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After a successful performance of Mozart’s classic Requiem in D Minor in May, Supertonic is back with a programme of contemporary choral music that matters.
On the evening of Saturday 8 November, Supertonic will present Make Some Noise at the Lower Hutt Town Hall. This is the first time the choir has performed in the Hutt Valley, and they hope to see some new faces in the audience as they bring this programme of meaningful music from around the world to the stage. Make Some Noise highlights issues of social justice, including indigenous, women’s and civil rights and climate action. The programme is rich and varied, from Katerina Gimon’s arrangement of AURORA’s Apple Tree, a Norwegian pop song addressing the urgency of the global climate crisis, to Robert T. Gibson’s arrangement of the gospel standard This Little Light of Mine. Oliassa by Malika Tirolien utilises an invented language to invoke a call from the ancestors, while Alex Vollant titles their piece Auass meaning “child” in the Innu language to honour the generation of elders who survived the Residential Schools in Canada. The impact of sexual harassment and assault on women is highlighted in MILCK’s I Can’t Keep Quiet and Lillia Ruocco and Emmanuelle Ader’s Canzone rò curtiell’. Closer to home, Make Some Noise features a set of waiata in teo reo Māori to highlight the importance of indigenous voices in Aotearoa New Zealand, including Ngoi Pēwhairangi’s Whakarongo. This waiata-ā-ringa incorporates Ngoi Pēwhairangi’s beliefs and methodology on teaching te reo Māori. Led by Musical co-Director Virginie Pacheco, Supertonic offers Make Some Noise as an invitation to concert-goers to consider the causes that are important to them. In connecting with audiences through the striking and impactful works of the composers featured in this programme - by turns harmonious, raucous, gut-wrenching, resolute - the choir hopes to inspire those listening to make some noise in their own lives. Supertonic was formed in 2014 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and strives to push the boundaries of what choral music can be. The choir has performed concerts that cover the entire musical spectrum, from major classical works including Vaughan Williams' Mass in G Minor, Vivaldi's Gloria and Faure's Requiem to pop and rock spectaculars celebrating hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s from the likes of Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Elton John, Queen, and Celine Dion. The choir has performed alongside The Royal New Zealand Airforce Band, joined Brett McKenzie, the NZSO and The Muppets for the Jim Henson Retrospectacle, shared the stage with Mama Kin Spender at Coastella, and performed in national civic commemorations, street festivals and at community events. Make Some Noise 8 November 2025 - 7:30pm Lower Hutt Town Hall Tickets $30/$25 Tickets available from www.supertonic.org.nz from Saturday 27 September
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After an action-packed 10th anniversary year in 2024, Supertonic choir of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington is back to bring you one of the greats.
On Saturday 17 May, Supertonic will present Requiem, with the incomparable Requiem in D Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as the centrepiece. As well as a small orchestra, this performance of Mozart’s Requiem will feature soloists Carleen Ebbs, Anna Pierard, Theo Moolenaar and Simon Christie. Performed in the rich acoustics of Wellington Cathedral, this concert will mark an exciting milestone for the innovative Wellington choir - Supertonic’s first public performance of the complete Requiem. This timeless piece has made appearances across the entertainment spectrum - in films, video games, advertising and even reality television. As featured in Bioshock Infinite, the Lacrimosa made an appearance at our 2023 pop-culture concert High Score. Whether or not you have attended a performance, it’s more than likely that you will have heard some of it before. A requiem is a mass for the souls of the dead; the text asks God to accept their souls into heaven. Although commissioned to write this requiem for the wife of a patron, it is believed that by the time he reached his final days of life, Mozart felt he was writing this mass for his own funeral. It was ultimately completed by others, as he did not finish writing it before his untimely death at just 35 years of age on 5 December 1791. To complement the requiem, the first half of the concert will focus on the duality of life and death and contrasts in nature with a selection of contemporary works. Life by Jacob Narverud is set to the text of Barter by 20th-century poet Sara Teasdale. With a cascading introduction this unaccompanied SATB piece includes a calming, rhythmic call and response