After more than 3 decades of incredible mahi, we are celebrating Karen’s journey with Voices New Zealand and the New Zealand Youth Choir with this gala concert.

If you have sung under Karen or are a current or past CANZ singer who has been influenced by Karen’s work, we invite you to SING in this concert as part of the alumni massed choir.

Apart from the obvious rehearsal time for these massed alumni choir pieces, there will be many chances to socialize and see other events in this year’s Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts in Wellington.

If you want to sing, this is what is required:

– be available for at least 2 hours of joint rehearsals on Saturday 14 March in Wellington,

– be available for the dress rehearsal at Michael Fowler Centre on Sunday 15 March and concert at 6.30pm

– purchase a very discounted ‘alumni singer seat‘ in a premium position in the stalls, from which you can then enter the stage for the joint items.

If you want to attend but NOT sing, here is a link for discounted general alumni tickets.

Social events:

• see Voices 16 perform live on stage with the New Zealand Dance Company in GLORIA as part of the Festival.
  Get tickets for Friday night or Saturday night

Now, please fill in this short survey and tell us your plans to attend this special weekend!

Let’s make this a big celebration, we look forward to sharing this with you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applications will also be accepted to hold both currently advertised roles for the right candidate (noting that one, the Music Director Voices New Zealand, is fixed term, the MAPO is permanent)

(1) Music Director Voices New Zealand

(2) MANAGER, ARTISTIC PLANNING & OUTREACH (MAPO)

Please follow link for full review by Elizabeth Bouman for Otago Daily Times.

Reimagining Mozart
St Paul’s Cathedral
Sunday, March 30

Patrons filled St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday for Reimagining Mozart (2023), Robert Wiremu’s (Auckland) unique hour-long choral piece commissioned for Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir (Karen Grylls) and chamber ensemble.

Jono Palmer conducted.

Wiremu conceived Reimagining Mozart by blending memories of the 1979 Erebus tragedy with thematic material and passages from Mozart’s famous Requiem, imagining a hypothetical passenger had been listening to Requiem on a Sony Walkman, which continued to play on in Antarctica’s icy silence.

…

Wiremu has crafted an outstanding programmatic work in memory of a great tragedy and, along with the large audience, this was a unique performance I will always remember.

Location: Wellington (preferred)

Essential: previous Tour Management experience

0.8 FTE to Full-Time

We are looking for a new team member to manage the activities of our iconic national choirs, which include New Zealand Youth Choir, NZSSC and Voices New Zealand.

We are working out of a groovy office in Victoria Street and deliver the management of our three internationally-awarded national choirs, a national academy and nationwide outreach and engagement program.

Your role in 2025 would include managing the logistic preparation and planning of the ionic New Zealand Youth Choir’s activities, travel arrangements, scheduling and administration. For 2025 that includes a tour to Northland, Wellington and international tour to Europe. Your role includes tour-managing and leading the touring party and artists on the road. If you like good systems, have attention to detail and work well with creative people, this job could be yours.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work for an iconic national organisation and grow as an arts manager in New Zealand’s vibrant creative sector.

You can find more info about this role on our website choirs.nz/jobs

Get in touch now or send your application to joinus@choirsnz.co.nz no later than 12noon 20 January 2025.

Interviews will take place before 25 January and immediate start is possible.

Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand (CANZ) continues to thrive and we are looking for new Trustees with specific skills. We’d love to hear from you and invite you to send your governance CV to canztrustees@gmail.com by 10 December 2024. If you have any questions you can contact us at this email address.

The CANZ Trust governs three national choirs with great domestic and international reputations – NZ Secondary Students Choir, NZ Youth Choir and Voices NZ. CANZ also delivers a national choral Academy and an Outreach and Engagement programme.

The Trust is a dynamic organisation which aspires to and achieves artistic excellence while developing the artists and contributing to  the place of New Zealand contemporary vocal music with commissions and performances of New Zealand works. We have excellent working relationships with our major funding organisational partners – Creative New Zealand, Infratil and NZ Community Trust – and enjoy the generous sponsorship and donor relationships with a wide variety of committed individuals. Our highly capable management team is complemented by the top artistic talent we attract.

We would like to hear from people who appreciate excellence in artistic performance and the creative arts, and have the governance skills to make a difference for our top quality endeavours.  The Trustees have a strong governance focus, currently meeting 5 times a year, generally online for a couple of hours, with one more strategically focussed face-to-face meeting for around half a day.

CANZ Trust Board

We are seeking the following skills in particular:

1. education – skills and knowledge to help us with policy settings in particular for the NZ Secondary Students Choir and the Aotearoa New Zealand Academy Choir
2. arts administration – experience working with arts organizations and managing events, festivals or tours
3. political or business networks – someone who has networks and connections which may help us open doors and/or the skills to support the CE turn these into actionable opportunities
4. capability and experience to support the embedding of CANZ’s approach to partnering with Māori and Pasifika that is commensurate with our role as a national organisation, and build on the good things already happening in this area
5. governance and leadership experience – help us ensure we’re considering the right detail at a board level to shape and influence the direction of the organisation

Voices New Zealand and their inspiring conductor Karen Grylls presented another dazzling and risk-taking programme when they brought their ‘Horizons’ concert to Wellington for three performances over Labour weekend. It is, in fact, much more than a concert. Horizons offers complete musical storytelling, integrating choral music, movement, staging and lighting linked by poetic narration and evocative percussion colours.

read the full review

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Celebrated New Zealand choir director Dr Karen Grylls CNZM has announced that 2024 will be her final year as Artistic Director for Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand (CANZ) – the body that manages the country’s four national choirs – as she signals a shift to a new role as Artistic Director Emerita.

