Join the Aotearoa Academy Choir in their final performance of 2025!

In their third and final course this year, the Academy Choir will show off their skills and hard work as NZ’s top choral academy for young singers.

Choral canon works from near and far will transport you across the globe, learning about different cultures and various choral techniques that co-Music Directors Rowan and Elise have been teaching the choir. The MD’s and their commitment to up-skilling our young singers into mighty choristers culminates in this end-of-year performance.

We end the concert with a special nod and farewell to Rowan Johnston, who has successfully applied to be the next Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir. Rowan’s skill and knowledge as a choral conductor has bee invaluable to the Academy Choir over the last three years, and we will miss him dearly!

About Co-Music Director Elise Bradley MNZM

A passionate musician, award-winning conductor, and internationally respected educator, adjudicator and clinician, Elise Bradley served for many years as the Head of Department Music at Westlake Girls’ High School in Auckland, New Zealand. She founded and conducted the school’s renowned treble choir, Key Cygnetures from 1991-2007, and directed the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir from 2001-2007, both of which won numerous national and international awards. She was also a soloist and member of New Zealand’s National Chamber Choir, Voices New Zealand from 1998 – 2010. In January 2018, Ms. Bradley was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), an honour awarded in recognition of her services to Music.

Find out more here

About Co-Music Director Rowan Johnston

Rowan is a freelance choral conductor and clinician who has recently relocated with his whānau from Auckland to Wellington. He has just finished as Musical Director for the Auckland Youth Choir, Director of Choirs at Holy Trinity Cathedral Auckland and Musical Director of the internationally acclaimed school choir Choralation from Westlake Girls and Boys High Schools. Rowan is also an Associate Conductor for Voices NZ Chamber Choir and a National Choral Mentor for the New Zealand Choral Federation.

Along with being recently appointed to the Aotearoa NZ Academy Choir co-Directorship, he also begins this year conducting the Wellington Youth Choir, Seraphim at Chilton St James School and the Scots College Chamber Choir. He is a regular guest conductor at the Gondwana National Choral School in Australia and is in much demand as a conductor, adjudicator and clinician nationally and internationally. Under his leadership, Choralation was placed 1^st in the Mixed Choir category at the Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.

As a singer, Rowan is a member of the Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir.

Supported by

The New Zealand Choral Federation (NZCF) presents Choral Connections, a concert featuring two of New Zealand’s finest youth choirs – the acclaimed New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir, directed by Sue Densem, and the Aotearoa Academy Choir, directed by Rowan Johnston and Elise Bradley.

Set in the soaring acoustics of Wellington’s Cathedral of St Paul, this public concert forms the centrepiece of NZCF’s Choral Connect convention – a bi-annual professional development conference that brings together choral directors from around the country.

At the end of the concert, conference delegates with join with the two youth choirs to form a massed choir of over 150 voices to sing under the direction of international choral clinician Dr Pearl Shankuan.

New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir
Aotearoa’s national choir for secondary school students, NZSSC gathers during school holidays to rehearse and perform across the motu. Each two-year cycle culminates in an international tour: in July 2024, the choir travelled to China, where they took part in the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre Chorus Exchange, the Chorus and Conducting Art Conference in Hangzhou, and the China International Chorus Festival in Beijing.

NZSSC is directed by Sue Densem, alongside Assistant Conductor and Accompanist Brent Stewart and Assistant Conductor and Vocal Consultant Ben Madden.

Aotearoa New Zealand Academy Choir
The Academy Choir was established as a pipeline for talented singers from across Aotearoa who are aspiring to join NZSSC or the NZ Youth Choir. In 2024, the Academy Choir received a Gold Diploma at the World Choir Games in Auckland.

The Aotearoa Academy Choir is co-directed by Elise Bradley and Rowan Johnston.

Dr Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led performances and workshops on six continents. She is the National President-elect of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the chorus director of the Grand Rapids Symphony and Professor Emerita of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has conducted several times at Carnegie Hall and other major concert halls in the US. Her guest conducting engagements regularly take her to Europe, Asia, and across North America.

Supported by

Join the Aotearoa Academy Choir in their course 2 open rehearsal!

What’s in an open rehearsal?

This informal performance opportunity allows our choir’s friends and whānau to come and see the choir’s work in progress. Different repertoire requires different skills, and the Music Directors will often pause to explain what they’re trying to achieve, and what skills these singers have been working on!

You get to see both the hard work of the singers, and the organisation that brings them together come to life!

The Aotearoa Academy Choir is beyond excited to perform with the Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco in Wellington this June.

Join us at what will be a dynamic and roof-raising concert of young people and their passion for music.

About YWCP San Francisco
The Young Women’s Choral Projects of San Francisco transforms the lives of young women through exceptional artistry in choral performance, and brings the expressive power of their music to the community, the nation, and the world. Founded in 2012 by Dr. Susan McMane, and now led by Artistic Director Dr. Matthew Otto, YWCP includes six levels of choral experience for young women ages 4-18 from across the San Francisco Bay Area. Through YWCP, participants of diverse socio-ethnic backgrounds find their voices as singers, artists, and women in a nurturing environment that empowers them to achieve artistic and personal excellence. The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco is the premier ensemble of the Young Women’s Choral Projects. The Chorus comprises singers ages 12-18, and has been praised for its beauty of sound, stellar musicianship, and dynamic programming. Acclaimed in the American Record Guide for its “refined and beautifully controlled singing,” the Young Women’s Chorus has also won many competitive, national awards including the American Prize in Choral Performance, the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America and American Composers Forum, and the ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award. Recent activities include a debut performance at Carnegie Hall in 2018; concert tours to South Africa (2019), France (2022), and Argentina (2023); the premiere of the opera Abraham in Flames in 2019; and performances with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Performing repertoire from early music to contemporary selections, the Chorus annually performs a professional series of concerts in the Bay Area, and commissions new works by leading composers.

