The New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir (NZSSC) is a national choir of New Zealand that consists of around 50 singers selected from

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secondary school students every two years. Between auditions, each new choir meets around six times to learn new repertoire,

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

both

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

and

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

parts of New Zealand, provide choral

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

for schools and tour internationally. The choir has received international attention and critical acclaim from overseas audiences but limited publicity in New Zealand itself. Their repertoire, although widely varied in

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and language, specifically emphasises

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by New Zealand composers and music from

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and other Polynesian cultures. Performances by the choir regularly include commissioned works showcasing these uniquely New Zealand traditions.

History

The New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir roots started in a

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

course for secondary school students in the 1960s with the first performance as a choir of its kind in 1967 under the musical direction of Malcolm Rickard. The choir was formalised and named in 1986 by Dr

Guy Jansen Guy Elwyn Jansen (27 May 1935 – 27 May 2019) was a New Zealand music educator and choral musician. Early life and family Born in Carterton on 27 May 1935, Jansen was educated at Horowhenua College. In 1960, he married Judy Mary Rolls, and t ...

primarily as a training ground for the (formerly) New Zealand National Youth Choir however, two years later, Roger Stevenson took musical directorship, turning the choir into a separate entity with the New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir becoming a charitable trust in 1997. Late in 2000, the choir appointed Elise Bradley as

Musical Director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

. For each NZSSC that she directed, Elise Bradley appointed a professional

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ing team to assist her and also took on conducting trainees, most notably of whom was Andrew Withington who would become musical director of the choir in 2009. The appointment of tutors by the musical director has since continued, contributing greatly to the unique nature of each new choir. In 2004, the choir performed in the

Oregon Bach Festival Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his musical legacy, held in Eugene, Oregon, United States, in late June and early July. About the festival The festival's programming is three-fold. It ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, USA. The NZSSC then toured Canada, taking three first-place awards ( Mixed Voice Youth Choir, Youth Choir and Folk & Cultural Traditions) at the

International Choral Kathaumixw International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

in Powell River. In this, the 11th biennial competition, the NZSSC earned more awards than any other choir in any year of competition over the history of the competition; a record which still stands. The 2005–2006 choir competed in the Hong Kong International Youth & Children's Choir Festival where it took the top award, "The World’s Choir"

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and directly following this the choir travelled to

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...

, China where it competed in the World Choir Games, gaining a Gold Award and Champion in the Mixed Youth Choir category and a Silver Award in the Folklore a cappella category. Elise Bradley resigned as musical director of the NZSSC in the beginning of 2007 in order to take up the position of

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the

Toronto Children's Chorus The Toronto Children's Chorus is a children's choir based in Toronto. It was founded in 1978 by Jean Ashworth Bartle. The group has close to 500 members aged 6 to 30. History In 1982, the choir won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in ...

. As a past member and long-standing tutor of the choir, Robert Wiremu agreed to take on a temporary position as the musical director in late 2007 and led their successful participation in a non-competitive

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

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tour. In 2009, Andrew Withington was appointed as the musical director of the NZSSC.

Awards (incomplete)

Discography (incomplete)

Albums

* 1993/94 New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir (1994) * Sing We Triumphant (1999) * Pastime with Plums and Pizzazz (2002) * Whisper You All the Way Home (2004) * 2005/06 New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir: Choral Champions (2006) * New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir – On Tour 2008 (2008) * NZ Secondary Students' Choir 2009/2010 In Concert * World on a String: A Choral Celebration (2014)

DVDs

*Biennial Recordings for ''Praise Be''

External links

The New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir's Official Website

References

"About the New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir"
retrieved on 14 April 2009.
"2006 Hong Kong International Youth & Children’s Choir Festival Competition Result"
retrieved on 14 April 2009.

retrieved on 14 April 2009.
"World Choir Games Competition Category 5: Mixed Youth Choirs"
retrieved on 15 April 2009.
"World Choir Games Competition Category 24: Folklore a cappella"
retrieved on 15 April 2009.
"Recording – Sing we triumphant;NZSSC at SOUNZ"
retrieved on 15 April 2009.
"Recording – New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir – On Tour 2008 at SOUNZ"
retrieved on 15 April 2009.
"Recording – 2005/06 New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir: Choral Champions at SOUNZ"
retrieved on 15 April 2009.
"Recording – 1993/94 New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir at SOUNZ"
retrieved on 15 April 2009.
"Recording – Whisper You All the Way Home at SOUNZ"
retrieved on 16 April 2009. {{authority control National choirs New Zealand choirs Youth choirs Musical groups established in 1967