NZ Male Choir Festival Auckland

In late October Victoria Welsh Choir paid our first visit to New Zealand since our tour of South Island in 1990.  This time we were special guests at the Festival of New Zealand Male Choirs, the climax of which was a concert at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland on 27th October.

Among the highlights of the event for us were:

One of the songs we sang on our own as the guest choir was Pemulwuy – a stunning song about a leader of the resistance by the Aborigines to European settlement of Australia in the late 1700’s, written by Australian composer Paul Jarman. Members of the NZ Male Choir had sung Pemulwuy with us last year in London’s Royal Festival Hall, and knew how challenging it was. This time when we finished they jumped to their feet and gave us a standing ovation.

We ended our segment with our version of Waltzing Matilda, which this time had a new twist. In the final chorus half of us were singing something else – and one by one the audience realised that it was their own national anthem, God Defend New Zealand! The effect was electric, and led to our second standing ovation of the night.