the vocalists responded with feeling, especially when their solo voices were on display. Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir were excellent as ever. Led by music director Karen Grylls, their perfect diction, timing, phrasing, and dynamics are extraordinary and the best you will hear in Aotearoa.

The world premiere of Kelly’s Stabat Mater was an experience that lasted in my mind and body long after the performance. The music was profoundly emotional and somehow deeply, urgently visceral and beautiful all at once. In this Stabat Mater, Kelly’s reimagined Mary does not accept her son’s sacrifice, she does not weep nor mourn, but wields a sword and saves him. Kelly’s response to the eternal narrative of the suffering of women and mothers is a primal sense of rage and sadness expressed in an almost gentle, but powerfully nuanced and subtle simplicity.

Kelly wrote her own text and thanks to the vocal skill of Voices New Zealand, her perspective was plain to hear, as was the musical representation of Mary: a white crystal singing bowl, sometimes to the fore, other times absent.

Fittingly, the commission was funded by a consortium of female patrons, and honours for the evening went to a trio of women – composer, conductor, and choir director.

Rossini Stabat Mater: A mother’s love

Presented by: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Conducted by: Valentina Peleggi

Michael Fowler Centre, 2nd Oct 2025

Reviewed by: Tamsin Evans

Rossini Stabat Mater: A mother’s love put side by side two interpretations of the 13^th-century Christian hymn that portrays Mary’s suffering during the crucifixion of her son. Each was quite different from the other and both were unlike traditional settings. Victoria Kelly’s Stabat Mater was commissioned by the NZSO as a response to Gioacchino Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Rossini’s piece strongly reflects his career composing operas in the bel canto style of virtuoso singing and elaborate vocal ornamentation.

Although the melodic and dramatic influence was there, it did not overwhelm the seriousness of the text which came through in the performance. Valentina Peleggi’s direction brought out the mood of each verse and the vocalists responded with feeling, especially when their solo voices were on display. Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir were excellent as ever. Led by music director Karen Grylls, their perfect diction, timing, phrasing, and dynamics are extraordinary and the best you will hear in Aotearoa.

The world premiere of Kelly’s Stabat Mater was an experience that lasted in my mind and body long after the performance. The music was profoundly emotional and somehow deeply, urgently visceral and beautiful all at once. In this Stabat Mater, Kelly’s reimagined Mary does not accept her son’s sacrifice, she does not weep nor mourn, but wields a sword and saves him. Kelly’s response to the eternal narrative of the suffering of women and mothers is a primal sense of rage and sadness expressed in an almost gentle, but powerfully nuanced and subtle simplicity.

Kelly wrote her own text and thanks to the vocal skill of Voices New Zealand, her perspective was plain to hear, as was the musical representation of Mary: a white crystal singing bowl, sometimes to the fore, other times absent.

Fittingly, the commission was funded by a consortium of female patrons, and honours for the evening went to a trio of women – composer, conductor, and choir director.

Auckland conductors and educators Fiona Wilson and Jono Palmer have been announced as the 2026 music directors for the Aotearoa Academy Choir. Overseen by Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand (CANZ), the academy was established three years ago and has already trained over 250 singers, aged 13 to 25. Fiona and Jono will share the music director role, contracted for 2026 with the option to continue beyond that. Both have previously been CANZ Assistant Conductors working with the three national choirs – Fiona as the inaugural Assistant Conductor under the mentorship of Dr. Karen Grylls in 2024, and Jono this year, in which he guest conducted Voices New Zealand on its South Island tour in April.

“We are thrilled to see that the conductor pathways we’ve been developing for our national choirs are working as both these conductors have participated in the CANZ assistant conductor programme in the past two years,” says Arne Herrmann, CE of Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand, “Fiona and Jono also have a long history as singers with our national choirs and will be a real asset to our national choral academy.”

The national choral academy is not only a high-level development programme but also functions as a ‘reserves’ pool for our award-winning national choirs, the New Zealand Youth Choir and the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir. In 2026, the Aotearoa Choral Academy has a full programme to look forward to, with three courses throughout the year, the first in April.

Dr Jono Palmer teaches conducting and music theory at the University of Auckland, where he also directs the University Symphony Orchestra. He is Artistic Director of the Auckland Chamber Choir and Director of Choirs at Diocesan School for Girls. Ensembles under his direction have earned national and international acclaim, including multiple awards at NZCF’s The Big Sing – most recently a Gold Award and the trophy for Best Performance of a New Zealand Work at the 2025 National Finale. In 2018, he was a Grand Finalist in the inaugural London International Choral Conducting Competition. Jono holds a Doctor of Music and Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Indiana University, as well as a BMus (Hons) in Performance Voice and a BA in Ancient History from the University of Auckland.

