New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir to perform in Far North and Whangārei

New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir staff featuring Whangārei’s Emma Blood-Mouat, second from the right, who will accompany the 56-strong choir on its upcoming Northland tour.

Some of the country’s finest young singers will be in Northland later this month for a four-date tour that includes shows in Kerikeri, Waitangi Treaty Grounds and Whangārei.

The New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir’s tour to Northland in late January will see 56 of the country’s best young singers perform, while accompanied by their Whangārei-based student welfare manager, Emma Blood-Mouat, herself an accomplished choral music performer and director.

The four-show tour will kick off with a free performance at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri, from 12 noon on January 24, which will feature an especially commissioned new work by composer Reuben Rameka (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kurī, Ngāti Tarawhai, Te Ārawa, Tuhourangi). Rameka won the 2021 national choral composition competition, Compose Aotearoa.

This will be followed by a concert at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds from 4pm that afternoon.

New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir members are getting in plenty of practice ahead of their four-date Northland tour towards the end of January.

On January 25 the young singers will perform at Whangārei’s Hundertwasser Arts Centre in a lunchtime show, followed by a full concert at Christ Church, Whangārei, at 7.30pm.

Under the direction of Sue Densem, the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir (NZSSC) gathers the country’s finest young voices aged 14–18 and offers a once in a lifetime opportunity — a two-year membership to learn from top vocal teachers and teachers that culminates in an international tour. The Northland concerts will be the first performances for 2024, followed up by other regional concerts and capped off in July with a tour to Beijing for an international choral festival.

Acclaimed Northland opera singer Blood-Mouat is proud to showcase her region, saying she’s excited to be accompanying the 56 singers on their Northland tour.

New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir members performing ahead of their visit to Northland.

This vibrant, multicultural choir will offer a new repertoire, a dynamic, international concert programme that includes works from Aotearoa and the Pacific as well as kapa haka.

NZSSC performs a wide variety of music, including works from New Zealand’s top composers. Its purpose is to extend secondary students’ choral excellence and develop their leadership capabilities as key contributors to the New Zealand arts sector.

For more information go www.nzsschoir.com/event/nzssc-in-whangarei.