Lessons from the Inaugural SingDownunder Festival, 2010.

SingDownunder gives opportunities for international choirs to tour New Zealand. It particularly gives them four opportunities in New Zealand, none of which might be available otherwise.

1. It negotiates for visiting choirs to outreach with Maori and Polynesian choirs which are uniquely available in New Zealand, particularly Auckland.

2. It provides a competition/workshops/massed choirs/concert opportunity in Auckland’s best venue and with best resources (eg sound engineer, adjudicators).

3. It draws the choirs of metropolitan Auckland together at the competition and gives the visiting choirs the chance to see some of New Zealand’s best young choirs.

4. It creates a shared and partly shared touring itinerary in which international choirs visit New Zealand’s most famous scenic areas and sing with choirs and music groups in often beautiful small venues.

SingDownunder is also a means of achieving more international exposure for New Zealand choirs, particularly those not likely to be able to tour internationally and some who might not even get to sing in New Zealand’s main centres.

These ideas were supported by the inaugural event. All of the elements of the festival seemed to make up a diverse interesting appropriate experience for the Australian group. The NZ Choirs that participated, either in Auckland or in the hinterland, seemed to love the chance that the visitors brought.

The Australians included 10 choristers who were 19-21, ie older than any NZ school chorister, but there was no problem with this. The experience suggested that American junior college choirs can participate appropriately, for instance.

The feedback from the New Zealand choirs and correspondence from overseas suggests SingDownunder will have more choirs next year.

Feedback from our Musical Director, David Hamilton

David Hamilton

SingDownunder Festival

The words of one of my own students said it all: “Yesterday was awesome and fun and I can’t wait until next year for it again.” SingDownunder launched successfully at the end of July with 11 Auckland choirs performing and competing alongside the Youth Chorale of the National Children’s Choir and Youth Chorale of Australia. Covering a wide range of music, the competitive aspect of the event allowed choirs to show off their best singing. Choirs from south Auckland such as Multichoral (Mangere College) and Front Row Choir (Aorere College) brought with them pieces from the Maori and Polynesian tradition which were received enthusiastically by the assembled audience. Other choirs stuck more closely to traditional choral repertoire, with many including pieces by New Zealand composers.

However SingDownunder is much more than just a competition, and the Saturday afternoon was filled with massed choir rehearsals. Pieces for mixed voices (“Lacrymosa” from Mozart’s ‘Requiem’, and an engaging “Ave Maria” by Spanish composer Ramiro Real) and new piece for treble voices (my own “The Voices of Children” especially written for the event) were rehearsed and then sung in the evening’s gala concert.

Fellow adjudicators Faye Dumont (one of Australia’s top choral experts from Melbourne) and Peter Watts (Auckland) enjoyed the mix of competition and massed singing, and have made helpful suggestions for the next festival in 2011. And most importantly the singers (and conductors) appreciated the opportunity to work with different conductors and also to get some instant feedback after their performances.

Next year’s festival is in early July – the earlier dates being time preferred by choirs from the northern hemisphere. Watch for information early in the new year, and make sure you’re part of this new and exciting event on the Auckland, and national choral scene.

David Hamilton
Music Director
SingDownunder Choral Festival

National Children’s Choir of Australia 2010 itinerary

The NCCA came to New Zealand late on July 28th and was hosted in Auckland by the Choralation choir of Westlake Boys and Girls High Schools led by Rowan Johnstone.  Their busy schedule was as follows:

July 29th Full day Maori Choral Workshop with Hangi meal hosted by Aorere College’s “Sweet Sixteen” Choir led by Douglas Nyce.

July 30th and 31st Two day choral competition, workshops, massed choir rehearsals and recordings.

August 1 Flew to Queenstown

6pm Recital in St Peters Church, Queenstown with the Central Otago Regional Choir directed by John Buchanan

August 2nd Recital in the Mercure Hotel.

August 3rd Daytime skiing in the Cadrona Valley

August 4th lunchtime Concert at Geraldine Primary School with the Colla Voce Choir conducted by Shirley Lindroos from Geraldine High School

7pm concert in St John’s Church with the Mt Hutt College Choir directed by Thirza Currie and the Crescendo Light Orchestra conducted by Lyn Blackwell at St Johns Church Methven.

August 5th 7pm concert in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Barbadoes St, Christchurch with the choir and orchestra of Christchurch Boys High School and the Cathedral Choir all led by Don Whelan.  This cathedral, a wonderful place for a choir to sing, was not broken in the subsequent earthquake but was cracked badly enough to be out of commission in the interim.

August 6th On the plane back to Melbourne

New Zealand Summer Holiday Time

Dear Singers,

The World Choral Tour is over and we’ve returned to settle in New Zealand. Christmas and New Year celebrations are added to summer holiday activities here so it has been a rather busy time re-establishing ourselves and beginning to play our part again in the New Zealand scene. Just at the moment schools are closed and people are away on holiday. I’ve been swimming in the surf again and it is lovely.

We saw about twenty choirs on the tour, in Australia, Europe and the US. Almost all responded very positively and many of them expressed an intention to come to our festival sooner or, probably, later. It takes a long while considering such a big venture, and longer again to organise a group of 30-40 singers to travel to New Zealand. So we don’t expect the earth to move overnight.

But it was very gratifying that people were so positive. And you can be sure that others around the world are beginning to make closer or further plans to come to New Zealand. We are planning to make it a wonderful time for you when you come.

Owen