Join New Zealand’s award-winning chamber choir for a mid-winter Yulefest.
Think cosy ambience under high-vaulted ceilings, candlelight and divine music.

This celebration of choral music brings you a constellation of well-known Christmas carols with music about stars and the mystery of the season. Works will include “Stars” by Esenvalds, Daniel Elder’s “O Magnum Mysterium” and “Birthday Sleep” by John Tavener.

As additional treats there will be newly-commissioned arrangements of familiar Christmas carols from five New Zealand composers, our own musical Southern Cross, one for each star.

Let the ambiance excite your senses and celebrate with Voices New Zealand, with music familiar and new, in our July Yulefest!

 

 

 

With support from:

 

Voices New Zealand
Horomona Horo Traditionelle Instrumente der Māori
Dirigentin Karen Grylls

Der geheimnisvolle Ruf der Pukaea, der Māori-Trompete, eröffnet den ersten Teil des Konzerts „Stimmen der Heiligen und Engel". Hildegard von Bingens Stück „O Viridissimi Virga" aus dem zwölften Jahrhundert ist durchzogen von traditionellem Gesang der Māori, Samoaner, and Taiwanesen. Der Auftakt für ein einzigartiges Konzert welches die Klänge der europäischen Gegenwart aus der Sicht der Antipoden betrachtet. Voices of Aotearoa, Stimmen aus Neuseeland, ist ein außergewöhnliches Programm des preisgekrönten Ensembles Voices New Zealand, in dem der pazifische Ursprung des Ensembles mit dem klassischen, europäischen Chorrepertoire auf wundersame Weise verschmilzt. Das Resultat ist berauschend, exotisch und einfach wunderschön.

Die Musik ist inspiriert durch die neuseeländische Landschaft in Pounamu sodass die geheimnisvollen Klänge der Māori-Flöte die Zuschauer auf eine musikalische Reise entführen. Von Venezuela nach Finnland, Nordamerika nach Belgien, Voices of Aotearoas mitreißendes Finale „Karakia of the Stars" ist ein musikalisches Tribut an den Māori-Kriegstanz, dem Haka.

Ein besonderes Erlebnis im Konzert ist auch der Māori-Solist und Komponist Horomona Horo, der eine Reihe von traditionellen Maori-Instrumenten – Taonga Puoro – spielt, mit denen er die altertümliche Musik der Māori mit der westlichen Musik verbindet.

 

Programme

VOICES OF SAINTS AND ANGELS

Hildegard von Bingen
Improvisation nach „O viridissima virga“

David Childs
Salve Regina“

César Alejandro
Carrillo
Magnificat“

VOICES FROM THE EARTH

Mark Sirett
„Ce beau printemps“

Jean Absil
„Le bestiaire”

David Griffiths
„Lie Deep My Love”

VOICES FROM THE DEEP

Helen Fisher
„Pounamu”

Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
„Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae”

Samuel Barber
„To Be Sung On The Water”

VOICES OF STARS AND LIGHT

David Hamilton
„Ecce beatam lucem”

Eric Whitacre
„Lux aurumque”

David Hamilton
„Karakia of the Stars”

 

 


Mehr über Voices New Zealand:

 

Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir mit Chorleiterin Dr. Karen Grylls ist Neuseelands preisgekrönntes Nationalensemble.

Voices NZ debütierte 1998 beim New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington und gewann im selben Jahr den Titel beim Tolosa International Chorwettbewerb in Spanien.

Der 24-köpfige Kammerchor ist seitdem das renommierteste Ensemble in Neuseeland. Von Galakonzerten mit Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, und speziellen Projekten mit den größten internationalen Festspielen (New Zealand Festival in Wellington, Auckland Arts Festival) und Symphonien, ist Voices NZ der Kammerchor der Wahl im Land.

Großprojekte wie Tippets A Child of our Time, Brittens War Requiem, Faure und Mozart Requiems, Händels Messias, und Mahlers 8. Symphonie sind genauso wichtig im Repertoire von VOICES NZ wie die Arbeit mit zeitgenössischen Komponisten aus Neuseeland. Jack Bodys PASSIO und Ross Harris’ Requiem for the Fallen sind zwei neuere Kollaborationen.

