NZ Choral Federation Annual Secondary Schools Choral Festival

 Wellington Regional Festival

 Wednesday, Thursday - 3, 4 June 2009

 Wellington Town Hall

Wellington Choirs selected to go to the Finale in Dunedin.

Wellington College Chorale and St Patrick's College Wellington, Con Anima.

The Wellington Regional BIG SING 2009 has once again been an outstanding success.  Thirty six choirs from 22 schools, a total of 1200 students, presented a wide range of music from the choral repertoire over the 2 days of the festival. 

The adjudicator Rachael Griffiths-Hughes of Hamilton did a sterling job listening to 108 performances, writing comments on each and then having the very difficult task of selecting which choirs were to receive special awards.

The two evening gala concerts were well attended by family, friends and the general public.  Each choir performed one piece from those that they had presented earlier in the day and the audience loved it.

We were privileged to have the special awards presented by the Deputy Mayor of Wellington, Ian McKinnon on the Wednesday night and Hon. Christopher Finlayson, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage the following evening.

 Feed-back received from participants and their directors proves what an important event the BIG SING is in the schools’ cultural calendar.  For many of the singers it was the first time that they had performed to such a large audience and in such a grand venue.  Add to that the experience of hearing the magnificent Town Hall organ in full flight it was for some a life changing event.

 Acknowledgements:  The Wellington Regional Big Sing Committee would like to thank the following for their generous assistance:

Wellington City Council Arts and Cultural Grants Committee, the Wellington Convention Centre venue subsidy, the NZ Community Trust, the Lion Foundation, Trust House Charitable Trusts and the Trusts Charitable Foundation.