Join the New Zealand Youth Choir

This year we are accepting digital auditions for a select number of places that are available in the NZ youth Choir for 2024 and 2025.
Please contact choirs@choirsnz.co.nz if you have any queries.

 

Submissions close 5pm, 8 October 2023

 

What you need to know

Your Commitment to NZ Youth Choir: 

When we invite you as a new member, you will be asked to commit for 2024 & 2025.

2024 – Will include three choir courses throughout Aotearoa, and dates will be provided at time of membership offer.

2025 – Will include 1 – 2 Aotearoa based courses, and culminate in an international tour.

You will also be required to work on your vocal technique and NZYC repertoire between courses.

Age

To audition for your first NZYC membership you must be between 17 and 23 years of age by 1st October 2023.

In some exceptional circumstances we may audition singers under 18 years of age. Please contact louise@choirsnz.co.nz to discuss any eligibility queries.

How to Audition 

We are a friendly bunch of people and look forward to hearing from you. The auditions are our chance to get to know you a bit and hear your voice. We are not only looking for good choral singers but also for representatives of New Zealand.

In 2023 we are accepting digital auditions. Please record the following requirements in one, unedited take, and submit your audition through this link:  https://form.jotform.com/232387937810868.

You can do the components in any order you are most comfortable with.

  1. Please record a video of you singing your chosen audition piece from the below selection:

 

  1. Please record a video of you completing the below vocal range exercise:
    1. Starting at middle C, sing "yah" up the C major scale until you run out of range
    2. Starting at middle C, sing “yah” down the C major scale until you run out of range
  2. A short introduction about yourself, and why you would like to join NZYC

Cost

There is no fee to take part in the auditions.

The membership fee for the current choir members is $590 (incl GST) per annum.

This fee goes towards the costs associated with running the choir’s domestic courses. The costs include travel and accommodation, venue hires, concert marketing and ticketing, tutor fees and music purchases just to name a few. The membership fees don’t cover the entire costs associated with any one of our courses. The shortfall in costs we source through funding, sponsorship, donations and ticket sales.

Please note that international touring years will involve a larger singer contribution to costs.

Scholarships

You are invited to consider applying for one of the two scholarships available to support paying the membership fees; the Ben Campbell Memorial Scholarship (financial hardship) and Professor Peter Godfrey Scholarship (for singer who is also an organist or conductor).

Scholarships will open in early 2024 and application information will be sent to all choir members

Why should singers audition for NZ Youth Choir?

Hear it from the members of the last NZ Youth Choir:

"NZYC has been one of the most amazing, life changing and influential experiences and I would recommend it to anyone" 

"You will grow as a musician and as a person"

"It is a wonderful experience and nothing like any choir they will have sung in before."

"NZYC is a whanau, and it is an honour to be a part of it. "

"Because there's no other choir quite like NZYC, you have amazing experiences, create lasting friendships and have the privilege to create high quality choral music that really moves people."

"It's an incredible experience, not only for your musicianship, but it's also so much fun"

"Great time, meet awesome people, have lots of fun with great music."

"Because there is nothing else like it!"

"It's an experience of a lifetime"

"You never know what you can achieve until you give it a go, and the possibilities with NZYC are endless."

You might also be interested in...

VOICES New Zealand, the country's premiere national choir is also currently taking applications for their next intake of singers.

"If you share our love for great choral singing and are passionate about working professionally with a group of like-minded singers on exciting repertoire, exploring the next level of choral singing and reaching the heights of choral excellence, VOICES is for you."

To find out more, click here.