Requiem for the Fallen wurde dieses Jahr als CD veröffentlicht. Weitere veröffentlichte Aufnahmen umfassen eine Zusammenstellung neuseeländischer Stücke, Spirit of the Land, welches den nationalen TUI Preis für das beste klassische Album erhielt, Vanhals Missa Patoralis in Kollaboration mit dem Aradia Ensemble (Kanada), Hummels Missa solemnis mit dem New Zealand Symphony Orchestra und VOICES of the SOUL mit Māorimusiker Horomona Horo.

Filmmusik: VOICES NZ hat in diesem Jahr ebenfalls die Chormusik für Peter Jacksons neuen Film Mortal Engines / Krieg der Städte aufgenommen, welcher Ende dieses Jahres in deutschen Kinos Premiere feiert. [Produziert von Peter Jackson, Regie Christian Rivers mit Musik von Tom Holkenborg].

VOICES ist regelmäßig auf Auslandstournee mit Auftritten in Australien, Argentinien, Neukaledonien, Deutschland, Spanien und Singapur.

 


Über künstlerische Leiterin Dr. Karen Grylls:

 

Im Jahr 1998 gründete Dr. Karen Grylls den Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, der schnell internationale Anerkennung für seine Konzerte und Aufnahmen erzielte. Karen ist Associate Professor in Chorleitung an der University of Auckland und ist ebenfalls Künstlerische Leiterin des Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Trust, die Organisation welche den Neuseeländischen Jugendchor, New Zealand Youth Choir, und Voices NZ managt. Zuvor war die gebürtige Neuseeländerin die Leiterin und Dirigentin des New Zealand Youth Choir (1989 bis 2011), und später auch Artistische Leiterin des Toronto Exultate Chamber Choir (2011 bis 2013).

Nach Studienaufenthalten in Neuseeland und den USA übernahm Karen die Leitung des Auckland Dorian Choir und des NZ Youth Choir.

Mit dem New Zealand Youth Choir erzielte Karen auch erheblichen internationalen Erfolg: So den Gewinn des Silver Rosebowl im “Let the Peoples Sing” Radio Wettbewerb (1992), “Choir of the World” (1999 International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales), und den “Grand Prix Slovakia” (1999).

Mit Voices New Zealand gewann die renommierte Dirigentin Gold und Silber bei dem Tolosa International Choral Wettbewerb (1998) und weitere Preise in Gorizia (2004), Llangollen, Wales, und Cantonigros, Spanien (2007).

Karen ist eine international gefragte Expertin in der Welt der Chormusik. Einladungen als Jurymitglied und Masterclasses im Chorsingen und –leiten brachten Karen nach Australien, Singapur, Spanien, Hong Kong, Italien, China, Taiwan, Kanada, Indonesien, Japan und Marktoberdorf in Deutschland.

In Anerkennung ihrer Verdienste in der Chormusik erhielt Karen eine ‚ONZM’-Verdienstmedallie (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit).

 


Mehr über Solist Horomona Horo:

 

Horomona Horo, ist ein gefragter Musiker für internationale Kollaborationen.

Die Liste seiner umfangreichen internationalen Auftritte umfasst Konzerte mit der Staatskapelle Weimar, Italientournee mit der Oper Canti Māori and Künstler zu Gast bei der 90. Gedenkveranstaltung für die Schlacht bei Passendale in Belgien. Horo verkörpert den einzigartigen Klang, die Techniken und intrinsische Wichtigkeit der traditionellen Praktiken der ‘taonga puoro’. Nicht nur musikalisch wichtig, die Instrumente selbst sind ein Teil der holistischen Kultur von Leben, Tod und Eigenartigkeiten der Māori, eine Kultur in die er geboren wurde. Jedes Instrument spielt eine spezifische Rolle im täglichen Leben der Māori beim Erzählen von Geschichten und Vermitteln von Traditionen. Dieser einzigartige Atem, eingehaucht in jedes der Instrumente, kreiert den markanten Stil seiner Kunst.

www.horomonahoro.com

www.facebook.com/Horomona.Music

The spine-tingling call of a pukaea, or Māori trumpet, announces the opening section, "Voices of Saints and Angels" and the strains of Hildegard von Bingen's 12th-century work O Viridissimi Virga intertwine with traditional Māori, Samoan, and Taiwanese chant.

