With thanks to Choral Director, Mr Jared Corbett

The choral programme at Saint Kentigern College is as strong as ever, demonstrated by Kentoris’ selection and participation at the national competition, The Big Sing Finale, held in Dunedin over the weekend.

Saint Kentigern was one of over 250 schools to compete in the regional Big Sing competitions during June, and Kentoris, the College’s premier choir, was invited to travel to Dunedin to compete as one of the top five mixed voice choirs in the country. As one of 24 choirs selected for the Finale, Kentoris was asked to perform two recitals of contrasting music: the first of three pieces totalling ten minutes, and the second of two pieces totalling eight minutes. The choir received a Silver award for their performance overall, which was a welcome reward for the students’ dedication and hard work over the past six months.

In their first recital, Kentoris performed ‘Darling Johnny O,’ an arrangement of a New Zealand folk song by Richard Oswin; a challenging but deeply moving illustration of a man who leaves for war but is lost at sea, and his wife who is lost in search of him. They then performed ‘En la Macarenita,’ arranged by Bob Chilcott, a folk song native of Andalusia, an autonomous region in the southern part of Spain. Accompanied on the shaker and wood block by Year 12 students, Catherine Chang and Elsdon Yong, the choir sang of a torero, or bullfighter, wooing through dance. Kentoris ended their first recital with an arrangement of ‘Deep River’ by Moses Hogan, a stunning rendition of the sombre negro spiritual that ends with a quiet passage of humming, forcing the audience to listen carefully to the music and its message.

Their second recital consisted of ‘Lullaby,’ a beautiful piece accompanied by piano, with text and music by Daniel Elder, and ‘Nyon Nyon’ by Jake Runestad, a slightly bizarre piece of choral ‘art music,’ where the singers explore the range of sounds that can be made with the human voice (with added choreography!).

The choir was hugely grateful to have Middle College Principal, Mr McQueen there in support. Kentoris would like to thank Dr Corbett, Mr Kim, Mr Adams-Close, Ms Huang, Mr Gilmour, Miss Lin and Ms Clifford for their time and energy in supporting the students at The Big Sing this year.

Kentoris now welcomes a number of new students as they work towards an overseas tour to the USA and Canada in April next year, and The Big Sing Regional competition again in June.

Tags

• College,
• Kentoris

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