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University of Auckland Chamber Choir embarks on inaugural international tour

Thursday 19 May 2011, 3:08PM

By University of Auckland

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AUCKLAND

The University of Auckland Chamber Choir will this month embark on an inaugural international tour that includes some of the United Kingdom’s most historic venues.

The University’s Chamber Choir is led by Karen Grylls ONZM, Associate Professor in Conducting and Head of Choral Studies. The choir has 27 members, all of whom are either current students at, or alumni of, the University.

From 30 May - 14 June, the Chamber Choir will tour in Singapore and the United Kingdom. Concerts are scheduled at some of the world’s most revered venues, including St Paul's Cathedral London, St James’s Piccadilly, St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle and Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. The choir will also perform a special concert with the Anglo-Chinese Junior College Choir at Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall.

While in the UK, The University of Auckland Chamber Choir will perform an eclectic repertoire of English and contemporary New Zealand and Pacific-inspired choral works. Included in the performance are works by English composers Bullard and Tippett, and New Zealand works by Andrew Baldwin and Kate Bell, both members of the choir. The choir will also perform Through Coiled Stillness, a specially-commissioned piece by School of Music lecturer Leonie Holmes; and Si Manu Laititi, an arrangement by choir member Steven Rapana. The Māori waiata Aio, by Tuirina Wehi and Tuwhiti Happy, completes the programme.

Music for the St Paul’s Cathedral Choral Evensong, which includes psalms, canticles and responses, will be sung at the service in London.

“We recognise that we are ambassadors for the University and for New Zealand when on tour overseas, and the choir’s repertoire reflects the pride we take in such a role,” says Associate Professor Grylls. “The opportunities that this tour will provide-- including singing together daily-- will stay with the choir members for life.”

For more information visit:
http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/our-faculty/schools-programmes-and-centres/music/chamber-choir

The University of Auckland’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries comprises the School of Architecture and Planning, Elam School of Fine Arts, the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery (CNZARD), the School of Music and the Dance Studies Programme.