News Archive
See our news stories from prior years.
23 Feb 2024, 10:43
We’re pleased to welcome Sophie van Waardenberg to the NZCF team as our Communications Administrator.
5 Jul 2023, 13:47
John Rosser, Christine Argyle and Kylie Sealy are currently at the 12th World Choir Games in Gangneung, Korea.
29 Mar 2023, 20:41
We are pleased to announce that Robin Randall and Raymond Tan have been elected to the NZCF Governance Board and will take up their 3-year tenure at our AGM on 7 May.
2 Dec 2022, 14:01
We were sad to learn of the passing of New Zealand composer Jenny McLeod on 27 November 2022, at the age of 81.
28 Nov 2022, 14:57
We farewell Robert Wiremu and Megan Hurnard from the NZCF Board, and welcome new member Melissa Absolum.
4 Nov 2022, 13:23
Almost 600 children from the Wellington and Waikato regions took part in The Kids Sing this week, with festivals held at St Mark’s School in Wellington on November 1st and at Southwell School in Hamilton on November 3rd.
31 Oct 2022, 15:40
An exciting new choral venture has been launched in Auckland
9 Oct 2022, 15:49
A video project for primary and intermediate school choirs
7 Oct 2022, 15:59
NZCF’s inaugural Chair, John Rosser, recently travelled to Lisbon to attend the General Assembly of the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) and the 2022 World Choral Expo.
6 Oct 2022, 12:00
A year on from our highly successful Choral Connect conference in Auckland, we’re delighted to release a series of videos recorded at each of the sessions.
6 Oct 2022, 12:00
The Manawatu-Whanganui branch of NZCF is hosting a SingFest on Saturday 29 October
1 Sept 2022, 22:41
September will see two more The Kids Sing events, in Auckland and Palmerston North.
1 Sept 2022, 12:00
The month of August was very much dominated by high school choral singing – and what a celebration it was after two years in a row without being able to carry out the full Cadenza and Finale offerings!
29 Aug 2022, 12:00
Congratulations to all the participating choirs in The Big Sing National Finale 2022!
29 Aug 2022, 12:00
Here is the list of awards from the 2022 Cadenza festivals.
3 Aug 2022, 12:00
Choral directors and leaders of children’s singing can now hone their skills from the comfort of their own home in Zoom sessions with an ACD advisor.
3 Aug 2022, 12:00
We’re thrilled that celebrity TV presenter Miriama Kamo will compère The Big Sing Finale this year in the Christchurch Town Hall.
1 Aug 2022, 12:00
Empowering Music Teachers is a set of two consecutive conferences being held in Otāutahi Christchurch and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, 22-24 October 2022.
30 Jun 2022, 12:00
We revisit a Choral Connect presentation by Dr. Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, titled Pou-Rewa: Mātauranga Māori and Creativity.
30 Jun 2022, 12:00
We’re always pleased to welcome new Member Choirs to our NZCF community, and this year we’re thrilled to say “nǐ hǎo” to the Music Association of Auckland.
26 Jun 2022, 16:11
We are thrilled that all nine of our region the Big Sing festivals were able to go ahead without disruption this year
2 Jun 2022, 12:00
We are delighted to announce that former Vice Chair Warwick Harvey has been elected as NZCF’s new Chair.
2 Jun 2022, 12:00
Juliet Dreaver, our dedicated Governance Board Chair of the past four years, was awarded Life Membership last month at our Annual General Meeting.
5 May 2022, 12:00
We are delighted to announce that four incredibly committed NZCF members have recently been awarded NZCF Distinguished Service Awards for service to choral music in their respective regions.
5 May 2022, 12:00
We love welcoming new Member Choirs to our choral community, and this year we’re thrilled to welcome the Medena Ensemble from Auckland.
5 May 2022, 12:00
In April 1972 the Auckland University Festival Choir set off to participate with choirs from fifteen other countries at the Third International University Choral Festival.
14 Apr 2022, 12:00
You are warmly invited to NZCF’s Annual General Meeting at 2.00pm on Sunday 8 May 2022 at The Ship Hall, Hawke Sea Scout Club, 55 West End Road, Herne Bay, Auckland.