between the upper and lower voices. Tundra by Ola Gjeilo is a beautiful ode to the relationship between flat, unmoving and calm landscapes and the clouds that are in constant motion above them. Led by Supertonic co-Musical Director Virginie Pacheco, with Requiem Supertonic hopes to bring the timeless mass to both dedicated fans and those who are curious about connecting to classical music through the monumental works of composers like Mozart. Supertonic is a Wellington-based choir that strives to push the boundaries of what choral music can be. The choir was formed in 2014 and since then has performed concerts that cover the entire musical spectrum, from Vaughan Williams' Mass in G Minor, Vivaldi's Gloria and Faure's Requiem to pop and rock spectaculars celebrating Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Elton John and Queen. The choir performed alongside Brett McKenzie, the NZSO and The Muppets in the 2018 Jim Henson Retrospectacle, joined and Mama Kin Spender at the local Coastella music festival, performed in national Anzac and Armistice day broadcasts, and in 2023 flew to the Armageddon Expo in Auckland to perform High Score: Legendary soundtracks in concert. Most recently, Supertonic joined the Royal New Zealand Airforce Band for their annual concert in 2024. Supertonic Presents Mozart Requiem Mass in D Minor Saturday 17 May 2025 - 7:30pm Wellington Cathedral of St Paul Tickets $35/$25 Tickets available from www.supertonic.org.nz. Supertonic choir presents It’s all coming back: A Supertonic 90s Mix-Tape
In its 10th anniversary year, the innovative Supertonic choir of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington is excited to announce the details of the final concert series for 2024. Through 2024 Supertonic has been celebrating all things.. well.. Supertonic! A classical concert exploring relationships between kindred composers, separated by centuries and Whakarongo - a celebration of the composers and voices of Aotearoa. To finish up the year, and showing just how versatile this choir is, they’ll be winding back the clock taking you back to the soundtrack of millennial childhoods. On Friday 29 and Saturday 30 November, Supertonic will present three performances of It’s All Coming Back: A Supertonic 90s Mix-Tape at the place where creativity begins in Wellington - Te Auaha. If you’re looking for an experience that will take you back to when you didn’t need to know what an iPod was - then this one’s for you. For the choir's founding Music Director Isaac Stone and many of the singers there will be more than a sprinkling of nostalgia in the air, not only singing the songs they grew up with, but also reflecting on the adventure the choir has had over its first decade. Stone says he always had a clear idea of the space Supertonic could fill in Wellington’s performing arts scene. “From the very beginning, we wanted to be the ‘everything’ choir - a choir that does classical, contemporary, art music to indie music and everything in between. The most important thing is that whatever it is we do, we always do it incredibly well”. But even Stone was surprised by how quickly the Supertonic juggernaut came together “By our second year the choir had already ballooned to the 50 strong choir it is today. I distinctly remember walking into the room on the first day with this incredible energy in the room, and lifted my hands to conduct and the sound was just there. I knew from that moment we were going to do things no one else was doing.” The years that followed has seen the choir perform rock concerts in student bars, beautiful ethereal music in cathedrals, and even belted out jazz in wine cellars, very much delivering on the original vision for the choir and having plenty of fun along the way. This show will be a throw-back to the time when you just had to hope you’d catch your favourite song on the radio in time to tape it. Mix-tapes were random, but always made with love. Were you a fan of the pop princess or the boy band? Perhaps rock or emo was more your thing. This concert has something for everyone - from Boyz II Men to the Smashing Pumpkins, Britney Spears to Radiohead. You’ll also hear music from closer to home with songs from The Muttonbirds and Crowded House, and of course the queen of divas herself - Celine Dion. So dig out your double denim, and your hypercolor t-shirt and get yourself and your friends ready for a night of all-out nostalgia! Supported by a full rock band and string quartet, for the final concert series of the year Supertonic is ready to party like it’s 1999 (and 1998, and 1997, and… you get the picture!). It’s All Coming Back 29-30 November 2024 Te Auaha, Wellington Tickets $38/$28 Tickets available from www.supertonic.org.nz from Wednesday 16 October. Supertonic is proud to present our second concert for 2024: Whakarongo! A Choral Concert of Aotearoa Composers.
