Tuesday 21st May 2013 from 7pm
Wellington East Girls’ College school hall

Come and support Cantala, and all of the other choirs and musical groups of WEGC, perform on this glorious night. We have been working very hard to make this an enjoyable and entertaining evening for all, so invite all of your friends and family!

Gold coin donation at the door.

For more information view the trailer or visit the Facebook event page.

Déjà vu anyone? You may have again spotted us on Breakfast TV last Friday (17th May) at 8.40am (almost a year to the day that we last made an appearance on the show).

While TVNZ set up in our school hall for New Zealand’s Got Talent auditions, we sang the Malagueña, a crazy Spanish song, while Sam Wallace reported on the weather. Other Wellington East Girls’ College students also made a brief appearance.

If you would like to see us perform on Breakfast TV, you still have a few more days left to see us on demand. We are on at about 1hr12min, towards the end of the fourth section of the show.

We had an awesome time singing, listening to singing, and hanging out with singers, for the three days of The Big Sing National Finale in our home town Wellington (15-17 August).

We sang two sets of three songs, including the world premiere of ‘Et Consumimur Igni’ by New Zealand composer Karlo Margeti, for the adjudicators, then repeated Bitte Betti at the Gala Concert.

The competition was fierce – New Zealand sure is producing some great choirs!

We were awarded a Silver Award… AND we won the Youth Ambassadors Award for “outstanding engagement with all elements of The Big Sing National Finale and showing the qualities and spirit requisite of Ambassadors for Youth”.  Congratulations to all of the choirs that participated in The Big Sing, especially Bel Canto from Burnside High School in Christchurch, who won the Platinum Award.

At the end of the Gala Concert, we crowded on to the stage with all of the other choirs and sang two lively African songs.

Radio New Zealand recorded the whole competition and will air it on Concert FM from October.  Video clips will be online soon too.

Here’s a great celebration video put together by George.

It’s great to be back in New Zealand.  We actually celebrated stepping out into the fresh, crisp nine degrees in Auckland!  Immediately we noticed how friendly Kiwis are.  The air hostess on our domestic flight had heard Brent on the radio and praised us over the plane’s PA system.

After 40 plus hours traveling we were ready for home, but it kept feeling ‘so close and yet so far’.  The three hour wait at Auckland airport was rather torturous, and then we spent an extra half hour circling Wellington waiting to land!

What an awesome welcome from the WEGC Kapa Haka group, friends, staff, families, and of course – Mums and Dads! Balloons a plenty, cameras a ‘too many’.  We tried our best to smile and look happy after two days of travel but really we were just desperate to drink NZ water again and get a typical home meal.

Best of all we’ve been given a week off rehearsals!

Trip highlights from Holly N…

Dear Diary,

WOW…

Words don’t come easily when trying to explain this trip. Actually…. words don’t explain this trip. The places we went, the people we met, the venues we sang in… everything was so… inspiring, and it’s so difficult to have to say goodbye to all of the opportunities, cultures, experiences and people that I have spent the last thirteen amazing days with.

The question is: Where do I start?

Singapore

Cantala. Say hello to 34 degrees of serious heat and humidity! Walking out of the airport and hearing the gasps from nearly every single choir companion was such a joy. However this was just the first of so many exciting experiences within Singapore. Meeting Cathy, one of the most Hi-larious tour guides I have ever known, a tour through the nightlife of the city, sightseeing tours around Singapore, travelling through Merlion Park, views of the Marina Bay, visiting the Thian Hock Keng Temple, Chinatown & Little India, trying the famous Chicken Rice, SHOPPING at Bugis, performances in stifling heat, and very nice accommodation.

Sadly after just a short two nights and one day we had to say our goodbyes to this beautiful island and head on over to London with a merry thirteen-hour flight ahead of us… boy were we excited.

London

It was a big change from Singapore to London, walking out onto the London streets felt like an entirely different planet, although we had a few troubles with the accommodation we settled in quietly to our new rooms and waited for the next day.

Breakfast at 8am was amazing after thirteen hours of plane food.  After this we headed to St George’s Church to have our master class with Mr Philip Lawson.  He was amazing!