Karen has been involved with the national choirs since 1989 when she was appointed music director for New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC). In 1998, Grylls founded Voices New Zealand chamber choir, our premier national choir, directing both Voices NZ and NZYC for the next 13 years. She’s been Voices’ music director for 26 years now, a role she will continue until the end of 2025 when, Karen says, “It will be time to hand over the reins”.

“Karen’s contribution to our national choirs has been remarkable, and thousands of singers have benefited from her expertise and generosity,” says CANZ Chief Executive, Arne Herrmann, “Her ability to take a sound, a choir, to the next level is second-to-none, and the array of awards her choirs have received is testament to this. Karen’s influence has shaped CANZ into an organisation of excellence with a hunger for quality and musical exploration.”

In 2023, Karen was recognised in the King’s Birthday and Coronation Honours as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her exceptional contributions to the world of choral music. Karen says that as music director of both the NZ Youth Choir and Voices NZ, her highlights have included NZYC being named “Choir of the World” at the 1999 International Music Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, and just a week later the choir winning the “Grand Prix Slovakia” while on an international tour. “In 2004, we took part in the 43rd International Choral Competition in Gorizia, Italy, and at the 2005 NZ Music Awards our CD, Gaude, was a finalist for Best Classical Album,” Karen says.

Voices New Zealand made its début at the 1998 New Zealand International Arts Festival and later that year won awards at the Tolosa International Choral Competition in Spain. Karen says she’s particularly proud of winning a 2006 NZ Music Tui Award for Best Classical Disc for Spirit of the Land, the 2016 one-off, sell-out New Zealand Festival gala recital with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the 2018 concerts with The King’s Singers, London, at the New Zealand Festival and the Auckland Arts Festival to celebrate the choirs’ respective anniversaries – 50 years for The Kings Singers and 20 for Voices NZ. In collaboration with taonga puoro artist and composer, Horomona Horo, Voices represented New Zealand at the 2011 World Choral Symposium in Patagonia, and in 2018 toured to the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

“The 90s were watershed years for me, when the relationship with Ngāpō and Pimia Wehi, legendary kapa haka exponents, and the national choirs began. There were joint performances by the NZ Youth Choir and Te Waka Huia at Holy Trinity Cathedral and at the Sydney Opera House during the 1996 World Choral Symposium,” says Karen, “The relationship with Aroha Cassidy-Nanai that followed was one of the most remarkable times for the choir as we were gifted Wehi compositions to perform. The more than 30-year relationship continues today with a new Youth Choir commission from Ngāpō and Pimia’s granddaughter, Tuirina Wehi.”

Karen says she is excited to continue her relationship with CANZ as Artistic Director Emerita; sharing her expertise and experience with the organisation and its people. She’s looking forward to having more time to devote to mentoring and teaching and is passionate about her work with the New Zealand Children’s Choral Academy, of which she is co-artistic director. Karen is also Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, working with young conductors. 2025 will be another busy year for Karen as she continues her role as Music Director for Voices NZ, with the year culminating in an international tour. No doubt there will also be one, or many, celebrations of Karen and her incredible contribution to the national choirs so far: “It’s been a privilege,” she says.

For more information:

Rachel Healy, Publicist, T: 027 2706105, E: rachel@rachelhealy.co.nz or
Arne Herrmann, Chief Executive, T:027 2761751, E: ceo@choirsnz.co.nz

Meet Fergus – the 2024 Composer in Residence at Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand!

Originally from Taupō, Fergus Byett moved to Hamilton in 2019 to study Classical Performance (Piano) at the University of Waikato. With the support of a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship, he completed his undergraduate studies under Katherine Austin, and in 2023 he completed his Masters under Dr. Rae de Lisle. In the same year, Fergus won the University of Waikato Concerto Competition, Bach Competition and Chamber Music Competition, as well as Recital and Concerto classes at the 2023 Hamilton Competitions. His compositions have won national awards, including in the ‘Compose Aotearoa!’ Composition Competition, and in 2024, he currently holds Composer-in-Residence roles with Choirs Aotearoa and the Auckland Youth Choir. He has also completed several commissions for community ensembles in the Waikato. He is a collaborative pianist at the University of Waikato, where he has also worked as a music theory and piano tutor, and he is a founding Artistic Director of the Waikato Youth Choir. Fergus is one of the organists at the Waikato Cathedral Church of St. Peter, where he has accompanied the Cathedral Singers since 2023. As a Summer Research Scholar, Fergus also worked on an article which has now been published in the British Journal of Music Education, and he is a fluent speaker of te reo Māori, having recently completed a Level 7 Diploma through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.