The regional choir festival was held last Thursday 16 June at Holy Trinity Church.

TGC sent three choirs to this competition that all performed incredibly well. In total there were 15 choirs at the Waikato/Bay of Plenty regionals which was adjudicated by internationally acclaimed choir director, Karen Grylls.

Usually, choirs would perform a repertoire consisting of three pieces, but this year due to the difficulties of COVID, each choir only performed two pieces. This meant the choice of songs was difficult as each choir needed to best represent their skill through a range of styles in only two songs.

Across New Zealand, the best 24 out of an impressive 170 choirs are chosen to compete in the National Big Sing Finale held in Christchurch in late August. There are also Cadenza festivals that 36 choirs who missed out on going to Finale are invited to.

Our three choirs are The Luminosa Armonia Chorale, a competitive choir with between 30-40 members that sing mostly classical pieces, The LBDs - Little Black Dresses (seniors), and Tonal Eclipse (juniors) which are both smaller non-competitive, choirs that sing a variety of pop songs. Each member of the LBDs and Tonal Eclipse sing with a microphone and are usually accompanied by a band. All three of our choirs are directed by the fabulous Ms Geor who has put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to make sure these groups perform as best as they can.

It’s been a long journey for these singers since the end of last year with the trials and tribulations of COVID. The many rehearsal restrictions included having to rehearse outside for the entirety of Term 1 - which was far from ideal as rehearsals were dependent on good weather conditions and had to be two metres apart even after indoor rehearsals were permitted. Many members also faced COVID, with some even being out in the week leading up to Big Sing. However, even with all these challenges, the students performed beautifully and did very well.

The chorale was awarded a Very Highly Commended award as well as Best Classical Song, and The LBDs and Tonal Eclipse were awarded Commended awards. On top of this, The Chorale got invited to sing at The Upper North Island Cadenza held in Rotorua on the 21-22 August. The group are also reserves for the National Finale! A huge congratulations to these singers and good luck for your future endeavours!

Article by Hunter Ririnui