On 15 and 16 June, our Westlake choirs Cantare, Choralation, Cigno Voce and Nota Bella all competed at the NZCF Auckland Regionals of The Big Sing. It was a joyous event after so many weeks of disruption to rehearsals and the Auckland Town Hall was filled with excited secondary students for three days. The Auckland region has the largest number of choirs over the country, with 56 entries of Mixed, Female and Male voice choirs performing for adjudicator Dr Andrew Withington. The Westlake choirs shone during their recitals and were awarded numerous awards on the final Gala concert evening.
Nota Bella Junior Choir: Musical Director Elise Bradley
Runners up: Best Performance in the Choral Art Composition Category
Winners of Best Festival Program by a Junior Choir
Choralation: Musical Director Rowan Johnston
Runners up: Best A Capella Performance in Any Genre
Winners: Best Festival Program by a Mixed Choir
Cantare: Musical Director Fiona Wilson
Winners: Best Festival Program by a Female Choir
Winners: Best A Capella Performance in Any Genre
Winners: Adjudicators Award for Excellent Performance of a Single Work
Westlake Boys High School’s Voicemale choir were also awarded Best Festival Programme by a Male Choir, which means the Westlake premier choirs took a clean sweep of Auckland awards for the second year in a row.
The selection for the National Finale Competition (top 24 choirs in New Zealand) and Cadenza Festival (next 12 choirs in Upper North Island) were announced earlier this week.
Cantare, Choralation and Voicemale have been selected to compete in the Finale and will be travelling to Christchurch at the end of August. Cigno Voce Senior Choir (Musical Director Rachel Carson) have been selected for the first time to compete at Cadenza, held in Rotorua just before Finale.
Pictured top are: Back left, Rowan Johnston, Fiona Wilson, David Squire, Cameron Price, William Squire, Tessa Rouse, James Harrison
Front left: Stella Ranginui, Madi Jagger, Nikka Caraig, Molly Mahan, Alexander Wilson, Gemma May
