NZ Youth Choir wins Grand Prix award

  • 06/07/2016
NZ Youth Choir wins Grand Prix award

The New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC) has received standing ovations from audiences, after achieving a clean sweep at the 24th annual International Festival of Academic Choirs in Pardubice, Czech Republic.

After winning all four categories they competed in and special prize for outstanding vocal culture, they completed their outstanding performance by winning the overall grand prize - the Grand Prix. This is the first time a choir has achieved such success.

"The choir worked incredibly hard and had developed a culture of doing the job at the time," says music director David Squire.

"The highlight was when the choir delivered the most intense performance yet of Waerenga-a-Hika, which had audiences and judges in tears."

The choir members are between 18 and 25 at the time of their audition, which leads to a three year term. At the end of that time, once they've developed into an ensemble, they go on an international tour.

The 49-strong choir, despite only being overseas for a week, competed against 15 European choirs from Russia, Poland, Latvia, and Czech Republic.

While the choir focuses on classical music, they also perform contemporary New Zealand music, including Māori waiata.

The choir now faces a 13-hour road trip to Le Quesnoy, a small town in northern France, which was liberated by the New Zealand Division just four days before the end of WWI to participate in their memorial services.

Newshub.