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.

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)

Quantity 8-10

BUY SMALL  –  BUY LARGE

Quantity 11-20

BUY SMALL  –  BUY LARGE

Quantity 20+

BUY SMALL  –  BUY LARGE

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.

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.

What are you watching, eating and listening to right now?
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A year ago we challenged ourselves to keep singing at a world-class level, as expected from Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, but in a way that is more locally focused when borders and alert levels keep us at home.

We’re excited now to debut our regional ensembles! With funding from Creative NZ’s resilience fund, we’re now rolling out the project in Wellington and Auckland.

Read more here

The Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Trust governs three national choirs with great domestic and international reputations – NZ Secondary Students’ Choir https://www.nzsschoir.com/, NZ Youth Choir https://www.nzyouthchoir.com/ and Voices NZ https://www.voicesnz.com/. The associated Choirs Aotearoa Foundation Trust manages an endowment fund to provide long term financial support to the charitable activities of the Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Trust.

We are looking for new Trustees with specific skills for the Choirs Aotearoa Foundation Trust.

The Foundation has been well established with a simple structure and a modest investment base. We are looking for people to help take things forward with new ideas on how we might grow the fund to provide for the long term security of the choirs as well as providing the support to enable broad access and participation in our national choirs. We may also be looking for someone to chair the Foundation Trust in the future.

We are looking for skills in the areas of investment management, marketing and/or communications and community networks to oversee and grow the current invested funds, through bequests and donations.

We’d love to hear from you and invite you to send your governance CV to canztrustees@gmail.com by 18 June 2021.

If you have questions you can contact the current CANZ Chair at canztrustees@gmail.com.

Taonga Moana is heading to the mainland, the Festival of Colour in Wanaka for a one-night only concert on 14 April.

“For Voices New Zealand, Taonga Moana represents a significant moment in their performing career. When I founded the choir in 1998, the aspiration was to create a Chamber Choir on a professional level, to be visible alongside our national orchestra, national ballet and national opera company. The hope was also that such an ensemble would be something young singers could aspire to for a professional life in ensemble singing. This remains so…It is with great humility and pleasure that I invite you to share the journey of the kuaka with us…” – Karen Grylls, Artistic Director & Conductor

Read more here

Voices Ensembles is a new project offering an exciting opportunity for professional singers in Aotearoa New Zealand to work and perform at a high artistic level. Choirs Aotearoa has received funding from Creative New Zealand to run a pilot scheme that creates small vocal ensembles of Voices NZ singers. The pilot is artistically led by Karen Grylls and Christopher Bruerton (current member of The King’s Singers) and will run from March to October 2021.

Auditions will be held 19 and 26 February.

Check out this additional information and how to apply.

A few weeks out from our brand new reimagining of early music When Light Breaks, we take a look at one person bringing the story to life. We’re excited to be working with Director Jacqueline Coats who has many feathers in her cap. She has worked as a director and an assistant director for the NZ International Festival of the Arts, NZ Opera, Victorian Opera in Melbourne, CubaDupa in Wellington and many more. She has won accolades from the NZ Fringe and the Wellington Theatre Awards, and in 2014 was ‘Director of the Year’ at the Dunedin Theatre Awards for her premiere of Anthony Richie’s This Other Eden.

Jacqueline has a passion for theatre and opera for young people. She has worked as an actor, a music director and a stage director for Capital E National Theatre for Children, most recently directing their touring production of Songs of the Sea. Jacqueline’s theatre credits include the original touring productions of Lines from the Nile and Home; a promenade production of Martin Sherman’s Bent; and co-directing two shows for Wellington Summer Shakespeare. She directed Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona for Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School at the end of 2018.

Jacqueline is not only directing When Light Breaks, but she has crafted the journey of the show, inspired by the quote “we are all broken, that’s how the light gets in.” The concert is set around the ritual of grief, moving through five stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, moving from darkness to light over the course of the performance.

The journey of the concert will be guided by puppetry from Little Dog Barking Theatre Company, a first for a Voices New Zealand concert.

We are head over heels with opera, wide eyed for Monteverdi and smitten for Britten. With the alert levels changing for the better, we can confirm that VOICES LOVE OPERA is coming to your stages in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington mid-October. Some of New Zealand’s best singers are debuting a new show that explores both the triumphs and the heartbreaks of love.

Read more here