In this unique concert the sound worlds are contemporaneous, albeit emanating from opposite sides of the globe. This parallel and apparent disparity is the central theme. VOICES OF AOTEAROA is a hallmark programme by the award-winning ensemble VOICES New Zealand as it infuses the qualities of the ensemble’s pacific origins with classic and ‘western’ choral repertoire – the result is an intoxicating, exotic and utterly beautiful concert experience.

Music inspired by New Zealand's geographical landscape includes Helen Fisher's Pounamu with its haunting Māori flute accompaniment taking audiences on a musical journey. Traversing from Venezuela to Finland, North America to Belgium VOICES OF AOTEAROA closes with the rousing Karakia of the Stars by New Zealand composer David Hamilton and a musical reference to a Maori haka (war dance).

The concert also features Māori musician and composer Horomona Horo performing on a range of Taonga Puoro, traditional Māori instruments, weaving the ancient music and sounds of the Māori people through these ‘western’ songs.

 

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21
Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
with Voices New Zealand

Music Director Edo de Waart’s final Masterworks concerts for 2018 highlight two milestones in not only Beethoven’s career, but the symphonic repertoire. Hear in one concert the composer’s journey from Classical to Romantic and in the process changing music forever.

The First Symphony is from a young Beethoven, already making his name in Vienna as a pianist and composer. While it owes a debt to Haydn, it also shows a composer hungry to explore and experiment.

His gargantuan Symphony No. 9, written when he had become completely deaf, is one of his greatest and most loved works. With four fantastic soloists – soprano Madeleine Pierard, mezzo-soprano Kristin Darragh, tenor Simon O’Neill and bass Anthony Robin Schneider – and premiere choir Voices New Zealand for the fourth movement’s ‘Ode to Joy’, this is an event no one should miss.

 

MULTIPLE CONCERT PACKAGE

Beethoven 9 is also available in the LOVE VOICES 2018 concert package – where you can book more concerts for less! Click here to book for this concert and/or create your own concert package.

INDIVIDUAL CONCERT TICKETS

For tickets to individual concerts only, use the white ticket button under the city of your choice.

 

Conductor Hans Graf

Cello Li-Wei Qin

 

Debussy Images pour orchestre: Gigues and Rondes de printemps
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme
Holst The Planets

Holst was fascinated by astrology, and in 1913 wrote to a friend:' Recently the character of each planet suggested lost to me'. The result is astonishingly vivid music for each of the human traits embodied by each planet's namesake deity - war, peace, jollity, old age - before the ultimate fade-out into the infinite. This piece has justly been a favourite from its first performance. Sopranos and Altos from VOICES NZ join the APO for this work.

Intoxicating from the very first bars...

Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Ross Harris Face (world premiere)
Elgar Variations on an Original Theme, ‘Enigma’

Enjoy two of the most adored pieces of English music, Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Williams The Lark Descending in a concert by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra joined by VOICES NZ. Conductor is Anthony Hermus.

Between these two favourites is a new commission from Ross Harris. Face is inspired by the story of Sir Harold Dillies, the New Zealander who became the father of plastic surgery through his pioneering work treating the disfiguring facial injuries sustained by soldiers during the First World War. This multimedia work also includes visuals by Tim Gruchy, based on and original artwork by Barry Cleavin and features VOICES NZ.

 

MULTIPLE CONCERT PACKAGE

ENIGMA with APO is also available in the LOVE VOICES 2018 concert package – which enables you to book more concerts for less! Click here to book for this concert and/or choose your concert package.

