Choralation Choir

March is a busy month for our Westlake musicians and staff as they get stuck into learning their music and getting to know their team. So far, three of our choirs have enjoyed weekend camps at various locations around Auckland.

First up was Choralation, our premier mixed voice choir. This choir is made up of 25 sopranos and altos and 26 tenors and basses from Westlake Boys High School. The choir enjoyed beautiful weather at Peter Snell Youth Village camp on the Whangaparaoa peninsula. Although there was a lot of rehearsal on the schedule, there was also time to enjoy games of volleyball and ‘Choralympics’ which are fun team games run by the choir leaders: Jaymie Chee, Annie Yang, Constantine Mata’afa and Aaron Shi. Choralation are working towards their first public concert in Hamilton, which is a collaboration with Hamilton Civic Choir, directed by Elise Bradley (also director of our Nota Bella Junior Choir). The concert ‘Ceremonial Splendor’ includes some of the great, timeless choral anthems and will be on Saturday 12th April 4:00pm in Hamilton. Tickets are available at this link: https://events.humanitix.com/hccceremonial

Nota Bella Choir

Last weekend, our junior and senior choristers went on camps at two different locations. Nota Bella junior choir stayed at Houghtons’ Bush in Muriwai, located in the midst of the West Coast lush, native bush. Nota Bella has almost 50 Year 9 and 10 singers who are developing vocal technique through weekly singing lessons, and their musical knowledge through theory and learning their choir music. One of the camp highlights is the Talent Night, run by choir leaders Charlotte Murphy and Shanie Faller. At the end of the camp, Nota Bella gave a concert to their parents and families, singing five pieces from their year’s repertoire.

Cigno Voce

Cigno Voce travelled to Peter Snell Youth Village in Whangaparaoa, and had a vibrant and enriching weekend of music making. This year our Senior Treble choir is singing a range of repertoire including texts in Malaysian, Latin & German. Students spent their weekend in workshops and rehearsals, learning notes and applying musicianship to their pieces.

The camp was not only about musical growth but also about building lasting friendships, as the students bonded with fellow choir members through collaborative activities and team-building. Friday night saw the students playing human-bingo and a choir quiz, and Saturday night included a camp talent-show concert, where every student participated. At the end of camp, Cigno Voce performed to parents and families, singing five pieces they had learnt at camp.

The atmosphere at both camps was one of creativity and excitement, allowing the students to develop both their musical and interpersonal skills. We look forward to seeing our choristers performances throughout the year and their growth as singers.