NZ Youth Choir Heading To European Choir Games In Denmark
Press Release – Choirs Aotearoa NZ Trust
Tour marks the last for director David Squire – 'It's been my great honour'
The world's longest running national youth choir, NZ Youth Choir (NZYC), is getting ready for its 14th international tour: to Singapore and Europe. The traditional 'farewell' concert will take place at Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral, Friday 27th June, with tickets selling fast. The following day, NZYC will head to Singapore for concerts before flying to Europe to compete in the 6th European Choir Games and Grand Prix of Nations in Aarhus, Denmark. The choir will then return to the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales where they previously won ' Choir of the World ' in 1999.
This is the New Zealand Youth Choir's first European tour since before COVID-19. The choir gathers New Zealand's finest young voices aged 18–25 and offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from our top conductor and vocal coaches, with the three-year membership culminating in an international tour. Director David Squire will end his time with the choir at the completion of the tour. David has directed NZYC since 2011 and was himself a member from 1985–1991 before becoming a founding member of Voices NZ and going onto an illustrious career in music education.
' It's been my great honour to direct the New Zealand Youth Choir for the past 15 years,' David says, ' As an NZYC alumnus, I've always considered this role bigger than any person who has the opportunity to conduct it and, with that in mind, 2025 is the time for my tenure with the choir to come to an end '.
The Holy Trinity Cathedral concert on Friday 27th June will be David's last New Zealand concert as New Zealand Youth Choir director.
' David is one of New Zealand's most prominent conductors, and his extraordinary legacy with New Zealand Youth Choir will be cherished and celebrated,' says Arne Hermann, Choirs Aotearoa NZ's CE, ' While David's tenure with NZYC will come to an end, his mahi with CANZ will continue. We will announce the new Music Director closer to the commencement of their start date in early 2026 – and once the recruitment process is complete '.
While overseas, NZYC will also sing in Singapore and the UK: Oxford, Barnsley and a concert at Sinfonia Smith's Square, London – where NZYC in 2016, the last time they were in Europe led by David, recorded their 'Live in London' DVD and won the Grand Prix at the 2016 IFAS in the Czech Republic in 2016. NZYC has a Give-a-little page to support their 2025 tour.
NZ Youth Choir Farewell Concert at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland 7:30pm, Friday 27 June, 2025
MORE ABOUT DAVID SQUIRE
David has taught music in schools for 35 years and in 2011 won a New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Medal for services to music education. His ensembles have won many awards at local and international music festivals, such as the NZCF Big Sing. His Rangitoto College mixed-voice chamber choir, The Fundamentals, won the platinum award at the 2008 NZCF Big Sing Finale in Wellington – the first time for a mixed-voice choir. David's upper-voice choir from Kristin School, Euphony, was third in the open female choir competition at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, in 2013. In 2019, Euphony represented New Zealand at the Budapest International Choral Festival, winning the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category, coming 3rd in the open Musica Sacra category and was invited to compete for the Grand Prix. David's Westlake Boys High School lower-voice choir, Voicemale, won the Grand Prix at the 2nd Leonardo da Vinci International Choral Festival in Florence in 2018, and David won the award for best conductor at this event. David has been music director of the Westlake Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, and it has won more gold awards at the KBB Music Festival than any other ensemble. In 2014 the orchestra was placed first equal at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna.
David is also the director of the Auckland Youth Choir, Vice-Chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, is a national conducting advisor and tutor and was a governance board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation for 9-years. He completed his undergraduate study at the University of Auckland, with an emphasis on conducting and composition, later graduating with a Master of Music degree with first class honours in choral conducting. He studied singing with Isabel Cunningham, Glenese Blake and Beatrice Webster, and conducting with Karen Grylls and Juan Matteucci. He has sung with many top choirs in New Zealand, including the Auckland Dorian Choir, University of Auckland Chamber Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir. He was a founding member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the V8 Vocal Ensemble.
David has previously led the New Zealand Youth Choir on four international tours, including the USA and Canada in 2013, which featured performances of the War Requiem by Britten in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Washington DC. In 2016 the choir gave concerts in Singapore, the Czech Republic, France and the UK. Tour highlights included singing high mass at Notre-Dame in Paris, a lunchtime concert at Windsor Castle, and producing a live DVD recording of a well-received concert at St Johns Smith Square in London. The choir also participated in the Festival of Academic Choirs in Pardubice, Czech Republic, winning every category it entered, as well as the prize for outstanding vocal culture, and then going on to win the Grand Prix. At the end of 2019 the choir embarked on a Pacific tour aboard the cruise ship MS Maasdam, taking in Tonga, Niue, Fiji, New Caledonia and Sydney. In 2022 the choir toured Australia, presenting performances in Tasmania, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and at the Sydney Opera House.