Directed by kaiārahi puoro Isaac Stone, Whakarongo! celebrates Aotearoa’s incredible composers, our unique choral sound, and of course, te reo Māori! From choral art music to contemporary waiata, we will explore the beautiful diversity of Aotearoa artists in themes of faith, our whenua, our people, and te ao Māori. He ngākau tino harikoa mātou - we are delighted to share these taonga with you. Featuring music by: - Chris Artley - Gareth Farr - David N. Childs - Rosa Elliott - Takerei Komene - Reuben Rameka and more! The centrepiece of this konohete (concert) is a brand new waiata by rising rangatahi composer Elisabeth Te Puni, who was recently named winner of the Te Reo SOUNZ-NZCF Composition Competition. Be among the first to hear it live! Whakarongo! 8 September 2024 Alan Gibbs Centre, Wellington College Tickets $20-$30 Book at supertonic.org.nz Supertonic choir to celebrate 10th anniversary with an evening of classical music by composers who influenced each other across time
In its 10th anniversary year, the innovative Supertonic choir of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington is excited to announce the details of the first of three concerts planned for 2024. You might have heard of Supertonic’s recent exploits - a Swing music extravaganza, a video game themed saga, and a rock concert of Elton John’s 70s hits. With this concert, Supertonic presents a classical music concert that’s both accessible and nuanced. On 25 May in the beautiful acoustic of Wellington Cathedral, Supertonic will perform Parallel Gifts: Kindred composers, separated by centuries. The choir will explore the unique, deep and fascinating relationships between two sets of composers - Britten and Purcell, and Mendelssohn and Bach - and the musical notes that shaped their compositions. Isaac Newton once wrote to rival scientist Robert Hooke about his discoveries, saying “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Britten and Mendelssohn are two of the biggest giants in Classical music - but even composers as prolific as them knew that by looking to the past, they could see even further into the future. Despite Bach’s music being everywhere from advertising to your nephew’s Grade 2 piano exam, we wouldn’t even know who he was if Mendelssohn hadn’t been obsessed enough with his predecessor’s music to dig up the old scores and stage a huge performance of the St Matthew Passion nearly 100 years after Bach had died. Benjamin Britten knew he could make his mark on the world because he found the voice of a fellow English composer who’d died over 200 years earlier - Henry Purcell. Britten’s style is quirky, innovative and unique, just like the Baroque composer’s music he was devoted to. This concert will juxtapose some of their most famous compositions - Britten’s secular Hymn to St Cecilia and Purcell’s own dedication to the patron saint of music, Hail Bright Cecilia. Bach’s very famous cantata chorale Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring will be presented alongside one of Mendelssohn’s beautiful and soul-calming Verleih uns Frieden. We’ll also be bracketing sacred anthems, operatic music, oratorio excerpts, and we’re particularly excited to present one of Bach’s renowned motets, Lobet den Herrn. Parallel Gifts will be a fresh offering for Supertonic after several consecutive performances of contemporary works, presenting meaty classical music for every audience member - whether this is your first time hearing Bach live or whether you go to every performance of Britten you can get your hands on. Supertonic hopes to show that classical music can be cross-cultural and cross-generational. Parallel Gifts 25 May 2024 Wellington Cathedral of St Paul Tickets $25-$35 Book at supertonic.org.nz Supertonic is ecstatic to present High Score: Legendary soundtracks in concert. Along with a 10-piece orchestra, the 50 voices of Supertonic are set to spirit you away with the sublime soundscapes of your favourite video games, fantasy adventure films and anime.