Sightseeing was a high priority on our list – we were all very excited to see what London had in store. Travelling to St Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, Downing Street, the famous Westminster Abbey, and walking through the very place where the royal wedding was held.

But what was I seriously looking forward to?  THE LION KING! I don’t think anything will ever top my experience of performances after watching The Lion King on stage. The lighting, sound, staging, costumes, acting, and singing! Every aspect made me speechless and, even if I fell asleep several times throughout those quiet moments, I can confidently say it is my favourite stage performance of all time!

We arrived at Marlborough Primary School the next day excited to perform to the young children. It took me by surprise seeing that the Haka was scheduled as part of our repertoire for this performance, but Ngaere and I went with the flow and were excited to see their reaction towards our fierceness. To my surprise… not one of them cried OR wet themselves. A well-rounded achievement considering how scary we can be.  What I think they enjoyed the most was ‘Rolling in the Deep’, with so many of them tapping along and some even singing their hearts out.

SHOPPING! This was next on the agenda, and wow it was interesting. I have never shopped so fast in my entire life, but I must say I did pretty well with the amount of time given. However, Oxford Street is definitely on my ‘re-visit’ list.

Then we had our evening concert at St George’s Church, this was such an amazing experience what with how we sounded in this acoustic. I wasn’t feeling 100% but managed to last until Ave Maria. Aivale Cole was absolutely astounding. The sounds that she made….. WOOOOOOWWWW. She is such an inspiration and I’m so glad we were able to meet up with her in London.

We headed to dinner and then off to the hotel to pack our bags and organise ourselves for Paris!

Paris

9.10am and we’re off to Paris! The train was so peaceful and such a change from flying, although playing cards with Ngaere is a dangerous idea if she starts winning (nearly took my eye out from the excitement of winning). Chyanne also had an interesting win on a scratchy, just a casual million pounds. Finding out it wasn’t real was a disappointment… for everyone. We arrived in Paris at around 12.30pm where we were met by Ellie’s dad Steve, who helped us around Paris for the entire trip.

Our concert at La Madeline was such an experience, to be able to sing in a place so famous is so inspiring, and I am seriously grateful for that opportunity. Our plans switched a little and before dinner we went on the cruise on the River Seine. Then we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, after that it was back to the accommodation for a catch-up on sleep.

Thankfully the next morning we got a sleep-in with breakfast at 8am then we went sightseeing right around Paris.  My particular favourite? The Eiffel Tower! That was one sight to see.  After that we headed to Montmarte where our free time for shopping began. There weren’t so many shops so it was a lot more laid-back than London.

Ngaere and I were telling our stories about the interesting scams at the entrance gate and Steve taught us a phrase that let them know we weren’t interested in a bracelet (supposedly for Africa) – the phrase “Je ne crois pas”, which translates into “I don’t think so”. This is now my reply to EVERYTHING.

Later on in the evening we arrived at the Opera National de Paris to watch ‘L’amour des trois oranges’. I am sad to say I think I slept through the entire performance, and so wish I hadn’t been so tired! Although it does give me a good reason to travel back to Paris to watch it again!

We headed back to the hotel to pack once again.

Vienna

This was where we got down to business.  We met Otto and went to our accommodation to set up for the next four nights and five days of serious singing.

At about 3.30pm our driver took us out to Schwedenplatz and we walked the rest of the way to St Stephen’s Church, where the welcoming ceremony started at about 5.30pm. Lilli represented us so well on stage, and then afterwards we went back to the hotel for dinner.

We were staying at a boarding school where several other groups were staying too, so you can say it was somewhat a little intimidating to have your competition sleeping in the room next to you, but we managed this really well.

The next morning we were up, fed, and off to the morning workshop seminars at the University of Music in Vienna. We shared these two time slots with an Australian choir.  They knew what they were doing (but obviously underestimated the power of us East Beasts!).

We traded our leisure time in the city for time back at the hotel because it was just too hot outside.  After we had rested we headed to the Ehrbarsaal Prayner Konservatorium, where we would perform an hour slot of repertoire. This was our first real concert in Vienna and we headed there excited, even if there were only about ten people (and two other choirs) in the audience watching. It was one of our best performances.  We stayed to watch the South African Choir perform (heading back to my natural roots as my fellow dancers know). They were stunning! Every piece was sung with such enthusiasm for music, inspirational movements, and they were such an entertaining choir. They gave us a standing ovation but THEY seriously deserved a standing ovation!