As a freelance musician, David has conducted several local ensembles, including the Auckland Philharmonia and the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra. He was the assistant musical director of the New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir, founding musical director of the Auckland Youth Big Band, chairman and administrator of the KBB Music Festival, and a live performance reviewer for Radio NZ Concert. David is often involved in session and recording work, particularly as a conductor, adjudicator, clinician and singer and was choir director on the recent New Zealand film, Tinā. He has also served as the choir director for Synthony, and is the chorus master for the International Schools Choral Music Society based in China.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- The Spinoff
Our first reactions to Virgin, Lorde's brand new album
The Spinoff writers share their thoughts on Lorde's fourth album. After returning from her typical four-year hiatus with a series of thrilling pop-ups, including one in the YMCA bathrooms in central Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand pop star Lorde released her fourth album Virgin at midnight last night. With an icy blue cover depicting an X-ray of the singer's own pelvis, the album has brought with it much fan speculation. Will it be even more revealing than her verse in 'girl, so confusing'? Will it be a return to the Melodrama era? And why, oh why, is there a Baby Bash credit? We took a long, hard listen overnight to bring you these findings. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith My virgin Virgin listen was exactly as God intended: alone in my bedroom with the lights off waiting for the midnight release. This is a good nighttime album in the sense that there's an equal number of songs to cry (in a Melodrama way) and dance (in a kind-of Brat way) to – but mostly this is the kind of album that will make you hope the next drug the Act Party makes available over the counter is ketamine. How will Virgin rank in the overall Lorde discography? It's definitely above Solar Power and hitting a sweet spot between Melodrama and Pure Heroine. She's showing off her vocals a bit more, but also really nailing that David Byrne thing of treating lyrical delivery like spoken word that can puncture a melody, rather than flow with it (which kind-of irked me in 'GRWM' and 'Shapeshifter' at first, but now it's very much grown on me). There's a lot of lyrics in this which could work like cryptic Instagram posts ('2009 me'd be so impressed') or something I'd write in my diary if I was crashing out ('if I had virginity, I would have given that too'). And production-wise, Virgin is pretty stripped back, which might be hard for the 'Supercut' and 'Hard Feelings/Loveless' heads. Lorde told us this album would feel like shotgunning a Red Bull and kissing someone you really like, and given the album's runtime and lyrical content, yes, exactly that. 'Clearblue' feels like a new career all-timer for her – a song about wishing you kept the pregnancy test from your last relationship as a memento is exactly what I want to hear from Lorde's ovulation album, and 'your metal detector hits my precious treasure' is my favourite line at the moment. I'll be ready to discuss 'David' after a few more therapy sessions. Mad Chapman In a beautiful and completely coincidental turn of events, I listened to Lorde's new album in full the minute it was released, while riding a city bike around the waterfront in Singapore. I managed two full listens through before dragging my clammy self back to the hotel. My first thought: I wish it was longer. At 34 minutes it ends before it's really begun. But where albums often fall over by not living up to their pre-release singles, Virgin feels like the inverse. 'Favourite Daughter' and 'Current Affairs' are like therapy, and 'David' will likely have the longest shelf life. Lyrically, welcome back to the poet Lorde. Production-wise, I had hoped for a bit more experimenting, though there's a safety (as a listener) in dropping straight back into the melodies and moods we recognise. The final moments of 'David' are thrilling and felt like she was about to dive into something new and then bam, the album is over. Wanted more, enjoyed what I got. P.S. Has Lorde ever made a joke in a song? Because I laughed out loud at the 'Suga Suga' reference. Gabi Lardies Wow not fair guys, I listened to Virgin through headphones in the corner of the lunch-room while being assaulted by the smell of my colleagues' morning eggs. I also encountered some technical difficulties [ads interrupting the flow] due to recently having cancelled my Spotify subscription. I am still trying to figure out an alternative, recommendations welcome. It was during the third song, 'Shapeshifter', that I thought 'ahhhh I know what this is' – bedroom pop, albeit made by one of the biggest pop stars in the world and