News & Reviews Archive - Page 4 of 13

Chair of the Choirs Aotearoa NZ Trust, Amanda Barclay, expressed the organisation’s gratitude, saying, “It’s been our privilege to benefit from Dr Karen Grylls’ expertise through her musical direction of Voices New Zealand and the NZ Youth Choir, and as Artistic Director of all four of our national choirs. Karen is a tireless promoter of choral music and brings a great deal of heart to her unrelenting pursuit of choral excellence. On behalf of the Trust Board, I congratulate Karen on this well-deserved honour.”

Reflecting on this significant recognition, Dr Karen Grylls shared her deep appreciation for the opportunity to contribute to choral music in New Zealand, saying, “I am deeply honoured to receive the CNZM in the King’s Birthday and Coronation Birthday Honours, 2023. I consider myself very privileged to have worked and performed with so many choral musicians, and to be a voice for choral music in Aotearoa.

In receiving this award I acknowledge these many musicians and colleagues who have supported me along the way: composers, singers, stage directors, international and national conductors and pedagogues and the many managers who have made it happen. This award honours them also.”

Dr Karen Grylls’ passion for singing and its transformative power has been a driving force throughout her career. “The opportunity to have worked with and trained ensemble singers and conductors over several decades as part of my long-standing work with Choirs Aotearoa NZ has given me the greatest opportunities which I acknowledge here with heartfelt thanks.” She expressed her hope that young musicians feel empowered to lead and become global musical citizens themselves.

As Dr Grylls looks forward to the immediate future, she eagerly anticipates the upcoming tour with Voices New Zealand and Chamber Music New Zealand. The tour, titled ‘Reimagining Mozart,’ features a new full-length work by composer Robert Wīremu for choir and instruments promising to be a captivating exploration of Mozart’s timeless Requiem from a fresh perspective.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Dr Karen Grylls on this well-deserved honour. Her unwavering commitment, extraordinary talent, and visionary leadership have elevated choral music in New Zealand and beyond, leaving an indelible impact on the cultural landscape.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Arne Herrmann

Chief Executive
Choirs Aotearoa NZ

027 276 1751

ceo@choirsnz.co.nz

About Dr Karen Grylls:

Dr Karen Grylls is an acclaimed conductor and the Artistic Director of Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand. She established the renowned Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir in 1989, which she continues to lead. Dr Grylls’ pioneering efforts have made an indelible mark on the international choral music landscape, and her visionary leadership has shaped the future of choral excellence in New Zealand.

Fiona Wilson has just been announced as the inaugural 2024 Assistant Conductor for Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand, the body that governs our four national choirs. This new role is part of a dedicated annual mentoring programme that will see Fiona working one-on-one with acclaimed New Zealand conductor and Choirs Aotearoa Artistic Director, Dr Karen Grylls (CMNZ). The programme is designed to develop future choral leaders for Aotearoa, and Karen will actively mentor Fiona for 12 months.

“The role of Assistant Conductor was hotly contested,” says Karen, “The calibre of applicants was impressive, which bodes well for a healthy future for choral music in Aotearoa. I’m delighted to announce that Fiona is the successful candidate for 2024. Many of the choirs she’s led have won competitions, here and overseas, and in April 2023, she represented New Zealand in the Conducting Masterclass at the World Choir Games in Istanbul.”

Fiona has been Head of Music at Westlake Girls High School for ten years during which time she’s earned the school half a dozen gold medals at the highly-competitive Big Sing Finale – New Zealand’s national choral festival for secondary schools. Fiona is also a singer and is currently a soprano in Voices New Zealand, our premier national chamber choir. Fiona has toured with Voices to the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Germany and performed with internationally acclaimed artists Eric Whitaker, The Kings Singers and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, here and overseas. In her new role, Fiona will also work with Voices NZ as a conductor, including at the Compose Aotearoa workshops later in 2024 when she will work with the winners of the national choral composition competition.

