On Friday 28th October, Westlake Girls hosted an inaugural ‘Treble Choral Festival’ which included our schools choirs Cantare, Cigno Voce and Nota Bella, as well as invited choirs Leonessa from Takapuna Grammar School, Ficino School Choir and the ‘Motley Crew’ choir from Chiron Music Academy. The idea behind starting a festival for treble voices came from a conversation with Elise Bradley (conductor of Nota Bella) about wanting our singers to enjoy collaborating and sharing music in community with each other, as she had experienced in Toronto. This event was the first of what we hope will be many Treble Festivals, where singers can learn from a Guest Conductor, enjoy singing in a massed choir as well as sharing their own choir’s music.
During the afternoon, the massed choir of 200 singers rehearsed 4 pieces in a workshop with Guest Conductor Dr Karen Grylls, and these were performed in an evening concert, as well as each choir presenting their own bracket of pieces. The concert was titled ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’ and the pieces performed took the audience on a whirlwind journey with a range of countries and cultures represented in song. We are looking forward to next year’s festival already!
