“This is great news for our singers and audiences,” says Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Board Chair, Andrea Gray, “The merger will create a stronger, clearer pathway for New Zealand’s best singers, from teen to adulthood. We’ll be better serving our sector and communities—achieving excellence across all age groups.”

“NZSSC, in particular, will benefit from the merger by having access to the expertise and shared resources that Choirs Aotearoa already provides its other two national choirs,” says Linda Webb, former Chair of the NZSSC Board, which will now merge into the Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Trust.

A unified organisation opens up new conversations with funders and sponsors. Outreach programmes will also be extended—incorporating schools across all levels. While the merger will see more collaboration and growth, each choir will still retain its own identity and artistic freedom. The three choirs will perform together at the New Zealand Choral Academy at Auckland Anniversary weekend, marking a new era for choral music in this country.

The Choral Academy will offer aspiring singers from across the country the chance to work alongside the three choirs for a weekend of fun and inspiring workshops and performances. Participants will be separated into age groups that align with each choir, and get to sit-in or work alongside them. They’ll experience the highest level of tuition and gain an understanding of the journey of a choral singer in New Zealand. The Academy is open to singers across the country, anyone can join in. Register here.

Acclaimed conductor and composer Tecwyn Evans sang in both NZSSC and Youth Choir. Now based in Sweden with his wife, soprano Susanna Andersson, Tecwyn will be leading the group mirroring Voices. Robert Wiremu was in all three national choirs and is a former director of NZSSC. He’ll be involved with the NZSSC group. Youth Choir will be working with conductor Michael Stewart.

FACE featured symphonic songs and choruses with poetic lyrics written by New Zealand writer Vincent O’Sullican providing descriptions of the landscape of war as well as the hardships faced by the wounded and their loved ones.

The work is a modern-day version of a passion play as we follow in the footsteps of a young solider with his wife singing a Madonna-like role.

The orchestra provided a rich emotional drama ranging from the peaceful and contemplative to the thunderous and ferocious. Elements of the work were militaristic along with eloquent romantic passages which Harris had carefully structured so chorus, soloists and orchestra created a musical landscape that combined the reality and horror of war, a sense of myth and the pain of individuals.

The three soloists were impeccable, their singing bringing an intensity and emotion to their roles as they interacted with the orchestra.

Soprano Alison Bell sang the role of a woman who listens to the radio, looks at photographs and waits. She revealed aspects of the impact of the war on her and her husband. Singing the verse This is the right address, her voice had a palpable anguish to it.

Tenor Henry Choo as the soldier wondering about the impact of his new face gave a thoughtful performance, his voice hinting at apprehension and despair. Joel Amosa’s rich bass voice was a strong contrast to Choo and Bell with a voice of authority.

The VOICES NZ Chamber Choir was finely integrated into the work and provided some passages of outstanding singing, both with harsh battle-inspired sounds as well as subtle passages as when members sang sotto voce.

The impact of the work was heightened by the use of large projected images created by Tim Gruchy, based on an original artwork by Barry Cleavin. These depicted a collage of faces, abstract shapes, images of toy soldiers and wasteland.

The work played before FACE was Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascendingand there were references to larks in the singing of FACE. Given the context of the concert, the Vaughan Williams work seemed more profound. Rather than a pastoral work celebrating the coming of spring, there was a sense of the birds being the souls of men ascending from the battlefield. Violinist Yanghe Yu gave the work a spirited interpretation with a fragility and lightness, without any of the cloying sweetness that can often mar performances of the work.

Where Lark Ascendingwas an appropriate work to play before FACE, the work which followed, Elgar’s Enigma Variations,seemed to make another connection. FACE concluded with soldiers embarking on new lives. Elgar’s portraits of friends gave an additional sense of hope and of new futures.

Dutch conductor Antony Hermus flawlessly conducted the Williams and Harris works but with the Elgar he was transformed. He became a dramatic performer in his own right, cavorting, crouching and dancing on the podium. The way he conducted with his hands appeared to be some form of semaphore communication and at times he appeared to be playing an unseen instrument. He provided a witty and dramatic telling of the work.