This concert will take you through decades of music, from retro video game classics like Tetris to modern favourites such as Halo and Grammy Award-winning pieces from Sid Meier’s Civilization. The concert also includes classic anime themes, Marvel masterpieces and scores from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Through the power of choral singing, this special event will invoke the feeling of excitement and 'possibility' of a convention - where everything you can imagine is in one big place. Join us for a great adventure through all the different worlds represented in music and song. Taking place for one night only, High Score will be performed at Pipitea Marae, 7:30pm Saturday 4 November. We're playing on a whole new level - don't miss this out on this choral quest! Tickets available from Saturday 2 September at www.supertonic.org.nz Supertonic is excited to return to the stage for its first concert of 2023, Sing, Sing, Sing! - an unabashed full-throttle choral celebration of the Big Band era of music. The 56-strong choir, known for crisscrossing the full gambit of musical genres, will be joined by an extraordinary jazz ensemble of rhythm, sax and brass for a one night only show on Saturday 27 May.
Swing emerged in a hellish moment in world history, bookended by two World Wars and peaking in popularity during the Great Depression. It’s unsurprising that the escapism of this rambunctious, rhythmic and soulful style of music took the world by storm. Sing, Sing, Sing! will include music from some of the true superstars of the era: Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey and many others. Concertgoers will get to experience the full spectrum of Swing, from sentimental ballads like Summertime, Autumn Leaves and Stardust, to American dancehall standards including Lady is a Tramp, It Don’t Mean a Thing, and of course In The Mood! Join Supertonic, music director Isaac Stone, and musicians from the New Zealand School of Music for this show-stopping choral spectacular that’ll have you jitterbugging all the way home. Sing, Sing, Sing! Performed by Supertonic Venue: Queen Margaret College Hall, Thorndon Time: 7:30pm, Saturday 27 May 2023 $35/$25 Tickets available from www.supertonic.org.nz from Thursday 27 April. Supertonic is thrilled to announce its second concert for 2022. With the uplifting Gloria in D Major by Antonio Vivaldi as the opener followed by a feast of feel-good choral works, Joy will send you dancing into spring with a collection of choral arrangements overflowing with festive cheer. Divided into 12 brief movements, the well-known Gloria is a joyful hymn of praise and worship that takes the listener on a journey of rejoicing to profound sadness and back again. Its distinctive opening chorus will be familiar to many, leading into a mixture of gorgeous soprano solos and duets, still and solemn movements and Vivaldi’s masterful instrumental countermelodies that feature throughout. Rich and rewarding, the Gloria is as enjoyable to sing as it is to experience in the audience.
Supertonic is delighted to announce its first concert for 2022: North. Join us on Saturday 18 June at Samuel Marsden Collegiate Auditorium for an evening of music celebrating the joy of finding yourself, finding your way and moving forward. We’re also thrilled to welcome a new music director for 2022: Virginie Pacheco.
Rest: Fauré’s Requiem and Songs of Remembrance will take place in the magnificent Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. Under the direction of Isaac Stone, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in D Minor will feature the brilliant voices of guest soloists Nicola Holt and William McElwee.
The audience will be treated to the 1893, seven-movement version of Fauré’s Requiem, accompanied by a moving array of works from across the globe to complement Fauré’s beloved choral lament. Written in 1887, the ‘first’ version of the Requiem, the only one for which any manuscripts survive, consisted of five movements. Fauré wrote the Requiem from a personal selection of texts, laying emphasis on motifs of rest and peace. A masterpiece written in Fauré’s ecclesiastical style, the Requiem was written to be appreciated with ease, described by Fauré himself as a "lullaby" and "happy deliverance". This concert will explore the theme of remembrance through a collection of pieces including Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing by Herbert Howells, written to honour the memory of J.F. Kennedy; Y Comienzo a Bailar, a poem about Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by Elizabeth Alexander and Indodana, a traditional South African song arranged by Michael Barrett and Ralf Schmit. Supertonic is a 64-strong SATB Wellington choir that takes pride in presenting a variety of contrasting musical styles. This concert is our opportunity to perform an ambitious arrangement of classical music supported by the rich acoustic of Wellington Cathedral. Whether this is your first or fiftieth time enjoying Fauré’s Requiem, this evening of traditional choral entertainment will be sure to satisfy your musical fascination. Supertonic presents Rest - Fauré’s Requiem and Songs of Remembrance 7:30pm, Saturday 19 June 2021 Wellington Cathedral of St Paul $35/$25 Tickets available from supertonic.org.nz from Friday 14 May. |