NEWS

Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand is delighted to announce Rowan Johnston as its new music director of the New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC). The longest running national youth choir in the world, the Youth Choir carefully selects 50 of our best young singers, aged 18–25, and offers them a three-year membership of specialist training, rehearsals and performances that culminates in an international tour.

“I am delighted that Rowan will be the next director of our internationally acclaimed Youth Choir,” says Richard Sorrenson, Chair of Choirs Aotearoa NZ. “Rowan’s commitment to choral music in Aotearoa, his experience, his deep musicianship and his affinity with young New Zealanders make him the ideal choice to write the next chapter in the choir’s compelling story.”

Rowan begins his new role immediately, with planning already underway for the 2026/28 New Zealand Youth Choir, including December auditions to confirm which singers will be representing Aotearoa for the next three years.

“It’s an absolute honour to have the opportunity to conduct this national taonga,” says Rowan, “As only the fifth director in the choir’s illustrious history, I am humbled to be standing on the shoulders of choral giants in Aotearoa”.

Rowan follows on from his distinguished colleague David Squire, who led the NZ Youth Choir on its recent, and very successful, tour to Singapore, Denmark and the UK. Under David’s skilled direction, the choir received national and international media attention when it won both the Grand Prix of Nations at the European Choir Games in Denmark and the Choir of the World at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales.

Rowan says he’s deeply impressed and inspired by the musical and leadership potential of the young singers he will be leading and notes that “the New Zealand Youth Choir has always been a launchpad for choral careers, and I am looking forward to continuing this important kaupapa.”

For more information, contact: Rachel Healy, Choirs Aotearoa NZ Publicist. T: 027 2706105, E: rachel@rachelhealy.co.nz

MORE ABOUT ROWAN JOHNSTON

Rowan Johnston has a Bachelor in Music from Victoria University in classical singing and composition and a Postgraduate Diploma and Masters in Conducting from Auckland University. An alumnus of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir, Rowan still sings in Voices New Zealand, our premier chamber choir.

Rowan grew up in a musical family, played in pipe bands and sang his the church choir with his sister. It was as a member of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, led by Roger Stevenson, that he realised he had found his tribe and wanted to sing at the highest level. Rowan went on to sing with the New Zealand Youth choir directed by Dr Karen Grylls, who inspired him to follow both his passion for singing and interest in directing.

Rowan has previously conducted the Taranaki and Auckland Youth Choirs, was Director of Choirs at Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and HOD Music at Westlake Girls High School, where he conducted Choralation – the school’s premier mixed voice choir. Under his leadership, Choralation was placed 1st in the Mixed Choir category at the Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.

Rowan recently relocated from Auckland to Wellington and is HOD Music at Chilton Saint James School where he conducts all the school’s choirs. He also directs the Wellington Youth Choir and co-directs the Aotearoa Academy Choir.

Rowan has regularly been invited to conduct choirs at the Gondwana National Choral School in Australia and is a Choral Advisor for the NZ Choral Federation.