Supported by

Two magical evenings at Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre featuring the power and passion of kapa haka and the lyrical beauty of choral music. Each concert, held in conjunction with and supported by Te Matatini, will begin with a spellbinding performance from one of Auckland’s, and indeed Aotearoa’s, most celebrated kapa haka rōpū. Anyone wanting to see the very best of this wonderful art form should secure their tickets now!

Concert Two on Thursday 18 July opens with Ngā Tūmanako, much-fêted overall winner at the Te Matatini festival in 2019. The group was established to continue and fulfil the aspirations of its past community leaders at Hoani Waititi Marae. Its current leaders are graduates of the marae’s Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori – a full-immersion educational pathway established to ensure the survival of Māori language and culture.

The second half features a performance by the New Zealand Youth Choir, conducted by David Squire. Founded in 1979 and now counting many renowned singers, conductors and other musicians among its alumni, NZYC needs no introduction in this country or in many other parts of the world. Expect superb singing and a varied, highly entertaining programme!

Booking fees apply, for more information click here

Our final engagement and performance of 2024!

This is your last chance to see the incredible Aotearoa NZ Academy Choir, right in the heart of the capital city!

Our bright young singers are ready to show you what they’ve got!

The World Choir Games will be landing in Auckland in July 2024! 

The Aotearoa NZ Academy Choir will have the chance to partake and compete in the games – if you’re attending, look out for out iconic blue shirts! 

We’re so excited to meet choirs from all over the world and engage in a bit of friendly competition! 

Bring your friends and family to see the Aotearoa NZ Academy Choir!

In their iconic blue design, the choir is set to show you the strength of our Academy singers!

The Academy choir replaced the national choirs ‘reserves’ programme, and gives singers an opportunity to train just like our friends in the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir.

Don’t let the word ‘academy’ fool you – these singers have got what it takes to dazzle and impress!

Our concert at the Cardboard Cathedral is not to be missed!

Tickets and time coming soon!

Bring your friends and family to see the Aotearoa NZ Academy Choir!

In their iconic blue design, the choir is set to show you the strength of our Academy singers!

The Academy choir replaced the national choirs ‘reserves’ programme, and gives singers an opportunity to train just like our friends in the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir.

Don’t let the word ‘academy’ fool you – these singers have got what it takes to dazzle and impress!

Come along to our FREE concert at Westlake Girls High School for an afternoon of choral delights!

About Gondwana Chorale – Australia’s national youth choir

Australia’s national youth choir, Gondwana Chorale, was established in 2008. Its members come from throughout Australia and range in age from 17 – 26. They perform music that is close to their hearts: new Australian works which capture the mystery and grandeur of our land and display the cultural diversity of the Australian people. The work of the choir is a powerful expression of the determination of young Australians to work together to create extraordinary musical ensembles.

The sound of Gondwana Chorale is vibrant and energetic, indicative of their intensive rehearsal process and the joy of being together. The choir has performed nationally in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tasmania. International tours have included New Zealand (2011) and UK and France (2013). In 2015 the choir formed the Gondwana Centenary Chorale with young singers from and Turkey, France and New Zealand to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign, giving the world premiere of James Ledger’s War Music with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In 2017 Gondwana Chorale toured the USA for the first time, collaborating and performing with host choirs USC Chamber Singers, Redlands Chapel Singers, Stanford Chamber Chorale, Temple University Concert Choir and Boston City Singers. In 2019, the choir toured to England, presenting a recital in the Chapel of Trinity College Cambridge and to the Baltic States, collaborating with E Stuudio in Estonia, Koris Maska in Riga and Choras Ažuoliukas in Vilnius. In 2022, the choir appeared at Festival of Voices in Hobart to present a program of Australian works.

The choir is conducted by Paul Holley OAM, Artistic Director of Voices of Birralee (Queensland) and Carl Crossin OAM, Head Vocal, Choral and Conducting Studies at the Elder Conservatorium of Music (South Australia).

About Aotearoa NZ Academy Choir

Founded in 2017 as an extension of Choirs Aotearoa’s ‘Reserves’ initiative, the Aotearoa New Zealand Academy Choir traces its roots to the fostering of exceptional vocal talents narrowly missed by the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir or NZ Youth Choir. From its inception, the Reserves program united these singers, cultivating their vocal prowess and musicianship through dedicated training, and enriching their artistic journey with a diverse repertoire. In 2021 they sang alongside our other national choirs on a triumphant public presentation of Carmina Burana.

Drawing members from all corners of Aotearoa, this new ensemble offers participants opportunities for vocal and musical development. The singers are guided by accomplished conductors, vocal coaches, and specialists, the Academy Choir’s members also gain access to an array of online learning resources. The culmination of their journey is a year-end concert, showcasing the culmination of rigorous training, expertise, and artistry that aligns them with their fellow national choirs.

SUPPORTED BY: