The secondary schools’ singing contest called, rather, a festival, originally part of the Westpac Schools Chamber Music Contest, became a separate event in 1988. It was a minor part of that contest, and the two distinct genres never sat very comfortably together. The choral festival has now become very big, with over 7000 singers taking part nationwide. (It’s interesting that there are over 2000 musicians participating in the Schools’ Chamber Music Contest nationwide – in an activity that, I risk saying, demands considerably more consistent hard work than singing does).. Over 1100 of those singers are in the Wellington region,...  Read More »