Both events once again highlighted the strength and vibrancy of our outstanding choral programme.

The Choral Showcase featured four choirs spanning Years 7–13, each representing a different stage of the Dio choral journey. Audiences enjoyed performances from our younger singers in Years 7 and 8, our senior choirs, and our combined mixed choir in collaboration with Dilworth School.

Virtuoso Voce, our all-comers choir directed by Ms Andrea Creighton, performed part of the repertoire they are preparing for the Kids Sing Festival in September.

Director of Choirs, Dr Jono Palmer, then conducted Dio Cantoris, our Years 9–13 open-entry choir, which presented the full programme of three works they had been preparing for the Big Sing Regionals.

This was followed by a performance from our premier auditioned choir, St Cecilia Singers, who also presented their complete competition programme. The evening concluded with a performance by the joint Dilworth/Dio Chorale, which participated in this year’s festival in a non-competitive capacity.

At the regional competition on Thursday evening, Dio Cantoris was awarded runner-up in the Choral Art Song category which is a wonderful achievement for this young choir.

The celebrations continued with the announcement that Dio Cantoris has been selected as one of just 12 choirs from the Upper North Island to perform at the Cadenza Festival in Rotorua.

We were also delighted to learn that the St Cecilia Singers have once again been selected for the National Finale in Christchurch, as one of only 24 choirs from across Aotearoa.

We are incredibly proud of all our singers and extend our sincere congratulations to our directors, Dr Jono Palmer and Ms Andrea Creighton (who also serves as Vocal Consultant across our music programmes) as well as our wonderful accompanists, Mr Juan Kim and Ms Soomin Kim.

These achievements are a fitting celebration of two busy and rewarding terms of dedication, hard work, and musical excellence from our students and staff.