Mobbed by music

Nicky Sutherland and some of her Wellington Girls College Teal Voices, delighted to have been chosen as the only Wellington school to make the finals of the Big Sing.
It’s The Big Sing and more than 700 secondary school students from 22 choirs descend on the Capital for three days of fierce competition to find New Zealand’s top school choir. And while the serious events take place in the town hall, flash choirs will be popping up and bursting into song all over the central city. National coordinator of the The Big Sing, Elizabeth Crayford, says it’s a chance to bring some spontaneity into the structured formal programme of the competition.
“It’s a bit of fun for both the students and Wellington shoppers and office workers,” Crayford says. “The flash choirs will be filmed and the video clips taken back to the town hall to be displayed on giant screens for all the choirs to enjoy while they’re waiting the next recital session.”
Many will also be posted to YouTube to be enjoyed by friends and family back home.
This year The Big Sing attracted a record 8,500 students at regional festivals around the country. From an initial 236 secondary school choirs 18 were selected for the Wellington finale and another four invited as guest choirs.
“The guest choirs were selected because they showed such promise. A special programme of clinics will be held for them and they’ll also get the chance to perform with the other choirs in the grand finale,” Cayford says.
Teal Voices, from Wellington Girls’ College, is the only choir from the Wellington region to make it into the finals. The choir, made up of year 12 and 13 senior girls, won the bronze award last year. Nicky Sutherland, who co-directs the choir with Michael Fletcher, says most of the 19 girls in Teal Voices have been together at the school for three years.
“They’ve had plenty of experience, although the competition is very tough,” Sutherland says. “It’s wonderful but it’s also scary.”
In this year’s competition each choir will perform two recital programmes spread over three days. The competition will close with a gala concert on August 24.
The Big Sing, Wellington Town Hall, August 22-24.









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