10,000 choristers to descend on Auckland for World Choir Games 2024

The ‘Olympics of choral singing’ is coming to Tāmaki Makaurau next year, writes Sapeer Mayron ,butthis an event, not just for experts, but for everyone.

Auckland will host hundreds of choirs from all over the world next July at the 13th annual World Choir Games. The festival and competition of international choirs of all ages will run for 10 days and, so far, 130 choirs from 20 countries have registered meaning organisers expect around 10,000 singers to descend on Tāmaki Makaurau for the event.

Why Auckland? The New Zealand Choral Federation successfully bid for the event, work that took several months, said Choral Federation chief executive Christine Argyle.

It’s no small feat, hosting thousands of choristers and their families, coordinating performances public and private to the competition. But Argyle was confident Auckland could pull it off. “We knew that from our federation of choirs we would have a lot of people who’d be keen to get in behind and support this once it was on the ground,” she said.

It’s a first for the competition, having never been in Australasia before. Last years’ games were in Gangneung, South Korea, which Argyle and former Choral Federation chief executive John Rosser attended.

“It was really at that point it became very real for us, and we could see firsthand just how exciting it is,” Argyle said.

“It’s really going to have an ongoing effect in stimulating interest in group singing in New Zealand.”

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited is supporting the first World Choir Games for the region. Head of major events Chris Simpson said the city and the 10 hosting venues – including Spark Arena, the Auckland Town Hall and the Aotea Centre – were ready.

They were involved in a feasibility study before the bid for the games went ahead, after working with the Choral Federation on a previous win – hosting the World Symposium on Choral Music 2020, which was ultimately cancelled due to Covid-19.

John Rosser, now the artistic and games director for Auckland’s World Choir Games, said that cancellation was devastating. “It was a tragedy all around for all of us in the choral sector who'd worked on it, but for me as leader of it, it was just completely gutting.”

Rosser thinks Auckland’s readiness to host the symposium held them in good stead to win the Choir Games.

Already, there are more choirs registered to participate in Auckland than there were at the Korean games last year, with another week left before registration closes.

“I’ve been a career conductor right from when I left university,” Rosser said.

“I’m completely steeped in choirs and choral music and have spent the last two decades promoting these kinds of world events and promoting choral music around the country through large events.

“So I love the event thing as well as concert giving, both of those sort of spin my wheels, and they seem to have gone together quite well of late.”

Those 10,000 choristers will need help, Rosser said, from some 400 volunteers – maybe even more – including some who speak the various languages of the visitors.

“We're calling it the games of welcome, and I think that’s really something that’s really important to New Zealand. The concept of manaakitanga, of not just sort of saying hello to people with a cheery handshake but fully welcoming them, looking after their mana, making sure they feel at home here and cared for, that's really important to me in the spirit of the games.”

The World Choir Games began in 2000, and are organised by the Interkultur Foundation, which has run global choral competitions since 1988.

Interkultur was founded by choral singer Günter Titsch, who organised the first transnational choir competition with participants from Hungary and Germany in Budapest, beyond the then “Iron Curtain”, in 1988. Interkultur was created to expand the concept of international choral competitions.

There are two ways to participate: in the Champions Competition and the Open Competition.

Each competition has 28 different categories for choirs to enter, for choirs of certain age groups, gendered groups, and across all genres. There are even three categories for folklore choirs, divided into those performing acapella (without accompaniment), with accompaniment and with choreography.

“What I think is really great is there is such a wide range the choirs can compete in or participate in,” Argyle said.

“One competition gives the opportunity for our best choirs to pit themselves against some of the best choirs in the world, but the open category enables just any choir to take part at whatever level, and have a platform and an opportunity for some feedback, and just be part of the whole buzz.

“This is an opportunity for all of our choirs, all of our singing groups in Aotearoa – kapa haka groups, Pasifika church choirs, barbershop groups, pop choirs, world music choirs or chamber choirs.

“It was not just for the elite, it really is an event for everyone.”

Choirs must sing three pieces in no more than 15 minutes before the international judging panel. As well as a private judging session, the judges also talk directly to the choir about their performance.

As well as the competition, there is a Choir Festival on, where choirs can give free public performances, even with other choirs.

The closing ceremonies have traditionally been dramatic events, featuring a mass choir, soloists and a full symphony orchestra.

Choristers are also invited to workshops, seminars and open rehearsals with experts and professionals.

“All choirs are judged in a friendly way and embraced, and all choirs go away with something, a medal or an award to uphold the fact that they've taken this effort to come,” Rosser said.

Registrations close on Wednesday.