We went to dinner at the Wiener Rathauskeller, where we encountered a small misunderstanding about ‘free drinks’ that weren’t actually free. But we knew for next time!

GAME DAY: Today was pretty much the most important day of the trip.  Once again, instead of leisure time we substituted this for a rehearsal to work on our performance pieces. It was enduring but we did what we needed to do and it was a relief to go over these pieces one last time.

At 1pm we were on the bus headed to the Musikverein, where the competition was being held. We were nervous but excited at the same time.  We sat in the audience for a little while watching some of our competition. Bitte Betti was performed in several different ways compared to how we do it, but it was interesting to see how the other choirs put a spin on the piece.

We headed into the warm-up room and I was fairly calm… and then we were literally on stage waiting to perform. This was our first time with the entire choir together on stage and it was a great feeling. We performed our pieces for the judges and I must say I especially loved the reactions we got from the haka! We headed off stage and shared smiles and high fives all around, knowing what a great job we did. Although we still had another performance, most of us were so happy to be able to shout again (Columbia and I in particular).

We headed to what we thought was going to be our last performance in Vienna.  We performed our repertoire then right before our last song, Stewie thought it would be a great idea to tell us that we had come FIRST EQUAL in the competition!!!!!!!!!!! Let me tell you now…. that was NOT. A. GOOD. IDEA. I think I sang maybe three or four bars of Niska Banja before I had to turn around and wipe several tears off my face.  Everyone was so happy at the end and I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much out of happiness in my entire life.

A celebration was necessary so we went to one of the main streets and grabbed an ice cream (with me still crying). We were back at the hotel and smiling like anything. I don’t know if anyone got any REAL sleep that night.

The next day we went sightseeing, mainly at the Schonbrunn Palace, which was so awesome. I now know what it’s like to live like royalty! We had two hours for shopping & lunch, within the city, so we did some shopping and then we were back on the bus on our way to the preparations for the Gala Winners Concert that night.

We had our solo sorted for the Summa Cum Laude anthem and we headed into our warm-up room. Mr Stewart walked in with the look that he gets when something genius is forming… He said to us “I’m thinking of doing something naughty… let’s do the haka… after Bitte Betti?” … GENIUS! Everyone was buzzing with excitement about this plan, so we weren’t even concerned about Bitte Betti.

We walked out on stage and performed the song. After the clapping had died down Ngaere came out loud and strong with the starting of Ka Panapana, and we were off! The audience LOVED it.   After we were off stage the MC said to the crowd “That was Cantala, they came first equal and no wonder they did, because not even we knew that they would do that!” WHAT A THRILL!

We went to dinner after the Gala Concert and ate our lives away, drinking all the Coke we could (yes, it was free) and afterwards we went back to the hotel to pack our bags for the long flights ahead.

Vienna… I will, never, ever forget that experience. Being a first place, international choir? That’s a feeling that just can’t be described.

Thank you

Now I know that there are several thank yous that go without saying (but of course… I’m gonna say them anyway)

Mary – Your participation with the trip was so amazing, you went up and beyond for us girls. You kept us enthusiastic when all we wanted to do was sleep. But most of all… you were there for us to support us when we needed it the most!

Ms Haughton – I don’t know if I would have survived these past two weeks if I hadn’t had you organising not only your group, but also me as an individual. You kept everyone so calm and composed and dealt with so many minor AND major problems, which helped this trip sail so smoothly. The best camp mum anyone could ask for!

Mrs Pearson – I think I can say on behalf of the choir, you are our ‘SUPERWOMAN’. We are so unbelievably grateful for EVERYTHING you have done for us. The amount of performances, dinners, and group activities you missed out on to look after our ill choir members was quite significant and you never complained once about having to miss out (well… not that we heard, LOL). Who knows what could have gone wrong without you Miss.

Mrs Hocking – It was your enthusiasm for our performances that got me through Vienna, and even if I couldn’t find your face in the crowd I knew you were out there somewhere doing the pukana along with us! Your support with our performances and expertise on stage make-up was so helpful, and without you I don’t know what those nerves would have done to me. You’re absolutely amazing!

