Cadenza

Cadenza combines the excitement of a competitive, Finale-style event with the extra dimension of massed workshops, featuring a nationally or internationally-recognised choral specialist who also acts as adjudicator. These two-day events, which involve a total of 36 choirs from across New Zealand, culminate in a public gala concert where all choirs at the festival showcase an item from their Cadenza repertoire and sing together music prepared with our adjudicator. The 2026 Cadenza festivals will take place in three centres – one in the South Island, one in the lower North Island and one in the upper North Island – with 12 choirs in each. Those invited to attend Cadenza are the 12 choirs from their area ranked immediately below those selected for Finale, with a limit of one choir per school.

Click here to see the choirs selected for Cadenza and Finale 2026

The Cadenza adjudicator for 2026 is Brent Stewart - read about him here.

The dates for the 2026 Cadenza festivals are below:

Cadenza	Venue	Date
Lower North Island Cadenza	Royal Whanganui Opera House, WHANGANUI	Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 August
Upper North Island Cadenza	Sir Howard Morrison Centre, ROTORUA	Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 August
South Island Cadenza	Craighead Diocesan and Sacred Heart Basilica (Gala), TIMARU	Friday 21 and Saturday 22 August

For any enquiries about The Big Sing Cadenzas, please contact: NZCF Events Manager, Emma Billings, at emma.billings@nzcf.org.nz or 021 171 8501

or

Lower North Island Cadenza Coordinator: Edwyna McDonald, at edmac@xtra.co.nz

Upper North Island Cadenza Coordinator: Jenny Lewy at jenniferlewy@icloud.com

South Island Cadenza Coordinator: Martin Kane at kanema@craighead.school.nz

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Click here to see the choirs selected for Cadenza and Finale 2025

See the list of awards from the 2025 Cadenza festivals

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