certainly not lo-fi. These songs, entirely constructed of Ella Yelich-O'Connor's voice and electronic melodies and instruments, are introspective, intimate, nostalgic and sometimes dreamy. Though they're a million miles off Solar Power, they don't hit those party highs of Melodrama. There were moments, particularly in 'Clearblue', when I was reminded of Kody Nielson's Silicon project, and other moments where I thought of Pickle Darling. This is a perfect winter album, something to curl up with on a cold night alone. The lyrics are easy to relate to [it's a break up album too] and it's nice to have some pop for introverts. Alex Casey As Lorde has established herself, this album is probably best enjoyed in a subterranean carpark or a grimy toilet block, alas my first Virgin listen was while doing the damn dishes and making myself a damn omelette before work this morning (as a wise woman once said: vine hanging over the door, dog who comes when I call etc etc etc). Nonetheless, the first three tracks lifted me out of chilly Christchurch suburbia to a place much more thrilling, sweaty, and industrial. She doesn't want us to take our time and bliss out in the sun anymore, but absolutely ping out with urgency under the blue lights. I saw Lorde say in an interview recently that she was put here to make bangers, but that doesn't mean that these songs are all feel-good euphoria. 'Favourite Daughter' is my immediate favourite, a soaring release of a pop song that also fucked me up so insanely hard that I was in tears by the last line. Mum stuff, my god. The whole run through 'Man of Year' to 'Favourite Daughter' to 'Current Affairs' to 'Clearblue' is a powerful Mount Rushmore of knotty unspoken women's shit, confirming suspicions that 'girl so confusing' was just the tip of a very gnarly iceberg. Also the line from 'Suga Suga' – 'Got me lifted, feeling so gifted' – in 'If She Could See Me Now' is the 'Can I kick it? Yeah, I can' from 'Solar Power' and I love it. Not just because I am fuelled almost entirely by early 2000s popular culture references, but because it brought back a vulnerable memory I have long tried to bury. Sometime in 2016, a bunch of us journalist freaks and Lorde, somehow, were on a cursed van ride home from a boozy media schmooze-fest. She had control of the aux cord (rightly so) and I bellowed 'play Baby Bash!!!!' at her in a sav-fuelled fugue state. The look on her face has haunted me ever since, but hearing this lyric on Virgin makes me think that maybe she didn't hate the suggestion as much as I have assumed she did for the last near-decade. That's healing, that's growth… that's Virgin.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
David Squire's farewell NZ Youth Choir tour
David Squire directing the NZ Youth Choir at the Sydney Opera House in December 2022. Photo: Robert Catto Photography When David Squire joined New Zealand's National Youth Choir as a singer, it never occurred to him he might one day direct it. But direct it he has, for 15 years. That time, which has included some "really amazing experiences", is coming to an end, as Squire is stepping down as the New Zealand Youth Choir 's music director once it has completed its latest overseas tour to Singapore, Denmark and the UK. Squire and choir tenor Ivan Zhang joined RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump ahead of the choir's departure. This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. David Squire and the New Zealand Youth Choir Photo: Jo Highlights of the tour will include taking part in the European Choir Games in Denmark before representing New Zealand at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales. The latter is a celebration of and competition for performing arts groups from around the world. It's not the first time the Youth Choir has taken part in the Eisteddfod, which all happens in a giant tent in a field not far from the small north Wales town of Llangollen. The last time Squire took the choir there, everyone was sweltering in a heatwave (and there's not much in the way of air conditioning inside the tent). The year before, it rained and the venue turned into a swamp. Not that those extremes put the musicians off. New Zealand Youth Choir 2025 member Ivan Zhang Photo: Supplied / New Zealand Youth Choir The tour also marks the end of Ivan Zhang's current stint with the choir. As well as studying music, Zhang is also reading law at Auckland University. He was thinking law would be his longer term career choice, but he is beginning to wonder if music is where his heart is. Luckily, he's young enough to audition for another stint with the NZ Youth Choir. As for Squire, he's not sure what his longer term plans will be. His focus is on the Youth Choir's tour, and once that's over, taking part in the Big Sing where Euphony and Voicemale - two Auckland secondary school choirs he directs - have made it through to the Finale in Dunedin this August.