And finally, Stew-Dizzle – What can i say? The effort and time you have put into EVERYTHING to do with this trip is… unbelievable. You had a big dream for Cantala, but you believed in us enough to encourage our parents, the school and communities within Wellington to jump on board with all the plans you had boiling inside your brain. The amount of time you have put into this choir is so amazing and the way you dealt with every aspect of the trip is part of the reason why we were such a success in Vienna! You put a smile on our faces even when we had no energy left to smile. Along with organising a million things at one time, you also had to think about what the choir was going to be singing! I don’t think anyone can begin to understand how you visualise and hear music, not only with Cantala, but music in general.  Without your ear for music we would not have come anywhere near close to being considered as competition in this festival. I think all in all, everyone that was involved with this trip is so grateful for what you have done for us. You’re the best conductor/music teacher any school could ever ask for and words don’t begin to describe what you have accomplished with/for Cantala. Where would we be without you Stewie?

So teachers…. YOU ARE ALL ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! On behalf of Cantala; we love you guys so much! Thank you a million times over for all the exciting activities, opportunities, and experiences you have given all 31 of us girls! It’s definitely a memory that will be with me for as long as I live, and something I can share with so many others!

Final thoughts

And so here I am… on the nine-hour flight to Auckland typing away…

This trip… has just been… incredible, indescribable, amazing, exhilarating, inspiring, tiring, rewarding, and challenging. It’s a feeling and memory that won’t ever be forgotten and I know words don’t begin to cover it.

We are nearly home, and I must say…. I have never EVER been this excited to see my siblings before. And it’s such a strange feeling. I know that coming home to New Zealand will be such a good feeling, to be somewhere familiar. And like everything else, there’s always an ending.  I know I will definitely be sad to not be spending every waking moment with the girls and teachers that I have bonded with for the past two weeks, but I also know that I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and drinking some REAL New Zealand water. That’s on my demand list to have one tall glass of purified NZ water. So much has happened and there’s no way to put it in words… But I think that on behalf of Cantala, what we do have to say to New Zealand and the rest of the world is…

BRING ON THE BIG SING FINALE!!

And anything else you have to throw at us

Over and out.

Today we were rather fast at getting through breakfast and we all had big smiles on our faces!!!

We started the day with a sightseeing tour of Vienna including the Schonbrunn Palace. We picked up a tourist guide specifically for the morning and she said we were the best group she’s ever had. She couldn’t believe how engaged we were with the many questions we asked and said she could see it in our eyes – the way we seemed interested in everything!

Following this we finally got a bit of shopping done… while some opted into eating Chocolate Cake and Coffee, generously paid for by Chris Finlayson, NZ Arts Culture and Heritage Minister.

We then went off to the Wiener Konzerthaus to rehearse the Summa Cum Laude anthem, listened to a lecture on J.Strauss, and prepared for the performance.

We were told that we were only allowed to perform Bitte Betti.  All the groups that were invited to perform in the Gala Winners concert were only allowed to perform the one piece that they were asked to perform… But Brent decided to be a bit naughty and tag the Haka on to the end of it! We really went all out – and the audience LOVED it!

Surely the many Treble choirs out there would have been shocked by our interpretation of Bitte Betti – like we were shocked with those we heard.  We left the stage, got changed and headed into the audience to see the rest of the concert

We finished the night in the huge Vienna Town Hall where all the groups were free to roam eating nibbles and drinks. We thankfully were able to head back to the accommodation a little earlier as it was getting ridiculously late.

So tomorrow we head back home.  We are really excited to hear the press has caught on to our achievement. We now have a daunting flight home – leaving Wednesday afternoon and arriving Friday afternoon.

10 July 2012 – NewstalkZB

Brent Stewart, choir director from Cantala (interview by Sean Plunket)

10 July 2012 – Christopher Finlayson, Arts Culture and Heritage Minister

Minister congratulates Wellington East Girls choir

11 July 2012 – DominionPost article

Singers shrug off sickness to win (Shabnam Dastgheib)

We have just found out that Cantala placed first equal with a Romanian choir in the Treble Choir category at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna!!