FACE will be performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, London, this Saturday, along with Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, John Adams’ The Wound Dresserand Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Forthcoming APO Concerts include The Planetson May 10 featuring Debussy’sImages pour orchestre, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Themeand Holst’sThe Planets; and Organ Symphonyon May 17 featuring Lilburn’s Aotearoa Overture, Sibelius’ Violin Concertoand Saint-Saens’ Symphony No 3, Organ.

By John Daly-Peoples

https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/new-anzac-symphonic-work-revealing-tragedy-survivors-jd-215053

Ross Harris’ Face pays tribute to the pioneering plastic surgery of Harold Gillies during World War I. Vincent O’Sullivan’s verses take care to convey history through the lives of its participants, and it was delivered under a subtly evolving Barry Cleavin image.

Face is a score of considerable solemnity, laid out between sonorous blessings from Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir. The restrained orchestral palette early on soon graduates to wild, scatter-gun outbursts, conveying the horrors of war, with numerous sinister marches, now familiar as a component of this composer’s musical armament.

The narrative for three soloists is relatively calm alongside this instrumental fury.
Henry Choo was impressive as the impassioned young soldier, not quite matched by Allison Bell as his young woman. While Harris surrounds the Australian soprano with a bower of beautiful effects, her raw vibrato in the upper register was disturbing. Alongside them, Joel Amosa exerted his usual strong presence as a voice of military and medical authority.

Face is the Kiwi centrepiece of a staunchly British evening.

First up, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending featured a young Yanghe Yu as a thoughtful, sweet-toned soloist, only occasionally wanting in rhapsodic fervour.

Dutch conductor Antony Hermus, a model maestro in the first half, had the orchestra to himself for Elgar’s Enigma Variations after interval, giving an extraordinarily vivid reading, full of dash and intricate detail.

This work changed the landscape of English music in 1899 and Hermus seemed to underline the fact that, back then, it had burst out, unexpectedly, from a compower known for pretty salon pieces and sturdy, worthy monoliths. In this performance, there were ironic hints and echoes of both set around a spellbinding Nimrod variation.

What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra & VOICES NZ Chamber Choir
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Thursday 19 April 2018
Reviewer: William Dart

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12037580

Since 1998, Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir has performed, rehearsed and trained to deliver the most excellent choral singing in this country and on occasion, overseas. From a professionally run choir to a truly professional ensemble under Karen Grylls’ inspiring leadership, VOICES is turning 20 and now we have the opportunity to put the icing on the birthday cake – a professional European tour!

This is a dream tour and we hope you can help us make this dream come true.

We wanted to find a tour that positions VOICES in the artistic esteem it deserves and we have succeeded! We have been invited to be part of a international choral concert series in London. Two music agencies love what we do and have arranged for concerts in Hamburg and Berlin, and in Aix-en-Provence in France. New Zealand fan and renowned conductor Simon Halsey has asked us to join his choir in Barcelona for a concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana, a venue that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We have also been invited by the people of Le Quesnoy in France to commemorate the centenary of the World War I Armistice Day together. Their village was liberated by New Zealand soldiers in the final two weeks of WWI. We commissioned a special work for this occasion: THE UNUSUAL SILENCE by Victoria Kelly. Inspired by letters from Kiwi soldiers and their families, this piece of music tells an important part of our history.

This tour is our chance to take VOICES to important international stages to tell our unique New Zealand stories and share our music.

Your donation will be invested 100% towards making this tour a reality. You can donate directly through our website and put your support behind your favourite tour destination below. All donations over $5 are tax deductible.

