Viva Voce: To the Island

• Date: 03/05/2026 16:00 - 17:15
• Location: St Matthew-in-the-City, Auckland
• Tickets: $45 earners, $35 non-earners, $20 tertiary students, $10 schoolchildren

Once upon a time, acclaimed Auckland chamber choir Viva Voce presented These Choral Islands, a playful title for a concert of NZ works rather than a true exploration of island-ness. Many years later, we tackle the topic head-on and return ‘to the island’.

And in a world of mayhem, mad men and media malevolence, where better to get away from it all? We sail with the Beach Boys across a raft of Caribbean islets, including the mythical Kokomo, and join Purcell in praising the ‘fairest isle’… of Britain. Some safe havens are harder to reach; Bonnie Prince Charlie dashes through wild wind and waves to Skye, and David Hamilton’s Na blátha craige evokes the bleak, rocky Aran Islands in Irish text as challenging as the landscape.

We ‘visit’ both the elusive Bali Ha’i and the enchanted island of The Tempest, whose themes of betrayal, revenge and forgiveness inspire three contrasting works. Yet islands can also be prisons: Selene pleads with the moon to free her stranded boat, while Monteverdi’s stunning Lamento d’Arianna weeps for Ariadne, abandoned on a desolate shore.

We promise to be reliable and entertaining guides! Your ‘choral’ island adventure awaits.