The internationally awarded national choir for secondary school singers is back in Christchurch! Bringing their “infectious joy for music-making” to St Mary’s Pro Cathedral, the choir will present a wide range of music from classical choral to gospel, jazz, modern, and music from New Zealand and the Pacific – repertoire from Eric Whitacre, Antonio Lotti, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Puanaki whānau, David N Childs and crowd favourite, a bit of toe-tapping Toto!

The choir of 53 singers, selected at nationwide auditions, join for a two year cycle.

“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”– Charle Rainey, NZSSC member

Christchurch-based Music Director Sue Densem has been with the NZSSC since 2019, through the “COVID years” and has faced a lot of disruption, including two cancelled international tours. The Southern Stars Tour stands in place of the NZSSC’s tour to Tasmania, with ticketed concerts in Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch and Wānaka, and casual performances at Aoraki Mt Cook and Queenstown.

Bring the whole family – under 12s are free, and concessions available.

“The audience was enthralled and totally absorbed in everything they heard and saw, from start to finish. … Little wonder that the audience was on its feet at the end in a prolonged standing ovation in appreciation of a superb concert where all the singers continually projected the pleasure they gained from singing and sharing this with an appreciative audience.” – Hawke’s Bay Today

 

Keeping everyone safe

• Our choir and staff are fully vaccinated
• There will be restricted audience numbers if the venue is in the Red level of the Protection Framework
• Audience will be kindly asked to wear masks, which we will have available
• If you have any specific questions around our commitment to keep our choir and audience safe, feel free to email choirs@choirsnz.co.nz

Tour partner:

With support from:

Choirs Aotearoa NZ Trust in association with JCP presents

In a landmark moment for choral music in Aotearoa New Zealand, Grammy Award winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre is presenting in concert one of his most recent compositions, THE SACRED VEIL, sung by Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir.

Eric Whitacre’s works are programmed worldwide and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united singers from more than 145 countries over the last decade. A graduate of Juilliard School of Music, Eric completed his second term as Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2020 having served five years as Composer in Residence at the University of Cambridge. In 2021, Eric was named a Yamaha Artist.

There will be an opening performance from the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir in Wellington performing a selection of Whitacre’s works conducted by Whitacre himself. This will be followed by Voices New Zealand presenting his long-form work The Sacred Veil, a profound meditation on love, life and loss, written with Whitacre’s frequent collaborator, poet & historian Charles Anthony Silvestri. The work was premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and released on Signum Records in 2020. This will be conducted by Eric Whitacre.

In “The Sacred Veil,” Whitacre and the Master Chorale memorably celebrate the precarious beauty of life, offering the welcome consolation of art and a momentary stay against our collective fate.

— LA Times

NOTE FROM ERIC

Eric Whitacre introduces The Sacred Veil

Keeping everyone safe

• Our choir and staff are fully vaccinated
• There will be restricted audience numbers in the Red level of the Protection Framework
• Audience will be kindly asked to wear masks, which we will have available
• If you have any specific questions around our commitment to keep our choir and audience safe, feel free to email choirs@choirsnz.co.nz

The Sacred Veil was commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Artistic Director, and co-commissioned by Monash Academy of Performing Arts – MLIVE and NTR ZaterdagMatinee for the Netherlands Radio Choir.

Presented by arrangement with John Cristian Productions and Music Productions LTD

With support from:

We are coming to Wellington and Paraparaumu! These concerts will feature new repertoire, a few new faces, our signature enthusiasm and energy, and high quality choral singing.

Our 55 young singers come together from all around Aotearoa, including many from Wellington, and will perform songs from New Zealand and the Pacific, kapa haka, and a wide range of music from the choral canon.

We’re building up to our big South Island tour later in the year. Tickets are limited due to government requirements, so get in quick. We’d hate for you to miss out!

There will be no door sales.

“The audience was enthralled and totally absorbed in everything they heard and saw, from start to finish. … Little wonder that the audience was on its feet at the end in a prolonged standing ovation in appreciation of a superb concert where all the singers continually projected the pleasure they gained from singing and sharing this with an appreciative audience.” – Hawke’s Bay Today

Keeping everyone safe

• Audience will be required to prove proof of vaccination upon entry to the church
• Our choir and staff are fully vaccinated
• There will be restricted audience numbers if Wellington or Paraparaumu is in the Red level of the Protection Framework
• Bubbles will be spatially distanced
• Audience will be required to wear masks
• If you have any specific questions around our commitment to keep our choir and audience safe, feel free to email choirs@choirsnz.co.nz

With support from:

Our internationally awarded national choir for secondary school singers is heading South! Bringing our “infectious joy for music-making”, the choir will present a wide range of music from classical choral to gospel, jazz, modern, and music from New Zealand and the Pacific – repertoire from Eric Whitacre, Antonio Lotti, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Puanaki whānau, David N Childs and crowd favourite, a bit of toe-tapping Toto!

