Medena Ensemble: Full Circle (Wellington)

• Date: 20/09/2026 15:00 - 16:00
• Location: St Peter's on Willis, 211 Willis Street, Te Aro, Wellington
• Tickets: $35 General (other Tiers available)

Aotearoa’s premier Bulgarian Folklore Vocal Ensemble, lead by Tui Mamaki, returns - offering a fresh collection of ancient melodies gathered on their recent trip to Bulgaria, with exquisite a capella arrangements, crafted for their unique blend of women’s voices.
FULL CIRCLE is the culmination of an important year of mahi, which saw the ensemble travel to Bulgaria for the first time together, to perform at the famed Koprivshtitsa Festival and to study with some of the country's finest folklore keepers and vocalists.

This concert will be a presentation of livings songs, learnt in the living rooms, chitalishte (community halls), and on the mountain tops of Bulgaria. Full Circle is the celebration of the completion of a journey to the source - a vibrant feminine tapestry of traditional Bulgarian song, where classic choral arrangements rub shoulders with rural treasures.

We invite you to celebrate with us in Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s beautiful St Peter’s on Willis Church, in Te Aro, where voices make the wood sing, for spring equinox Sunday 20 Sept.

MEDENA ENSEMBLE : FULL CIRCLE (Wellington)
“The polyphonic fruition of an extraordinary vocal adventure in Bulgaria”
SUN 20 SEPT, 3pm @ St Peter’s on Willis, Te Aro, Wellington
Tickets : undertheradar.co.nz ($20-50 pay as you can)

Medena Ensemble will also be performing at SlavFest 2026 on Saturday 19th September - a free to the public event - in collaboration with the new Wellington based Bulgarian women’s vocal ensemble “Slaveya-a-Tara”

Who are Medena Ensemble? Be it through classic Bulgarian folklore choir arrangements or obscure rural treasure songs issue of Tui Mamaki’s long standing love affair with Bulgaria and its phenomenal voices, this ensemble explore that compelling vocal tone, that bewitchingly close harmony, those playful odd-meter rhythms and the colourful feminine fabric of a devoted community blend. Medena means “honeyed”! Highlight performances to date include: Koprivshtitsa Festival (Bulgaria) and Ellen Melville Centre 2025, Auckland Folk Festivals 2024-26, World Choir Games, VoCo & Unitarian Church with the Bulgarian Roses, in 2024.

tuimamaki@gmail.com / 021 155 55 82
www.tuimamaki.com/medena-ensemble
www.youtube.com/@MedenaEnsemble