NZ Youth Choir: Palmerston North and New Plymouth
June/July 2026
Repertoire
Palmerston North (collab. with New Zealand Choral Federation)
# sung with NZCF sing fest choirs
*conducted by CANZ Assistant Composer, Sarah McNabb
Nepituno - Queen Salote Tupou III, Arr. Helen Tupai
David’s Lamentation - Joshua Shank
Ngā Roimata o te Mārama (from Ngā Tūrama) - Takerei Komene
*To Sit & Dream - Rosephanye Powell
Arirang - Trad. Korean arr. Robin Park
Smoking Can Kill - Jaako Mantijarvi
Aotearoa - Tuirina Wehi
#Lullaby for Matariki – David Hamilton
#Matariki – Takerei Komene
New Plymouth (with guest artists Ombré)
--NZYC--
Nepituno - Queen Salote Tupou III, Arr. Helen Tupai
Richte mich, Gott - Felix Mendelssohn
Evening Service in A (magnificat only) - Charles V. Stanford
I Forgive - Shireen Abu-Khader
Plaudite - Giovanni Gabrieli
--Ombré-- Music Director Lisa Rangi
Harriet Tubman
Feeling Good
And So it Goes - accompanied by Matthew Spooner (piano)
--NZYC--
*To Sit & Dream - Rosephanye Powell
TaReKiTa - Reena Esmail
Arirang - Traditional Korean arr. Robin Park
Smoking Can Kill - Jaako Mantijarvi
Aotearoa - Tuirina Wehi
About the choir
Founded in 1979, and widely considered the first national youth choir of its kind in the world, the New Zealand Youth Choir has achieved considerable success since its formation, drawing from its unique cultural and geographic origin. Performances in New Zealand and fourteen international tours including visits to the UK, Europe, Canada, USA, Australia, Singapore, Russia, the Republic of Korea, China and the Pacific Islands have firmly established its reputation for consistency, energy and excellence.
One of the Choir's greatest achievements was winning the 1999 ‘Choir of the World' title at the International Music Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, a prize they won again in July 2025. During their 2016 European Landmark Tour, NZYC won the Grand Prix at the 2016 IFAS in Pardubice Czech Republic and also all four categories it competed in, and in 2025 they won Gold Medal for Folklore at the European Choir Games Grand Prix of Nations in Denmark.
Though the choir excels in many choral artforms, they have been fundamental in ingraining Māori, Pasifika, and other multicultural work into NZ’s choral spheres. Under current direction of Rowan Johnston, one of NZ’s most prominent choral conductors, NZYC continues to do more, do better, and share choral stories of Aotearoa with the world.
Artistic Staff
MUSIC DIRECTOR NZYC
Rowan Johnston has a Bachelor in Music from Victoria University in classical singing and composition and a Postgraduate Diploma and Masters (first class) in Conducting from Auckland University. An alumnus of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir, Rowan sings in Voices New Zealand, our premier chamber choir.
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 achieved 1st place in the Mixed Choir category at the Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.
Since relocating to Wellington, Rowan is now HOD Music at Chilton Saint James School where he conducts two of the school’s choirs. He also directs the Wellington Youth Choir and prior to his appointment to the NZYC Directorship had co-directed the Aotearoa Academy Choir.
Rowan is regularly invited to conduct choirs at the Gondwana National Choral School in Australia and is a Choral Advisor for the NZ Choral Federation.
MICHAEL STEWART is one New Zealand’s leading choral conductors and organists. He is Organist and Director of Music at the Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul, Deputy Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir, and Music Director of acclaimed early music choir The Tudor Consort. Michael holds a Bachelor of Music degree with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury and a Master of Music degree from McGill University. He has recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is a frequent contributor to Radio New Zealand Concert. Since becoming Music Director of The Tudor Consort in 2007, Michael has led critically-acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt and J S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and has prepared them for several performances of Handel’s Messiah with the NZSO. In 2021 Michael prepared Voices New Zealand for a performance of Brahms’ Schicksalslied. He is a past member of both the New Zealand Youth Choir and Voices New Zealand.
DR MORAG ATCHISON has firmly established herself as one of New Zealand’s leading sopranos, pedagogues, and choral educators and studied at the University of Auckland and the Royal Academy of Music (London). She has sung roles with NZ Opera, Auckland Philharmonia, the NZSO, English Touring Opera, and Aspen Festival Opera. Concerts have taken her throughout NZ, the UK, France, Germany, Canada, Kenya, and Seychelles. Recent engagements include Verdi Requiem with Auckland Choral, Britten War Requiem with Orchestra Wellington, and a recital in Tunisia as part of the celebrations for the new Bishop of North Africa. Later in 2025 she will sing with Voices NZ on their European Tour. In 2022 her debut CD The Distance: Songs of David Hamilton was released on the Atoll label. Morag is a Senior Lecturer in Voice at the University of Auckland, works with the New Zealand Youth Choir and the Auckland Chamber Choir. In 2019 she was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM).