We are very, very grateful for your support.
Karen, Emma, Arne and VOICES New Zealand

Support:

VOICES in London
VOICES in Hamburg
VOICES in Berlin
VOICES in Le Quesnoy
VOICES in Aix-en-Provence
VOICES in Barcelona

VOICES NZ joined The King’s Singers for concerts in Wellington and Auckland as part of the NZ Festival and Auckland Arts Festival on 9 and 10 March 2018. Both concerts were very well received – check out the reviews below:

“It was a double a cappella birthday celebration: The King’s Singers were celebrating their 50th ‘Gold’ Anniversary and the Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir their 20th Birthday this year.” Stephen Gibbs – SOUNZ

NZF: The King’s Singers & Voices New Zealand

“It was an unmitigated pleasure to experience the vocal sheen and expertise when the two groups joined forces for the rich canvases of Eric Whitacre’s The Stolen Child and Bob Chilcott’s High Flight, conducted by Karen Grylls.” William Dart – NZ Herald

NZ Herald review

“The balance of the programme was a carefully constructed mix of the contemplative and the exuberant, ending with a medley of close harmony songs that was greeted with the sort of enthusiasm that suggested the concert could have gone on a great deal longer; advertised as lasting 90 minutes, it ran for nearly two hours, but the audience was still ready for more.” John Button – Dominion Post

Dominion Post review

It is a wonderful achievement to be now in our twentieth year. I’m not sure any of us, whose bright idea it was in 1998 to form a national, professional-level chamber choir, thought that we would be celebrating our twentieth year in such style: performing with The King’s Singers, recording and performing with the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and touring internationally to England, Germany, France and Spain. Well, we are! And congratulations, King’s Singers, on your fiftieth anniversary year and your outstanding performances around the world. We are very proud of our antipodean connections and look forward very much to singing together in this special year.

As for Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, the inspiration initially came from singers who had sung in national youth choirs and who wanted to continue the opportunity at a national, professional level. I had already made some personal, professional decisions that would create the time necessary to work with such an ensemble. After directing the Auckland Dorian Choir for fifteen years, a change was necessary. Thanks to Jacqui Simpson and some enthusiastic singers, we launched Voices in March 1998 in time to debut at the New Zealand International Arts Festival. In quick succession, there was a June performance of Bach Johannes Passion in the Bach Festival with the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, concerts in Spain and first prizes from the Tolosa Choral Competition in October.

Much of our performing has come as a result of collaborations with national and international organisations, festivals, orchestras and with inspiration and invitation from our musical colleagues. We treasure our relations with the New Zealand Festival and the Auckland Arts Festival (thank you, Carla van Zon). We’ve sung for Howard Shore, Jan Pascal Tortelier, James Macmillan, Jane Glover, Nicholas McGeegan, Simon Carrington, and Vladimir Ashkenazy, to name a few. Local collaborations have seen us performing with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Brian Law, Uwe Grodd, Marc Taddei and Tecwyn Evans.

Recording, too, has played a significant part of our profile. Highlights include premier recordings of Vanhal and Hummel recordings with the Aradia Ensemble for Naxos, the Tui award-winning disc Spirit of the Land, Voices of Aotearoa and most recently, Ross Harris’s Requiem for the Fallen with the New Zealand String Quartet.

Those who sing in the choir are passionate about their art, they give of themselves in time and spirit, beyond all expectations. It is a privilege to work with these inspiring singers as we develop our own art and share musical skills with other singers in our communities and schools through workshops and joint performances. The Aorere College Choir Residency in 2007 was one of the most memorable.

Also memorable was the 2011 Music New Zealand Tour, Voices of Aotearoa, with taonga pūoro artist Horomona Horo. This tour gave us the opportunity for seminal performances in the development of the choir; who we are and why we sing. We proved to ourselves that we could convincingly sing Purcell and waiata in the same programme. And as the artistic director and conductor of this national choir, I have always valued and welcomed the opportunity to commission and perform works from our New Zealand composers. This was a very special programme, which also made its way to the World Symposium of Choral Music in Patagonia and Argentina, later the same year.

In our twentieth year, our collective aspiration remains: to sing at the highest level, to encourage our composers to write about things that matter, and to share the music and the singing, which has the power to change our lives for the better. See you at the Festival!

