The BIG SING - NZCF Composition Competition

Each year, secondary school choirs all over New Zealand gather in their regions for a BIG SING - a festival of choral performance, under the auspices of the NZ Choral Federation. Every choir must include at least one work by a New Zealand composer within their performance repertoire. On the recommendation of commentators who attend each festival, a number of choirs are brought together for a national gala at which awards are made in a number of categories.

NZCF also run a secondary school student composition competition for which SOUNZ provides a prize each year and the work is performed by a choir at the BIG SING Gala Finale.

The 2005 winner of the BIG SING composition was Lauren Simpkins of Queen Margaret College Wellington for her SSA work Neverending.

In 2006, Onslow College student Tabea Squire scored a double by winning both this prize for her piece Fragments as well as the SOUNZ Chamber Music composition prize. Fragments was sung as part of the programme given by Tawa College's 'Twilight Tones' in the National Finale of The Big SING held in Auckland at the end of August, 2006.

Megan Nelson from Chilton St. James School, Lower Hutt, was the winner of the 2007 award. She was inspired to write her composition Wish by a poem called Fond Wish by Peter Saint-Andre. The piece was performed in the BIG SING National Finale Concert in Christchurch in August by Bel Canto, one of the hosting choirs from Burnside High School.

For more information contact either NZCF or SOUNZ.

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