New Zealand Youth Choir can be relied upon for a ripping good show and, on the eve of its European tour, 49 choristers, under the able David Squire, did just that.
Singing almost entirely without scores, effortlessly transitioning from spirited waiata to complex Latin and German polyphony, this was music-making at a truly ambassadorial level.
A capacity audience enjoyed a remarkably inclusive programme, framed by a processional blend of Gregorian chant with karanga and a schmoozy Hoagy Carmichael encore.
Old favourites included R. Murray Schafer's Epitaph for Moonlight, its freeform textures skilfully spun out by singers in a circle around the audience.
Another was Sarah McCallum's The Moon's Glow Once Lit, a love song in which a resonant male contingent represented the sturdy pohutukawa to the women's shifting sea.
