MāORI CONDUCTING INTERN

Takerei Komene (Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau-a-Apanui) is a takatāpui conductor, singer, and composer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. They sing in the Auckland Chamber Choir, 8bit Vocal Ensemble, and Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir. Previously, they were a member of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, and choir leader of the New Zealand Youth Choir.

Takerei is actively and regularly engaged as a choral conductor in secondary schools, having conducted choirs at Kristin School, St Paul’s College Ponsonby, Auckland Grammar School, Takapuna Grammar School, and currently Epsom Girls Grammar School and Westlake Girls High School. They developed the Lower Voices Choral Festival, which brings together lower-voice choirs from around Tāmaki Makaurau. The festival had a successful first outing in May of 2024, and is well on its way to become a fixture in the Aotearoa choral landscape.

As a composer, they have had the honour of writing works for many commissions for groups ranging from community choirs to ensembles at the professional level. In 2025, they were commissioned by the BBC Singers to write a work to be jointly performed by them and Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, titled Ranginui, which was premiered in November of that year at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. Their works have been performed in Australia, the US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, the UK, Hong Kong, and all across Aotearoa.