Organised by INTERKULTUR and hosted by the New Zealand Choral Federation, the 13th World Choir Games held in Auckland was dubbed as the largest cultural event to ever take place in our country. From the 10th-20th of July 2024, the pioneering event offered a phenomenal display of song, dance and culture.
With this year’s Games being in our very own home city, the Macleans College Chorale was lucky enough to be a part of all the action. (Chorale was one of the 51 New Zealand choirs!) With 250 groups from over 40 different countries being involved, not only was this competition a chance to experience music at an international level, but it also provided the opportunity to meet new people and form lifelong friendships.
MCC had an exceptionally full itinerary and got involved with a multitude of activities. One of the first ones was the Parade of Nations which was very surreal and gave the choir an idea of how large-scale the Games were going to be. Hosted in locations all across the city, MCC went from the familiar Auckland Town Hall, to the Aotea Centre, and even Spark Arena!
Throughout the second week of the Term 2 school holidays, MCC got the chance to see many amazing choirs perform. Special mentions go to the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and all the Chinese choirs in the Championship category whose performances were particularly outstanding.
Interacting with choirs from the other side of the world was even more exciting than hearing their music. The small pockets of free time MCC had were spent on getting to know people from other choirs. Many friendships were formed very quickly despite the language barriers. The feeling that everyone was united under the universal language of music was evident and gave people the confidence (and probably adrenaline) to approach others in the hopes of finding a lifelong friend.
Chorale’s official competition day was on the 18th of July, competing alongside almost twenty other choirs in the Secondary School Choirs category. The repertoire included familiar pieces from BigSing (Cantate Domino and Good Night, Dear Heart) as well as the addition of a groovy piece called Kyrie – A Little Jazz Mass, and the well-known Chinese folk song Mo Li Hua.
Chorale performed at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre at Aotea Centre for the first time alongside a range of secondary school choirs from all over the world. From sound checks, to being backstage, to finally singing for a panel of judges, the whole experience was exciting and incredibly fulfilling.
The awards ceremony was held the following day at Spark Arena. The atmosphere was abuzz with anticipation and no one could sit still. Chorale came fourth place overall and earned a Golden Diploma at Level 3!
Results for the Secondary School Choirs Category:
Aside from the competition, MCC got to engage in plenty of other parts of the World Choir Games. Highlights included the Friendship Concert at SkyCity and being in the Festival Stage Choir.
Friendship Concert
Hosted in different areas around the CBD, a number of Friendship Concerts aimed at connecting choirs from all over the world took place. Each concert consisted of three choirs who shared twenty minutes of unique music to each other and the general public.
Chorale’s Friendship Concert was located at SkyCity. The stage was shared with two Chinese choirs: The Choir of East Shanghai High School, and the Shanghai Student Art Troupe Pudong New Area Youth Activity Center Choir. The three choirs were able to socialise and even exchanged friendship bracelets afterwards!
The Festival Stage Choir
As part of the Festival Stage Choir, Chorale performed on the Spark Arena Stage during the closing ceremony of the Games! The Festival Stage Choir was made up of almost 600 singers from all over the world and had to attend mass rehearsals in the week leading up to the big day.
This was definitely the crowning moment of MCC’s experience. Everyone was in awe to be standing on the same stage that had hosted so many celebrities. Ten pieces were sung by the group including iconic crowd-pleasers like Sway by Michael Bublé, Dynamite by BTS and We Are the Champions by Queen.
Among the numbers performed, the official song Te Taukaea Tangata – Breathing In, Breathing Out was also featured in the ceremony.
It goes without saying that being in the Festival Stage Choir was truly special. However, one particular interaction made it even more significant. Seated next to MCC was the AK Choir from Japan. After one of the rehearsals, they gifted everyone a special knot made with mizuhiki cords. Each knot came with a little card that said “music connects people and creates harmony and peace.” – this quote sums up the purpose of choral music quite nicely.
To end with some input from the choir, here are some of the responses from MCC when they were asked about their experience.
“What was the most memorable thing?”
“Watching and praying MCC won gold at the awards ceremony.”
“Singing together in the carpark. It was really casual but we sounded so good because we all fell in sync with each other and it came naturally.”
“The bus rides! As simple as it sounds, we bonded a lot during those 30-minute bus rides. MCC is literally like a second family!!!”
“Screaming together during the awards for our category.”
“When we were coming back from a lunch break and a choir from China (Guangzhou Panyu Xinghai Children’s Choir) started giving us a ton of gifts – I wish I had something to give back to them…”
“Everything!!!”
“Singing on the world stage in Spark Arena for the Festival Stage Choir!!! It still feels unreal sometimes.”
“Bus rides that were never silent (we were always either singing or yelling).””Talking and socialising with other choirs from different backgrounds was very memorable.”
“Going out and finding dinner each night with friends.”
“Performing as part of the festival stage choir and everyone waving their phone lights in the air!!! It was so beautiful.”
“What is one thing you learned or gained?”
“That even in such a competitive event where you want to be the best out of everyone else, the sense of support is so strong that you want everyone to do their best as well.”
“An understanding and appreciation for the perception of music from different people around the world. For example, something that would sound amazing to one adjudicator may not to another.”
“New friends and memories that I will treasure forever!!!”
“Music connects people. It was so cool to meet different people from across the globe and be able to share our love for music to one another. WCG also brought MCC closer together as a choir. I think we can all agree chorale isn’t just an extracurricular, it is far more than that. It’s such a special place for us to find a sense of belonging in school, and personally, MCC will always be a highlight of my college years.”
“Music is universal.”
“I gained a closer friendship with everyone in the choir through WCG, got to meet so many people from so many countries, as well as performing for a global panel of adjudicators to gain such a great achievement of the Gold Diploma.”
“Chinese kids are great at singing.”
“That people come and go but memories are forever.”
“How music can bring together all types of people from different places.”
“I had a fantastic time at this once in a lifetime event. I learnt to work with my choir members and sing together as a family. Macleans is my found family and I will forever cherish my time with you all!”
As always, this wouldn’t have been possible without the group of wonderful teachers who made it happen. Thank you to Dr Miles, Mrs McNabb, Mr Bevan, Mr Askin and Dr Thomas for being there every step of the way.
World Choir Games 2024 is something Chorale will never forget. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience like no other. The friendships formed, lessons learned, and memories made will stay with everyone forever.
2nd September, 2024
Written by Hope Zhang, edited by Ally Chu
Photography from interkultur.com and the Macleans College Chorale
