CULTURE Bronze Award for Chapel Choir in Big Sing
The Chapel Choir of Christ’s College stepped up a beat in Auckland’s Aotea Centre on Saturday 26 August to take bronze in the glittering Big Sing national competition.
Fittingly, it was the specially commissioned waiata “Te Whakapono Ki Te Atua” which captured everyone’s attention and received many positive comments from the audience. Adjudicators Rachael Griffiths-Hughes, Jonathan Grieves-Smith and Anthony Ritchie had a demanding time, as the overall standard seems to rise to new heights each year. “Our 60-strong choir of Year 9–13 students was up against the best of the best. It was a phenomenal standard,” says Director of Music Robert Aburn. “The response to our waiata, where the boys took full ownership of the piece and enhanced the singing by appropriate kapa haka gestures, was very encouraging and very affirming
– and after three days of competition we were very pleased.” He said the Aotea Centre is a very big venue with a demanding and difficult acoustic, and the boys’
response to the location reflected their professionalism and the months of rehearsals. “The boys are so busy, as they’re actively engaged in many and various activities. At times, it has been hard to get everyone to rehearsals – a rare feat – at the same time. In fact, about 20 of the boys in the choir couldn’t go to the finals because they were involved with other activities that weekend.” The Big Sing is a national competition organised by the NZ Choral Federation and involves more than 400 choirs. Christ’s College choirs won a number of awards at the regional competition held in Christchurch in June.
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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