Choirs Aotearoa NZ (CANZ) is a thriving arts organisation and music producer. With long-standing trustees retiring or rotating, we have up to three vacancies on our board. If you have experience in the areas of : education, arts administration, corporate business, intercultural interests, or general governance and leadership experience, we would like to hear from you!

Celebrated New Zealand choir director Dr Karen Grylls CNZM has announced that 2024 will be her final year as Artistic Director for Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand (CANZ) – the body that manages the country’s four national choirs – as she signals a shift to a new role as Artistic Director Emerita.

We are thrilled to announce that Dr Karen Grylls, the esteemed Artistic Director of Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand, has been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for her exceptional contributions to the world of choral music.

If you like variety, travel, and working in small teams for something utterly beautiful, read on!

Our July 2021 Newsletter

This one is a shout out to our amazing Artistic Team – between them they have accumulated over 30 years of involvement with NZYC as singers and staff.

Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Foundation – new members sought

After a whirlwind Northland tour including performances in Whangārei, Waitangi, and a recording for the BBC, the New Zealand Youth Choir is heading south!

Choirs Aotearoa NZ (CANZ) continues to thrive and we are looking for new Trustees with specific skills.

Hello from the other side! Kia ora whānau Hoping this newsletter find you all safe and well, and for those in NZ that Level 2 has brought a chance to return to some normality.  Here at Choirs NZ we worked from home throughout lockdown to keep the fires burning. In this newsletter we’re farewelling our 2017-2019 […]

Kia ora friends of our national choirs,

If you like variety, travel, and working in small teams for something utterly beautiful, read on!

Orchestral music performance is an art form, but how do you engage with something you’ve never experienced before? Samiyah Alghamdi and Anna Knox attend NYO Celebrates in Wellington and unpack what they hear.

The coming together of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra and the New Zealand Youth Choir was a just celebration of our country’s finest young musicians – a fitting culmination of a century’s nurturing, marking the orchestra’s 60th anniversary and the choir’s 40th.

It’s been talked about for a long time and now finally, New Zealand’s three national choirs, Voices New Zealand, NZ Youth Choir and New Zealand Secondary Students Choir (NZSSC), are to merge under one governing body. NZSSC, the prestigious national choir for 14-18 year olds, is joining Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand, the arts trust that promotes vocal excellence and already governs the other two national choirs.

For the first time choristers will have the chance to join a national academy of choral singing.

This is an exciting opportunity for proven choir directors to lead the iconic New Zealand Secondary Student’s Choir. Established in 1986 NZSSC is a national ensemble working with 14-18 year old singers for a two-year long cycle that traditionally finishes with an international tour.

If you are experienced at working with young people, and passionate about a diverse choral repertoire including waiata from Aotearoa and the Pacific, we would love to hear from you.

NZSSC is about choral excellence and developing leadership capabilities and is a real champion of choral music in Aotearoa New Zealand.

VOICES has a chance to go onto this dream European tour and we hope you can help us make this dream come true.

Last February, the New Zealand Youth Choir toured to Rotorua and Auckland, stopping at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival in between. They gave concerts and did workshops with high school students and also prison inmates – a very touching experience for all.

Infratil has committed to extend its sponsorship of the New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC) to 2021.

Regarded as the godfather of choral music in New Zealand, Prof. Peter Godfrey passed away last night, but his legacy to choral music in NZ will live on.

A ‘stunningly impressive’ performance of Ross Harris’s WWI commemoration piece has resulted in a new CD, featuring VOICES NZ, Horomona Hero and the New Zealand String Quartet conducted by Karen Grylls.

For the first time in New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC) history, three Auckland brothers – Benjamin (Tenor), Benedict (Bass) and Benett Tan (Tenor) – have all made it into the new NZYC.

Dr Karen Grylls has been re-appointed as Artistic Director for Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir (VOICES) and The New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC) while newcomer and Wellingtonian Michael Stewart was appointed as NZYC’s new Deputy Music Director.

The New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC) won the hearts of audiences and the judges at the 24th annual International Festival of Academic Choirs in Pardubice, Czech Republic

Last Thursday’s Spirit of Anzac concert came with Trans-Tasman connections, being played by Sydney Symphony Orchestra a day before the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra delivered it to us.

In a nutshell, as the Festival brochure put it, Ata Reira promised an evening of award-winning choirs, majestic voices and Te Reo Maori in song.

In festival’s homegrown highlight, orchestra and voices give rich offering of oratorio’s message of peace.

In festival’s homegrown highlight, orchestra and voices give rich offering of oratorio’s message of peace.

In a nutshell, as the Festival brochure put it, Ata Reira promised an evening of award-winning choirs, majestic voices and Te Reo Maori in song. Both separately and together, Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir delivered all this in a choral celebration of light … and much more.

“A grand ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ came enhanced by the New Zealand Youth Choir (ancient anthems a speciality clearly).” – The New Zealand Herald

Take a look back at the best moments of 2018

Join the team behind our national choirs!

CANZ seeks to protect and honour the national taonga of Te Ao Māori both when we perform with our national choirs and in our day to day operations. We aim to: – increase our usage of Te Reo Māori in our daily operations, publications and concerts – publish an Interculturalism Policy – develop and enhance […]

Meet our newest addition to the CANZ family!

Meet Fergus – the 2024 Composer in Residence at Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand! Originally from Taupō, Fergus Byett moved to Hamilton in 2019 to study Classical Performance (Piano) at the University of Waikato. With the support of a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship, he completed his undergraduate studies under Katherine Austin, and in 2023 he completed […]