School choir’s wine glass performance

Wine glasses will be a common theme for Diocesan School for Girls’ St Cecilia Singers at the Big Sing National Finale - but no wine is involved. The glasses will be part of the elite year 9-13 choir’s performance at the August 25-27 finale to be held in the Dunedin Town Hall. The St Cecilia Singers have been selected as one of the 24 school choirs from more than 200 entries to compete at the Big Sing Finale. Competition is fierce, but the St Cecilia Singers have ambitious goals. The choir hopes the combination of talent and a unique performance repertoire will deliver winning results. Choir director Shona McIntyre-Bull is confident that the St Cecilia Singers’ performance this year will put them firmly in the running for the top honour, the Platinum award reserved for the single highest performing choir. ‘‘I don’t believe the judges will have seen tuned wine glasses performed by a school choir before,’’ McIntyre-Bull says. As well as the Latvian number, the St Cecilia Singers are performing a New Zealand work commissioned especially for the choir. The St Cecilia Singers are off to a good start, winning Best Festival Recital Programme by a Female Choir at the Auckland regional festival in June. ‘‘Dio has a long tradition of choral excellence,’’ McInyre-Bull says. St. Cecilia Singers have been running for over 30 years.’’ McInyre-Bull has a wealth of experience and accolades behind her. She was a founding member of the NZ National Youth Choir, and sang with the choir from 1979 – 1984. McInyre-Bull has been a member of the NZ Chamber Choir, Voices NZ, since 1999, and has sung with many other top chamber choirs in NZ. In the 2013 Big Sing National Finale the group achieved silver, and in both 2014 and 2015 they were one of the five choirs to win a gold award. McIntyre-Bull, who has taught music and trained choirs at Diocesan School for Girls for 11 years, has been leading the St Cecilia Singers since 2011. ‘‘Singing is my greatest joy. I just hope in my teaching my great passion for singing is passed on’’, McIntyre-Bulls says. The Big Sing is run by the New Zealand Choral Federation and is New Zealand’s nationwide top schools’ choral competition.