8 Apr 2022, 12:00
There are three vacancies to be filled at our 2022 AGM.
30 Mar 2022, 12:00
We love hearing from our members and were delighted to receive a clever poem from Julia Banks of Cockle Bay, Auckland, about the current reality of rehearsing on Zoom.
4 Feb 2022, 12:00
Being an NZCF member is your best way of keeping up to date with the national and international choral community and with events, performance opportunities, and workshops.
2 Feb 2022, 12:00
Tim Wayne-Wright was a member of the Grammy-winning a cappella vocal ensemble The King’s Singers for 10 years. He was fortunate enough to tour the world, singing over 1500 concerts in some of the world’s greatest venues.
25 Jan 2022, 12:00
The Next Big Thing is a chance for young adults to rehearse and perform an incredible piece of choral music (Fauré’s Requiem) with charismatic Wellington conductor Brent Stewart – all in one weekend!
31 Dec 2021, 12:00
John Rosser has been named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List.
2 Dec 2021, 12:00
With Christmas in the air, we thought we’d ask three of our starriest choral alumni – Simon O’Neill, Jonathan Lemalu, and Madeleine Pierard – to share their favourite carols, Christmas traditions and festive food with us!
2 Dec 2021, 12:00
The NZCF has been thrilled to partner again with MENZA and the NZ Music Commission for the second year of our virtual choir project, Kids Online Singalong.
2 Dec 2021, 12:00
After the disappointment of having to cancel both the South Island Cadenza and The Big Sing Finale in August we compiled a series of online showcases.
1 Dec 2021, 12:00
Just in time for the festive season, our national chamber choir Voices New Zealand presents ‘Follow That Star’, a southern hemisphere Christmas collection of New Zealand Choral Music
2 Nov 2021, 12:00
The Wairarapa Singers are long-standing members of the NZCF. They have always had a strong sense of community and that has become even more evident during the pandemic.
15 Oct 2021, 12:00
We’re inviting primary and intermediate school choirs to learn and make a video of Aroha I Aotearoa the winning entry in this year’s Hook, Line and Sing-A-Long competition.
4 Oct 2021, 12:00
NZCF recently carried out research into how we can stay connected with young people and support them to keep singing in choirs after they leave school. We conducted two focus groups and a 1:1 interview with 12 men and women aged 18-23.
1 Oct 2021, 12:00
We are delighted to welcome Hannah Darroch to the NZCF in a part-time contract role assisting with our digital communications: e-newsletters, website content, social media, and other communications-related activity.
30 Sept 2021, 12:00
We were delighted to be part of the presentation of the newly created SOUNZ-NZCF Te Reo Māori Choral Composition Award to the inaugural winner Jade Ponga, a Year 13 student at New Plymouth Girls’ High School.
17 Sept 2021, 12:00
Since the early days of the pandemic, there has been a growing online community of choral singers, directors and sewers considering scientific research to develop the ideal mask for singing.
3 Sept 2021, 12:00
Our Kids Sing festival in Auckland is normally a two-day event with Contributing Primary School choirs (Years 1-6) taking part on day 1and Full Primary and Intermediate choirs (up to Year 8) on day 2.
3 Sept 2021, 12:00
We are so pleased that a total of 24 North Island choirs were each able to enjoy two wonderful days of music-making in either Whanganui or Rotorua prior to lockdown.
2 Sept 2021, 12:00
We’re delighted to welcome Lisa Bates to the NZCF team as our new Development Manager. In this new role, Lisa will work on designing, implementing and managing a revenue generation strategy to enable NZCF to increase its capacity, capability and long-term sustainability.
5 Aug 2021, 12:00
Reflecting on the conference three weeks later, ACD Chair David Squire writes:
“This year’s Choral Connect was a watershed moment for the NZCF Association of Choral Directors – a chance to explore some of the cultures that make up Aotearoa New Zealand.
5 Aug 2021, 12:00
Why not enrol in one of our Giving Direction workshops? Giving Direction is aimed at choir directors of all levels and offers ‘hands-on’ instruction on conducting gesture and other vital aspects of choir direction.
4 Aug 2021, 12:00
Ticketing details and times for the competitive sessions and gala concerts for our Cadenza festivals and The Big Sing Finale