Fiona Wilson is Head of the Faculty of Performing Arts at Westlake Girls High School and directs two of the school’s acclaimed choirs, Cantare and Choralation. Under her leadership, these ensembles have achieved exceptional success on both national and international stages. In 2022, Fiona co-founded Auckland’s Treble Voices Festivals with Elise Bradley MNZM and in 2023, she was selected as one of eight international conductors for the Masterclass Program at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Istanbul, Türkiye. She has served as Chorus Master for productions including Red! and for Voices New Zealand in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s The Blue Planet. Fiona has led outreach workshops for community choirs in Kaitaia and Waiata Mai, the opening event of the 2024 Auckland Arts Festival. In 2025, Fiona served as adjudicator for the NZCF The Kids Sing Festival. Fiona continues to deepen her passion for choral music, singing with the Voices New Zealand.

For more information: Rachel Healy, Publicist, T: 027 2706105, E: rachel@rachelhealy.co.nz

Arne Herrmann, CE of Choirs Aotearoa NZ (CANZ), is delighted to announce that Jessica Kinney has accepted the newly established role of Manager Artistic Planning and Outreach. CANZ is the body that manages our national choirs, including the NZ Youth Choir that this year was crowned Choir of the World at the Llangollen Eisteddfod in Wales and won the Grand Prix of Nations at the European Choir Games in Denmark. Jessica and her husband will be moving to Wellington from Cambridge, UK, to take up this new position, and her first day with the CANZ artistic team is 19 January 2026.

Jessica joins the national choirs from her role as Artist Manager at James Brown Management, a leading international agent for classical music artists including conductors, instrumentalists and ensembles. While there, Jessica spent several years leading operational management of The Tallis Scholars – spearheading the planning and execution of more than 300 performances across 25 countries for this world-class ensemble. Her wider portfolio included supporting conductors Daniel Hyde and Nicholas Chalmers as well as the multi-Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet.

Jessica has Bachelor of Music (Hons) and Master of Music from Royal Holloway, University of London. Her connection with Aotearoa New Zealand was seeded when she spent a year on international exchange at Te Kōkī – New Zealand School of Music, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.

“Jessica told me that she fell in love with Aotearoa when studying in Wellington, and we are very excited that she will now return for this new fulltime role,” says Arne Herrmann, “Her incredible choral and international experience will not only strengthen our understanding of the global choral scene but also give us new perspectives for our mahi as the national choirs in and for Aotearoa.”

Jessica also brings extensive experience as a professional choral singer; she was one of only eight young singers on the VOCES8 Scholars programme, a training scheme for emerging professional singers coached by the world-renowned vocal group of the same name. Jessica has also enjoyed singing on the freelance choral circuit across the UK and Europe, as well as acting as ‘choral fixer’ for a variety of projects including Carols at the Royal Albert Hall and the Edington Music Festival. She sang regularly with St John’s Voices (Graham Walker) and the Choir of Trinity College (Stephen Layton). Solo appearances included Bach’s St John Passion for Cambridge University Chamber Choir and Robinson Chapel Choir, Handel’s Messiah for St John’s Voices, and Vaughan-Williams’ Serenade to Music with Alumni of Clare College Choir.

For more information and images: Rachel Healy, Choirs Aotearoa NZ Publicist T: 027 2706105, E: rachel@rachelhealy.co.nz

After more than 3 decades of incredible mahi, we are celebrating Karen’s journey with Voices New Zealand and the New Zealand Youth Choir with this gala concert.

If you have sung under Karen or are a current or past CANZ singer who has been influenced by Karen’s work, we invite you to SING in this concert as part of the alumni massed choir.

Apart from the obvious rehearsal time for these massed alumni choir pieces, there will be many chances to socialize and see other events in this year’s Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts in Wellington.

If you want to sing, this is what is required:

– be available for at least 2 hours of joint rehearsals on Saturday 14 March in Wellington,

– be available for the dress rehearsal at Michael Fowler Centre on Sunday 15 March and concert at 6.30pm

– purchase a very discounted ‘alumni singer seat‘ in a premium position in the stalls, from which you can then enter the stage for the joint items.

If you want to attend but NOT sing, here is a link for discounted general alumni tickets.

Social events:

• see Voices 16 perform live on stage with the New Zealand Dance Company in GLORIA as part of the Festival.
  Get tickets for Friday night or Saturday night

Now, please fill in this short survey and tell us your plans to attend this special weekend!

FAQ around bringing your ‘plus one’

Let’s make this a big celebration, we look forward to sharing this with you.