INDIVIDUAL CONCERT TICKETS

Will be on sale in the New Year

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

 

MULTIPLE CONCERT PACKAGE

This concert is also available in the LOVE VOICES 2018 concert package - where you can book more concerts for less. Click here to book.

INDIVIDUAL CONCERT TICKETS

For tickets to individual concerts only, use the white ticket button under the city of your choice or follow these links:

WELLINGTON tickets

AUCKLAND tickets

This project is supported by
PCL_Logo_Web_Reversed_2017

Conceived by the ground-breaking New Zealand composer and ethnomusicologist Jack Body (1944-2015), Passio is a rich re-contextualisation of Richard Davy’s (1467?-1538) moving Passion according to St Matthew and a testament to Body’s adventurous musical vision.

In this remarkable revisiting of Davey’s early-Renaissance work, ancient mingles with modern as chamber choir, vocal soloists and brass are given new voice by a consortium of six New Zealand composers.

Passio will be an immersive and rare musical experience in which audiences are free to wander the performance area to more fully absorb the resonances of musicians and singers – the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and New Zealand’s premiere chamber choir, VOICES.

Seize the moment and come celebrate, remember and acknowledge the genius, guile and inventiveness of the much-loved Jack Body in a concert where exquisite voice invokes the past amidst a dynamic instrumental present.

Conductors: Dr Karen Grylls and Peter Scholes
Soprano soloist: Madeleine Pierard
Tenor soloist: Lachlan Craig
Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir
Auckland Chamber Orchestra

General admission is standing. Some seating provided – arrive early if you require a seat.

This concert is presented by the Auckland Arts Festival

Programme: PASSIO – by Jack Body, David Farquhar, Ross Harris, Lissa Meridan, Michael Norris and Dame Gillian Whitehead

 

After a sell-out Auckland Concert, VOICES is taking SALUT PRINTEMPS on tour. SALUT PRINTEMPS is a concert welcoming Spring, which brings the beauty of trembling flowers, the fresh green growth, the animals awakening, the enchanting evenings, and the season of youth, love and light – all in a mesmerizing programme using the ’official’ language of love – French.

The music skips from the better-known pieces of Debussy and Poulenc to romantic chansons and a quirky four-song cycle about a dromedary, a crayfish, a carp and a cat that will make you giggle.

A blissful concert full of sunshine – not to be missed!

Conductor: Dr Karen Grylls
Pianist: Rachel Fuller
Narrator: Catrin Johnsson

 

SUPPORTED BY:

 

Celebrate the glory of the high Baroque!

Bayleys Great Classics
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Conductor: Matthew Halls
Soprano: Siobhan Stagg
Tenor: Andrew Goodwin
Choir: Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir

Programme:
HANDEL Zadok the Priest
J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No.3 in D Major
HANDEL Ode for St Cecilia’s Day

Nothing compares to the glory of the voice in the high Baroque, especially when accompanied by a sparkling orchestra. The overpowering splendour of Zadok the Priest has accompanied the coronation of every King and Queen of England since George II in 1727.

St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and Handel’s ode in her honour is an uninhibited celebration of the joy of music.

Between these two magnificent pieces, is one of Bach’s happiest works, whose second movement has become famously known as the ‘Air on the G String’.

Free Organ Recital
The Auckland Town Hall Organ Trust, in association with the APO, presents a 30-minute recital at 6pm prior to each Bayleys Great Classics concert in the Auckland Town Hall. Each recital features a different organist playing classics from the organ repertoire.

Pre-concert Talk by Sam Girling at 6:45 pm.

When: Thursday 3 Aug 2017, 7:30pm
Where: Auckland Town Hall - Great Hall, 303 Queen St, CBD, Auckland
Tickets: LOVE VOICES Package $95* (just book to more than one VOICES concert to get this special rate for this amazing concert!)

* booking fees apply

TO BOOK TICKETS TO THIS and another VOICES concert please CLICK HERE 

TO BOOK TICKETS for Baroque Voices only please CLICK HERE