Missa Pasifika | Christchurch City Choir

Featuring: David Hamilton - Missa Pacifica Richard Oswin - arrangements of Waiata Traditional Samoan and Maori music

Involving more than 250 performers from different Christchurch-based performance groups, the City Choir’s next concert Pasifika will be a large-scale production representing an epitome of cultural collaboration.

“This concert is an important step in delivering my vision for the Christchurch City Choir” says Music Director Andrew Withington. “One of my major goals as Music Director is to entertain Christchurch audiences through creative collaboration with other performing groups, and Pasifika is the perfect embodiment of this goal”. Pasifika; Our Turangawaewae: the place where we stand, is a vibrant musical celebration of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, involving acclaimed soloists, Helen Medlyn and Susan Densem, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, invited choral groups Consortia (University of Canterbury Chamber Choir) and Burnside High School Senior Chorale, along with cultural presentations from the Shirley Boys’ High School Pasifika Culture Group and Te Kotahitanga Kapa Haka.

The Pasifika programme will deliver musical snapshots of New Zealand’s heritage, Maori karanga, haka and waiata, a traditional New Zealand folksong arranged by Christchurch composer Richard Oswin, and Samoan sasa and slap dances. As a true celebration of the Pacific Region, the second half will be a performance of New Zealand composer David Hamilton’s, Missa Pacifica.