Today we cancelled plans to do some sightseeing in the morning and instead had a rather intensive rehearsal to bring the focus back on to why we’re here and how much focus & energy we needed to pull this off.

After this we headed to THE Musikverein – one of the best performance venues in the world. There were so many ushers back stage with earpieces in, everything ran like clock work. First we watched some choirs from China and got to hear the variable interpretation of Bitte Betti (the test piece). Then we were ushered to the warmup room for one final moment…

Then we were on the stage.

It is hard to explain just how beautiful and magnificent this hall is. The building is adorned with paintings, gold, and ornamentation. But the acoustics blew us away! It is the perfect balance between clarity and reverberation. It made Bitte Betti with its fast consonant movement sound clear – yet it made Ave Maria sound incredibly elastic. WOW! And the best part – ALL of the girls performed on the stage… we had a few on their last legs, but they courageously took to the performance with every last ounce they had… it was the most magical performance Cantala has ever done. We NAILED every piece. The Haka was frightening, the Lamb was so sensitive, in RAIN we were in one big line up on a riser and sang it perfectly… Brent says Ave Maria was his highlight… Holly’s solo was breathtaking and everyone sang with great patience and made every phrase so musical. We finished with Niska Banja, full of absolute joy and Victoria and Laura were astounding!

The judges literally gave feedback as soon as we finished. This included a commendation for our soloists and the fantastic choice of repertoire. They also commended Brent for conducting from the heart.

After this performance we had dinner and then we were off to perform in another concert for an hour. We were asked to call the management between 7pm and 8pm to find out if we were in the Gala Winners Concert. We got the good news during the performance and Brent announced the result live to the audience & Cantala right before we sang the final piece of the programme, Niska Banja. Unfortunately this made for a tearful Serbian Gypsy Dance… some of the girls couldn’t see through their glazed eyes…

We finished the night off with a Gelato ice-cream.

Tomorrow we prepare to perform in the Gala Winners Concert. They have asked us to perform Bitte Betti – this is a great honour as this tells us we performed the Test Piece the best.

What a perfect ending to this amazing tour. So many people to congratulate. Thank you parents for getting us here, it was totally worth it, and life changing. Thank you Simon Hocking, our travel agent, for your amazing support! And a big thank you to the staff on the trip – Sally Haughton, Sonia Hocking, Mary Laine, and Carol Pearson. They have had to deal with a great deal of home sickness, actual sickness, and many more small and big unforeseen situations. Carol particularly has taken such amazing care of many of the sick girls and has missed out on seeing the girls perform. Without this amazing group of staff, there is no way we would have had such an AWESOME time!!

And of course, the most mega of thanks to our stellar Choir Director, Brent Stewart, whose vision and persistence made this dream come true!!

Anyway… it’s not over yet… we still have to perform in front of a huge audience tomorrow…

THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

We had a great day today!

It started with an excellent breakfast and a short bus ride to the University of Musik in Vienna. Here we had two consecutive workshops with members of the Choral Judging panel. We combined with another choir from Sydney and it was a great chance to get to know them. The first workshop was fairly basic but the second workshop was fantastic – with a focus on how to read a piece of music for the first time, stressing the importance of knowing intervals.

After this we went off into a nice quiet park for our packed lunch and an icecream. In the park were statues of some of the great composers such as J.Strauss, Schubert, and Mozart.

Next we needed to go back to our accommodation for a Nana-Nap.  The heat is extraordinary and resting before the performance this afternoon made an obvious difference – we are performing with the most energy we have on this entire trip.  It really helped starting with all the other cities – we are now much more adjusted to the travel, temperature, and time zone.

The concert today was just for pleasure. We performed for an hour and presented most of our repertoire – very similar to the farewell concert we held back in NZ.

For dinner we were taken to an absolutely beautiful restaurant! However, the waiter was a little shady and gave us drinks without explaining that they cost extra, landing us with an unexpected bill. We’re having dinner in the same place tomorrow night, so that won’t be happening again.

Unfortunately a couple of girls missed today due to feeling unwell, but they are rested so should be OK for tomorrow.

TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!!!!!

Tomorrow we will perform in the competition component at 2:40 pm – that’s just after midnight (12:40am) early on Tuesday morning in NZ – send us some positive energy our way.