Scoop
18-06-2025
- Scoop
NZ Youth Choir Heading To European Choir Games In Denmark
Press Release – Choirs Aotearoa NZ Trust Tour marks the last for director David Squire – 'It's been my great honour' The world's longest running national youth choir, NZ Youth Choir (NZYC), is getting ready for its 14th international tour: to Singapore and Europe. The traditional 'farewell' concert will take place at Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral, Friday 27th June, with tickets selling fast. The following day, NZYC will head to Singapore for concerts before flying to Europe to compete in the 6th European Choir Games and Grand Prix of Nations in Aarhus, Denmark. The choir will then return to the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales where they previously won ' Choir of the World ' in 1999. This is the New Zealand Youth Choir's first European tour since before COVID-19. The choir gathers New Zealand's finest young voices aged 18–25 and offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from our top conductor and vocal coaches, with the three-year membership culminating in an international tour. Director David Squire will end his time with the choir at the completion of the tour. David has directed NZYC since 2011 and was himself a member from 1985–1991 before becoming a founding member of Voices NZ and going onto an illustrious career in music education. ' It's been my great honour to direct the New Zealand Youth Choir for the past 15 years,' David says, ' As an NZYC alumnus, I've always considered this role bigger than any person who has the opportunity to conduct it and, with that in mind, 2025 is the time for my tenure with the choir to come to an end '. The Holy Trinity Cathedral concert on Friday 27th June will be David's last New Zealand concert as New Zealand Youth Choir director. ' David is one of New Zealand's most prominent conductors, and his extraordinary legacy with New Zealand Youth Choir will be cherished and celebrated,' says Arne Hermann, Choirs Aotearoa NZ's CE, ' While David's tenure with NZYC will come to an end, his mahi with CANZ will continue. We will announce the new Music Director closer to the commencement of their start date in early 2026 – and once the recruitment process is complete '. While overseas, NZYC will also sing in Singapore and the UK: Oxford, Barnsley and a concert at Sinfonia Smith's Square, London – where NZYC in 2016, the last time they were in Europe led by David, recorded their 'Live in London' DVD and won the Grand Prix at the 2016 IFAS in the Czech Republic in 2016. NZYC has a Give-a-little page to support their 2025 tour. NZ Youth Choir Farewell Concert at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland 7:30pm, Friday 27 June, 2025 MORE ABOUT DAVID SQUIRE David has taught music in schools for 35 years and in 2011 won a New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Medal for services to music education. His ensembles have won many awards at local and international music festivals, such as the NZCF Big Sing. His Rangitoto College mixed-voice chamber choir, The Fundamentals, won the platinum award at the 2008 NZCF Big Sing Finale in Wellington – the first time for a mixed-voice choir. David's upper-voice choir from Kristin School, Euphony, was third in the open female choir competition at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, in 2013. In 2019, Euphony represented New Zealand at the Budapest International Choral Festival, winning the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category, coming 3rd in the open Musica Sacra category and was invited to compete for the Grand Prix. David's Westlake Boys High School lower-voice choir, Voicemale, won the Grand Prix at the 2nd Leonardo da Vinci International Choral Festival in Florence in 2018, and David won the award for best conductor at this event. David has been music director of the Westlake Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, and it has won more gold awards at the KBB Music Festival than any other ensemble. In 2014 the orchestra was placed first equal at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna. David is also the director of the Auckland Youth Choir, Vice-Chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, is a national conducting advisor and tutor and was a governance board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation for 9-years. He completed his undergraduate study at the University of Auckland, with an emphasis on conducting and composition, later graduating with a Master of Music degree with first class honours in choral conducting. He studied singing with Isabel Cunningham, Glenese Blake and Beatrice Webster, and conducting with Karen Grylls and Juan Matteucci. He has sung with many top choirs in New Zealand, including the Auckland Dorian Choir, University of Auckland Chamber Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir. He was a founding member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the V8 Vocal Ensemble. David has previously led the New Zealand Youth Choir on four international tours, including the USA and Canada in 2013, which featured performances of the War Requiem by Britten in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Washington DC. In 2016 the choir gave concerts in Singapore, the Czech Republic, France and the UK. Tour highlights included singing high mass at Notre-Dame in Paris, a lunchtime concert at Windsor Castle, and producing a live DVD recording of a well-received concert at St Johns Smith Square in London. The choir also participated in the Festival of Academic Choirs in Pardubice, Czech Republic, winning every category it entered, as well as the prize for outstanding vocal culture, and then going on to win the Grand Prix. At the end of 2019 the choir embarked on a Pacific tour aboard the cruise ship MS Maasdam, taking in Tonga, Niue, Fiji, New Caledonia and Sydney. In 2022 the choir toured Australia, presenting performances in Tasmania, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and at the Sydney Opera House. As a freelance musician, David has conducted several local ensembles, including the Auckland Philharmonia and the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra. He was the assistant musical director of the New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir, founding musical director of the Auckland Youth Big Band, chairman and administrator of the KBB Music Festival, and a live performance reviewer for Radio NZ Concert. David is often involved in session and recording work, particularly as a conductor, adjudicator, clinician and singer and was choir director on the recent New Zealand film, Tinā. He has also served as the choir director for Synthony, and is the chorus master for the International Schools Choral Music Society based in China.
