Whanganui singers AwaSide Choir making big noise for first cadenza concert

Whanganui High School's AwaSide Choir are rehearsing for their performance in The Big Sing (TBS) Cadenza at the Royal Whanganui Opera House.

Directed by Roz Armstrong and accompanied by Joanna Love, it is easy to hear why they have been selected to represent Whanganui for the Lower North Island gala concert.

Joanna Love (back left) and Roz Armstrong (centre) with members of Whanganui High School's AwaSide choir are rehearsing for The Big Sing at the Royal Wanganui Opera House. Photo / Bevan Conley

"This is only around half their number and we don't have many of our bass singers here today," Armstrong said.

She has recently taken up the position as head of drama at Whanganui High School but is well known to some choir members as their former teacher at Whanganui Intermediate School.

"Some of these singers were in the WISS choir and productions so I already knew their capabilities," she said.

TBS is New Zealand's largest choral event and has been successfully run by The New Zealand Choral Federation for over 25 years.

Around 250 secondary school choirs, comprising some 10,000 singers, enter regional competitions held in ten centres around the country, with the top 24 choirs being selected for the national finale and a further 36 choirs for cadenza.

"TSB Cadenza is new in 2019 and will take place over two days in three centres," said Whanganui co-ordinator Edwyna McDonald.

"It is a blending of formal, adjudicated competition with combined workshops and culminating in a gala concert."

The AwaSide Choir will be joined by 11 other choirs from Palmerston North, East Coast, Wellington, Kapiti and New Plymouth.

"The choirs' pieces are wide-ranging in style, from jazz, gospel and pop through to folk and classical music," McDonald said.

At the gala concert, each choir will showcase an item from their cadenza repertoire and a massed choir of over 330 voices will come together to perform at the end of the evening.

The Big Sing Cadenza Gala Concert: Royal Wanganui Opera House, Tuesday, August 20, 7pm. Tickets adult $20, senior $15, NZCF members $15, school child $5, under-5s free (book a seat if required). Book at the Royal Whanganui Opera House or online at seatadvisor.com.