The choir of 53 singers, selected at nationwide auditions, join for a two year cycle of which this is the final event.

“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”

Christchurch-based Music Director Sue Densem has been with the NZSSC since 2019, through the “COVID years” and has faced a lot of disruption, including two cancelled international tours. The Southern Stars Tour stands in place of the NZSSC’s tour to Tasmania, with ticketed concerts in Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch and Wānaka, and casual performances at Aoraki Mt Cook and Queenstown.

Bring the whole family – under 12s are free, and concessions available.

“The audience was enthralled and totally absorbed in everything they heard and saw, from start to finish. … Little wonder that the audience was on its feet at the end in a prolonged standing ovation in appreciation of a superb concert where all the singers continually projected the pleasure they gained from singing and sharing this with an appreciative audience.” – Hawke’s Bay Today

Keeping everyone safe

• Our choir and staff are fully vaccinated
• There will be restricted audience numbers if the venue is in the Red level of the Protection Framework
• Audience will be kindly asked to wear masks, which we will have available
• If you have any specific questions around our commitment to keep our choir and audience safe, feel free to email choirs@choirsnz.co.nz

Tour partner:

With support from:

More info about our concerts in Wellington and Paraparaumu!

We are coming to Whangārei for the first time ever! This concert at Christ Church on the Regent will feature new repertoire, a few new faces, our signature enthusiasm and energy, and high quality choral singing.

Our 55 young singers come together from all around Aotearoa, including one from Northland, and will perform songs from New Zealand and the Pacific, kapa haka, and a wide range of music from the choral canon.

This will be our first concert of 2022 as we build up to (fingers-crossed) a trip to Australia and other parts of New Zealand later in the year. Tickets are limited due to government requirements, so get in quick. We’d hate for you to miss out!

There will be no door sales.

“The audience was enthralled and totally absorbed in everything they heard and saw, from start to finish. … Little wonder that the audience was on its feet at the end in a prolonged standing ovation in appreciation of a superb concert where all the singers continually projected the pleasure they gained from singing and sharing this with an appreciative audience.” – Hawke’s Bay Today

Keeping everyone safe

• Audience will be required to prove proof of vaccination upon entry to the church
• Our choir and staff are fully vaccinated
• There will be restricted audience numbers if Northland is in the Red level of the Protection Framework
• Bubbles will be spatially distanced
• Audience will be required to wear masks
• If you have any specific questions around our commitment to keep our choir and audience safe, feel free to email choirs@choirsnz.co.nz – Please note our office will be closed over the Christmas period

IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR THIS TOUR! All three ticketed concerts are CANCELLED.

We’re heading south in October on a special tour to Te Waipounamu, the South Island!

Sadly we had to change our original plans to tour to Timaru and Dunedin for public concerts, as we will NOT have our Auckland singers with us and therefore have an incomplete choir.

All three ticketed concerts are CANCELLED. In Christchurch only we will be able to present an open rehearsal to the public on Sunday 10 October at 3.30pm at Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. Tickets are free, but you do NEED TO PRE-BOOK, so we know who is in attendance and we can regulate the audience size. A booking link will be posted here early next week.

This is disappointing for us all and we hope to come back to the south soon. Any tickets purchased to any of the three concerts, Christchurch, Timaru and Dunedin will be refunded fully.

With support from:

The final gala concert of the New Zealand Choral Federation’s biennial convention Choral Connect, celebrating the choral traditions of Aotearoa. Featuring a stunning line up of award-winning performers: taonga pūoro player Horomona Horo, the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, Te Kapahaka ō Te Wharekura ō Hoani Waititi Marae and Auckland members of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir.

You can find out more about the Choral Connect conference here.

All welcome to see and hear the choir in rehearsal, in preparation for our performance at the National ANZAC Day Service

We are performing at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington for this years National ANZAC Day service. Public welcome.

Keep an eye out for more information!

Throughout the year our signers from each region gather to rehearse. These are great opportunities to keep singing in between our main tours together, this Wellington rehearsal will include our singers from the capital and Palmerston North.