From New Zealand to New York - Singing at Carnegie Hall

The Nelson Civic Choir has been invited to New York and you can get us there.

The Nelson Civic Choir has been invitedby the Distinguished Concerts New Zealand, New York (DCINY), to sing a new work by Sir Karl Jenkins at a combined choirs concert next January (2017).

Our invitation was on the basis of a recording sent to New York of our recent performance of Jenkins' 'The Armed Man' in Nelson. Sir Karl approved our recording and as a result we received this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The new work will be in commemoration of the Aberfan mine disaster, 50 years ago. We will link it to the Pike River Mine disaster of more recent memory.

The cost of members of the choir travelling to New York and taking part in rehearsals and the final concert will be roughly $5,000 per member. For most, this is prohibitive, so we will be looking at many sources of funding to make the visit possible. We will be aiming to raise $10,000 through Boosted which will support many members in their efforts to raise funds. We are also submitting an application to Creative New Zealand for $7,500.

We feel this is a huge compliment to New Zealand provincial choral singing if a small town choir can be chosen to represent the country at a most prestigious event in New York.  We are the only choir from New Zealand to be invited to sing at this event and this will be the first time that the Nelson Civic Choir has ever performed overseas. We hope that local people will feel the benefit and will support their choir. We look forward to thanking all of our supporters in person at a screening of a DVD of the concert to be presented to the choir by DCINY.