Karen Grylls ONZM

Check out our latest newsletter here

VOICES NZ Chamber Choir is thrilled to open its concert year with joint concerts with leading UK ensemble The King’s Singers. These concerts will be part of the New Zealand Festival in Wellington and Auckland Arts Festival in March. In April VOICES will work with the APO on performing and recording Ross Harris’ new work FACE as part of the ENIGMA concert in April. The VOICES woman will join the APO again in May for Holst’s THE PLANETS. In June rehearsals are planned in preparation for an international tour in November (details to come). This busy year will end with another highlight performing Beethoven’s gargantuan Symphony No. 9 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Auckland and Wellington.

You can also mix in concerts by our other national choir, New Zealand Youth Choir. NZYC will be touring to Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, Arrowtown, Invercargill, Dunedin and Wellington.

Pick and mix your favourite concerts with our LOVE VOICES packages. Not only will you receive special discounts to the big concerts with NZSO and APO, and even The King’s Singers, but also to the NZYC concerts – so you can hear more choral music for less! It would even make a fabulous last-minute Christmas gift (or treat yourself!). Single tickets will go on sale in the New Year.

When Requiem for the Fallen debuted at the 2014 New Zealand Arts Festival, it was preceded by an eclectic selection of shorter choral and instrumental music.

On disc, by itself, this 45-minute collaboration between poet Vincent O’Sullivan and composer Ross Harris exerts an even greater power, from its opening exchanges between Rolf Gjelsten’s vibrant cello and Horomona Horo’s quavering koauau.

Within minutes of this elegiac karanga, Latin text mingles with O’Sullivan’s words. The fine young tenor Lachlan Craig celebrates the Great War soldier as a Kiwi Everyman who “carries the voice of the people”, threading his vocals through the resonant textures of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir. When words can say no more, the NZ String Quartet follows Horo’s ghostly putorino with a poignant coda.

It’s a rich and reverberant mix, immaculately balanced and paced by conductor Karen Grylls, making this score perhaps the finest of numerous local works inspired by the centenary of the 1914-18 conflict. O’Sullivan’s poetry effortlessly glides from peacetime nostalgia to ominous marching, “kitted out for the dark,” and Harris, in a stirring three minutes of string writing, reveals the skill and experience of a composer who has now penned seven string quartets.

All hell breaks loose in the Dies Irae with rushing strings, booming bass drum (played by the APO’s Eric Renick) and Horo’s wild, free-blowing pukaea; yet, in moments of comparative stillness, whispering choristers are equally chilling.

Richard Greager plays an old war-weary cobber. Setting off with the simplicity of folksong, the tenor builds up to an intensity and passion worthy of a Britten hero, as voices around him seem to float to heaven itself.

The original Wellington performance of this work, with Jonathan Alver’s staging, can be viewed online. However, this superb CD, expertly recorded by Wayne Laird in Ellerslie’s Michael Park School, offers an invaluable opportunity to focus on the impressive confluence of its many musical strands and cultures.

What: Requiem for the Fallen (Atoll, through Ode Records)
Rating: 5/5
Verdict: A superb choral tribute to Kiwi sacrifices on European battlefields

By William Dart

With “voices of spun gold” (BBC Music Magazine), The King’s Singers are masters of vocal harmony. These polished entertainers will sing a mix of ancient and contemporary, classical and popular, all delivered with “pinpoint precision and total rapport” (The Times, UK).

In a rare visit to New Zealand, this irresistibly charismatic ensemble performs at the New Zealand Festival in Wellington and the Auckland Arts Festival on their whistle-stop “Gold” world tour to celebrate 50 years in the business. Double Grammy Award–winners, The King’s Singers are beloved the world over, from London’s Royal Albert Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall, and now New Zealand!

They will be joined on stage by our country’s internationally renowned choir Voices New Zealand – who will themselves be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their founding at the 1998 New Zealand Festival. This celebratory programme will feature especially commissioned anniversary pieces by contemporary composers Nico Muhly, Bob Chilcott and New Zealand’s Leonie Holmes.

“Supreme polish and breathtaking accuracy” The Dominion Post review of Voices NZ

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