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.

Your role will be to manage the well-being and welfare of the iconic New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir on courses and tours around New Zealand and overseas.

Aotearoa’s youngest national choir, the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir (NZSSC) won the title of Children’s Choir of the World at last night’s prestigious Llangollen Eisteddfod in Wales

Before we embark on our Southern Stars tour, find out more about one of our singers from Nelson!

An interview with alumnus Manaia Glassey-Ohlson on his career since leaving our choir

Closing date: Wednesday 19 January 2022

Thank you to the many individuals and choirs who have supported this initiative and ordered masks over the past 8 months.

We are no longer accepting individual orders – the minimum order is now 8 masks.

If you are a choir or group wanting a large number, please contact us directly before ordering as we may need to have them made specially, which could take some time.

Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Foundation – new members sought

In October last year, we offered 56 fantastic young singers a place in the NZSSC 2021-22.

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

Kia ora friends of our national choirs,

Concert Review – New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir, Directed by Sue Densem, St John’s Cathedral, Napier, Tuesday, 21 January. Reviewed by Peter Williams It was a great pleasure to have the NZSSC back in Hawke’s Bay, remembering their superb concert here two years ago. A new conductor this time, the exuberant Sue Densem who drew […]

Carson Taare from Palmerston North Boys High School and Elizabeth Hayman from St Cuthberts College are our choir leaders for 2019/20.

Our new director wanted to be a ballerina. Thank goodness she changed her mind. We catch up with Sue Densem for a quick-fire round of questions and feel exhausted hearing about her many achievements.

After an Australasian-wide search, Christchurch-born Susan Densem was today appointed to role of Music Director of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir (NZSSC).

It’s been talked about for a long time and now finally, NZSSC is joining New Zealand’s two other national choirs  and will merge under one governing body, Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand.

Dr Andrew Withington, the choir’s director and conductor, yesterday announced he will be stepping down from his role with the national choir. After ten years leading this internationally celebrated choir, Andrew is leaving for new adventures at the conclusion of the 2017-2018 choir cycle.

The New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, our national choir for 14 to 18 year olds, is heading overseas for a two-week tour of Hong Kong and Shanghai. Before they go, Auckland is in for a treat with a farewell concert on Saturday 7 July.

For one member of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, our prestigious national choir for 14-18 year olds, singing at the official ANZAC Day commemoration will have extra special meaning. Tawa College student Kaylim Tyson-Nathan’s great-grandfather, Ned Nathan, fought in the 28th Maori Battalion and was seriously injured, losing an eye, while defending Crete’s Maleme Airfield in 1941.

Seventeen-year-olds Amelia Foster and Greta Healy-Melhuish didn’t realise the significance of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir’s upcoming concert at Waipu Cathedral on 20 January…

Hawkes Bay and Manawatu audiences are in for a treat this summer with the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir set to perform two concerts in the regions.

It’s a rare opportunity to see one of our national choirs perform outdoors; even more special if it’s part of the opening day celebrations for SCAPE Public Art. Amidst a sea of excited children and their families, the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir will give a vibrant, multicultural performance at the Margaret Mahy Playground, 11am, 7 October.

From 8-13 July, the 60 members of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir will come together in Auckland for six days of intensive rehearsals and workshops, culminating in a very special concert with their ‘big cousins’ of the choir world, the New Zealand Youth Choir.

After an intense nationwide audition process late last year, the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir has recently announced its new line-up of members for the 2017/2018 cycle.

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 […]