“I’m excited to be selected for this new role and look forward to working with Karen Grylls, the other national choirs’ music directors and, of course, the talented members of our national choirs,” says Fiona. “I’ve always worked hard to empower singers to explore a diverse range of vocal colours and expressions and ignite a profound appreciation for music, enabling every member to thrive as both an artist and an individual”.

As well as Fiona’s work at Westlake Girls’, recent highlights include last year conducting competition pieces with Voices NZ and composers at CANZ Composers Workshop in Wellington and working with community choirs for the Northland region local community. In 2022, Fiona shadowed Karen Grylls as Chorus Master for Voices NZ in concert with Eric Whitacre and his award-winning work, The Secret Veil. In 2021, she was Chorus Master for Voices NZ in concert with the APO for ‘The Blue

Planet’.

This year, Fiona’s been the Chorus Director for the recent New Zealand Opera Summer School and coming up soon, Fiona will be leading workshops and performance to open the Auckland Arts Festival in Choirs Aotearoa’s event Waiata Mai.

More about Fiona Wilson & Dr Karen Grylls

Fiona Wilson

Fiona has a Bachelor of Music from Auckland University, a secondary teaching diploma from Auckland College of Education and a Master of Arts in Music Education from the University of London Institute of Education (2002–2006). She is trained in the Kodály method of teaching music.

Fiona was a member of the BBC Symphony Chorus, London (1997–2001) with the choir included in annual concert programming for the BBC promos and touring to Istanbul and Vienna. She is a current soprano in Voices New Zealand choir and toured internationally including to the Tolosa International Choral Competition, Spain (1998). Fiona was a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir (1991–1996) and toured to the World Symposium of Choral Music in Sydney in 1996 and the World Symposium of Choral Music in Vancouver in 1993.

As director of the Westlake Girls’ choir Cantare:

2023: The Big Sing Finale: Gold Award. Best Performance of Choral Art Song (joint winner)

2023: The Big Sing Auckland Regional: Best Festival Programme by a Female Choir. Best Performance of an Unaccompanied Work

2022: The Big Sing Finale: Gold Award. Best Performance of Choral Art Song

2022: The Big Sing Auckland Regional: Best Festival Programme by a Female Choir

Best A Cappella Performance in Any Genre. Adjudicators Award for any Performance of a Single Work.

2021: The Big Sing Auckland Regional: Best Festival Programme by a Female Choir.Spirit of the Festival Award.

2019, 2018, 2017: The Big Sing National Finale: Gold Awards

2018: Concert with Toronto Children’s Chorus on New Zealand tour

2017: National Choral Conference and ASPIRE Music Festival, Brisbane – Best Performance Award

2016 & 2015: The Big Sing National Finale: Silver Awards

As director of the Westlake Boys’ and Girls’ choir Choralation:

2023: The Big Sing Finale: Gold Award. Auahi Kore Performance Award for Best Performance of a piece with text in Te Reo Māori

2023: The Big Sing Auckland Regional: Best Festival Program by a Mixed Choir. Adjudicators Award for any Performance of a Single Work

2023: Concerts with Auckland Chamber Choir, APO, recording and featured in the NZ film Tinā

Dr Karen Grylls CNZM

Karen founded Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir in 1998 and is its artistic director. Karen was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023 for services to choral music. She led the NZ Youth Choir to international recognition as Best Mixed Choir at the 2007 Cantonigrós International Music Festival, Choir of the World at the International Eisteddfod and Overall Best Choir at Cantat Grand Prix in 1999. Karen was appointed Kaitiaki of Te Whānau Wehi and Waka Huia in 1999, bringing Māori music to the forefront of choral performance in New Zealand for more than two decades. She is founding director and Conductor Emerita of the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, having been principal conductor from 2006 to 2022. She established the University’s postgraduate choral conducting programmes in 2006.

Karen is also co-Artistic Director of the New Zealand Children’s Choral Academy founded in 2022. From 2002 to 2008 she was a Board member of the International Federation of Choral Music and has been a Founding Board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation since 1985.

Originally from Taupō, Fergus Byett moved to Hamilton in 2019 to study Classical Performance (Piano) at the University of Waikato. With the support of a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship, he completed his undergraduate studies under Katherine Austin, and in 2023 he completed his Masters under Dr. Rae de Lisle. In the same year, Fergus won the University of Waikato Concerto Competition, Bach Competition and Chamber Music Competition, as well as Recital and Concerto classes at the 2023 Hamilton Competitions. His compositions have won national awards, including in the ‘Compose Aotearoa!’ Composition Competition, and in 2024, he currently holds Composer-in-Residence roles with Choirs Aotearoa and the Auckland Youth Choir. He has also completed several commissions for community ensembles in the Waikato. He is a collaborative pianist at the University of Waikato, where he has also worked as a music theory and piano tutor, and he is a founding Artistic Director of the Waikato Youth Choir. Fergus is one of the organists at the Waikato Cathedral Church of St. Peter, where he has accompanied the Cathedral Singers since 2023. As a Summer Research Scholar, Fergus also worked on an article which has now been published in the British Journal of Music Education, and he is a fluent speaker of te reo Māori, having recently completed a Level 7 Diploma through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Charle Rainey, in Year 13 at Nelson College, has a pretty impressive pedigree in the choral world. Many will know his father, Pete Rainey – Vice Chair of the New Zealand Choral Federation and Chair of NZCF’s Big Sing Committee. Pete was a member of the fabled 1980-82 NZ Youth Choir which toured to Europe and performed with Kiri Te Kanawa, led by Guy Jansen and Professor Peter Godfrey. Charle tells me his mother sings pretty well too!

Like his father, Charle is a musician through and through, playing three instruments – tuba, piano and trumpet. He performs with his school concert band, with the Nelson City Brass Band, a funk band, competed at the Smokefree Rockquest (regional finalist) and is part of a Chamber Music trio. Somehow he also manages to spend his school holidays with the NZSSC!

“I am finding NZSSC membership amazing. Singing in the choir has been the most incredible experience over the last two years. The amazing staff have been so incredibly kind to us and take care of us every single course. Singing in this choir has developed my vocal abilities and I have learned to become a better singer overall. I’ve made so many lifelong friends in the choir, and they also make every course a delight.”

He’s pretty happy that the NZSSC is spending the first three days of the Southern Stars tour in Nelson with a concert at the Nelson Centre for Musical Arts on Monday July 11.

“The repertoire that we sing in this choir is so diverse and fresh. It’s not that choral music you’d expect. The choir is one of the best sounding in Aotearoa, and we have so much fun performing the pieces. Anyone who sings in choirs or just for fun as a hobby should come and hear us perform in Nelson, especially schools kids as the performance could encourage them to audition for the choir. I’m really looking forward to performing in Nelson with this fantastic choir, and I really hope other young Nelsonians come to listen.”

This is Charle’s final year in the NZSSC, and he’s considering options for 2023 to study either Performance or Composition, possibly at Victoria or Otago. This might lead to teaching but he has plenty of time to decide. With what he has learned from the NZSSC, and his many other musical talents, the world is Charle’s oyster!

Keeping it in the choral family, here are some fun facts about Charle’s father Pete:

Pete Rainey MNZM is an event producer whose company Rockquest Promotions Ltd has been producing music events for over 30 years. He has extensive governance experience, currently as a fourth-term Nelson City Councillor, as well as holding board positions with local arts organisations including the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts. He was awarded the MNZM for services to music in 2013.

Pete was a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir and the National Youth Orchestra and continues to be involved in music in Nelson. He currently conducts Chroma Chamber Choir and is a past conductor of the Nelson Civic Choir. Pete is the founding Musical Director of the National Male Choir, continues to play viola and violin, and has also been the artistic director of Opera in the Park in Nelson since 1999.

He is The Big Sing committee Chair, and was in the NZ Youth Choir 1980-82 – part of world tour with Prof Godfrey and Guy Jansen.

The NZ Secondary Students’ Choir travels to Nelson as part of our upcoming Southern Stars tour, with a concert at the Nelson Centre for Musical Arts on Monday July 11. Tickets are available here.

In this new environment of uncertainty, we are dedicated to keeping our singers safe. In stylish black, all our national choirs will be wearing our uniquely designed mask for singers. These masks are designed to hold the fabric away from the mouth, and allow for full jaw movement.

Our singers and artistic staff have all reported back that they are far easier to sing in than normal masks as the singer is not constantly inhaling fabric.

They include a label to mark the singers name.

Please note: If you are purchasing a mix of SMALL and LARGE masks, only select shipping once.

Cost:

$35 (incl GST) plus shipping (if applicable)

Michelle already has fingers in other choirs (literally…as pianist) including Auckland Youth Choir and Auckland University Students’ Choir, so we were keen to find out where it all started, and how this NZSSC experience compared to their other choir work.

It was their grandmother who first spotted Michelle’s rhythm – they used to play duets together on trips to visit family in China – so Michelle was given beginners’ piano books and lessons when back in NZ. At high school in Wellington, Brent Stewart (NZSSC Assistant Director/Accompanist and former HOD Music at Wellington East Girls College) overheard Michelle playing piano in the music rooms, and asked them to accompany Cantala, the school’s auditioned choir. Michelle was ecstatic at this, accompanying the choir for four years – and cannot overestimate the positive effect this had on their school years.

Michelle is in the final year of a BA/BMus studying Politics and Philosophy and Classical Performance Piano. A sense of curiosity led them to Politics and Philosophy – Michelle is a keen non-fiction reader, particularly interested in the philosophy of language and semantics. On top of piano, they are self-taught in bass and acoustic guitarist and listen to jazz, funk and rock, which balances the more classical piano programme at Uni. Michelle also loves video-gaming and is a mental health and disability advocate.

Playing for a couple of Auckland choirs has introduced them to the Auckland choral network. Auckland Youth Choir reached out to them, and Michelle was appointed Emerging Accompanist with Creative New Zealand funding.

Michelle says of this week with the NZSSC, “I am blown away by the talent in this group, seriously some of the most talented singers in the whole country. I did not know what to expect, but all my expectations have been exceeded”. Michelle accompanied two pieces at our concert – our new commission from Richard Oswin, In Flanders Fields, and jammed with our band for I Sing Because I’m Happy by Rollo Dilworth. They also spent a day working with Elise Bradley and the NZSSC Reserves.

Michelle has big dreams for the future, meaning a “diverse career, always to include teaching and choirs”. Next step would be a Master of Arts in collaborative piano performance, and eventually a PhD in Philosophy. They’d also love to play bar gigs in a cover band! Go for it Michelle!

Thank you Michelle, it has been wonderful to have you on our team for the week and we hope you have gained an insight into the accompanist role in a national choir.

We welcome accompanists, vocal coaches and conductors to submit interest in our Internship programme for all three national choirs: Voices NZ, NZ Youth Choir and NZSSC. Email Anna Bowron anna@choirsnz.co.nz for more information.

Aotearoa’s youngest national choir, the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir (NZSSC) won the title of Children’s Choir of the World at last night’s prestigious Llangollen Eisteddfod in Wales.

Regarded as one of the world’s most inspirational cultural festivals this event has been staged every summer in Llangollen since 1947. Each year around 4,000 performers and as many as 35,000 visitors converge on this picturesque small Welsh town and its International Pavilion.

NZSSC had been selected to submit a pre-recorded digital entry for this year’s competition and not only did the choir win 1st place in the Senior Children’s Choir category, but was also crowned Children’s Choir of the World, the best of all children’s choirs competing this year. While all other competitors from England, Wales and the USA appeared live on the Llangollen Pavilion stage, NZSSC’s video performance was played to the judges and audiences live during the competition session.

“We are over the moon to win this incredible title.” says Music Director Sue Densem. “I’m grateful to all the singers and the team to reach this quality of performance during 2 years of pandemic and disruptions. It’s just incredibly exciting and it will be such a boost for our upcoming tour”.

