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TOWER Voices New Zealand was formed in 1998 as a nationally selected chamber choir of the highest calibre. Adding to the well-established reputation and base of the TOWER New Zealand Youth Choir, TOWER Voices New Zealand provides a senior choir, flexible in size, and capable of performing a wide repertoire.
The choir made its debut at the 1998 New Zealand Festival in a recital of Bach’s St John Passion with the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra and Keith Lewis in June, and then later in the year won gold and silver awards at the Tolosa International Choral Competition in the Basque region of Spain; the choir was subsequently invited to compete at the European Grand Prix Competition in Bulgaria. In March 1999, Voices performed the Fauré Requiem and Poulenc’s Gloria with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In 2000 they appeared at the New Zealand Festival in a solo recital and with the NZSO in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice. Their participation in the International Chamber Music Festival led to collaboration with the prestigious Aradia Ensemble from Canada, resulting in the completion of a world premiere recording of the Vanhal Masses for the Naxos. The recording was released to great critical acclaim in 2001
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The choir was resident at the International Summer School for Conductors in Auckland in 2001, and then in August represented New Zealand at the first Asia South Pacific Symposium on Choral Music in Singapore, where they undertook workshops, masterclasses and gave the closing concert.
In March 2002 they performed a sold-out recital at the New Zealand Festival, and appeared alongside the TOWER New Zealand Youth Choir, soloists and the NZSO in the closing concert of the Festival. Later that year TOWER Voices joined the Youth Choir and the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir – the first time that the three national choirs have sung together. The occasion was Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the Auckland Philharmonia. In December 2002 TOWER Voices New Zealand completed a very successful tour to four South Island centres, presenting a programme of Christmas music.
In January 2003 the choir recorded Hummel’s Missa Solemnis in C and Te Deum for Naxos. This CD received extremely favourable reviews worldwide.
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