NZSSC is the national choir for secondary school students, aged 13 to 18 years, with up to 60 members. Audition are held nationwide every second year. NZSSC only gathers each school holidays for a week of rehearsals and concerts throughout the country. Many students find membership a life-changing experience, making clear their future path as a singer/musician. They go on to join the more advanced New Zealand Youth Choir, study voice or music at university, and become strong components of the New Zealand choral and wider music community.

“Receiving the news this morning has unearthed a raft of emotion hidden away for the last two years,” says Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Chief Executive Arne Herrmann. “Like all other choirs around the world there has been heartache, disappointment and resignation. To get recognition for not giving up, not letting go of our values and goals is balm on our wounds. I’m proud of our artistic team, management and singers.”

The news reached the choir on the eve of its Farewell tour ‘Southern Stars’ through the South Island starting in Nelson tomorrow. Audiences around the South Island will now have the opportunity to see our own internationally awarded choir live in Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch, Wanaka and Queenstown.

The programme will include the pieces that won them the Children’s Choir of the World title, the waiata Te Mura O Te Ahi from Christchurch’s Puanaki Whānau and David N. Childs’ The Moon is Distant from the Sea.

Excerpt from the winning video:

https://www.facebook.com/NZSSChoir/videos/594504595531706

Dates:

11 July Nelson Centre of Music Arts, 5.30pm

12 July Blenheim, Nativity Church, 76 Alfred Street, 7.30pm (With special guest, Ovation Choir of Marlborough Girls College)

14 July Christchurch, St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, 373 Manchester Street, 7.30pm

17 July Wanaka, Lake Wanaka Centre, 4pm

Ticket info: www.nzsschoir.com/events/

We have several leadership roles within the NZSSC, and rely greatly on the students in these roles to help run rehearsals and sectionals, to teach repertoire (particularly our cultural pieces), to support members on a personal level, and to represent the choir at concerts and other events.

We are very proud to introduce you to our wonderful over-arching Choir Leaders for the 2021-22 cycle! These three individuals have the level of respect and comradeship required within the choir group to develop a close-knit choir family, to be the face of the choir at concerts and events, and to help keep the choir on an even keel through both happy and tough times.

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Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir
8pm, Friday 28 February 2014, Cathedral of St Paul, Wellington
Reviewed by William Dart, NZ Herald

There was an air of ritual about Requiem for the Fallen, the major music commission of the New Zealand Arts Festival.

It all took place on a raised stage in Wellington’s Cathedral of St Paul, with audience on either side, which worked well for some shorter choral items from Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, under Karen Grylls.

The ethereal textures of Purcell’s Hear My Prayer, O Lord gained poignancy with its shivery dissonances aloft in the building’s resonant acoustics.

Schnittke’s Drei Geistlicher Gesange had the singers moving from a circle formation to two opposing groups, delivering the piece’s almost primal passion with real fervour.

The New Zealand String Quartet contributed the central movement of Beethoven’s Opus 132 quartet. There was a hushed gravity to its song of thanksgiving, although the venue was not so kind to the floating scales of its andante sections.

Ross Harris and Vincent O’Sullivan’s Requiem for the Fallen was the key offering of the evening, acknowledging the centenary of World War I with a thoughtful mix of formal and personal, Latin liturgical texts blending effectively with O’Sullivan’s pithy verses.

Bringing together string quartet, choir and the taonga puoro of Horomona Horo, the innate drama of this score did not always need the sometimes distracting to-and-fro that director Jonathan Alver had imposed.

Horo’s exquisitely gauged improvisations ranged from a crystalline koauau introduction to a war-like pukaea in the Dies Irae, that evoked the horrors of hell itself, in tandem with Harris himself on thunderous bass drum.

Voices NZ and Grylls are a potent team and there was pride of ownership in their handling of Harris’ immaculately crafted score. The arching phrases of In Paradisum seemed to leap to heaven itself and, early on, tenor Lachlan Craig eloquently delivered the all-important lines, “He is one of us. His is one of our own.”

William Dart