2026 CONCERT SERIES

Once upon a time, Viva Voce presented These Choral Islands, a playful title for a concert of NZ works rather than a true exploration of island-ness. Now all grown up, we tackle this topic head-on and will be kicking off our 2026 Concert Series with a return ‘to the island’.

And in a world of mayhem, mad men and media malevolence, where better to get away from it all? We sail with the Beach Boys across a raft of Caribbean islets, including the mythical Kokomo, and join Purcell in praising the ‘fairest isle’… of Britain. Some safe havens are harder to reach; Bonnie Prince Charlie dashes through wild wind and waves to Skye, and David Hamilton’s Na blátha craige evokes the bleak, rocky Aran Islands in Irish text as challenging as the landscape.

We ‘visit’ both the elusive Bali Ha’i and the enchanted island of The Tempest, whose themes of betrayal, revenge and forgiveness inspire three contrasting works. Yet islands can also be prisons: Selene pleads with the moon to free her stranded boat, while Monteverdi’s stunning Lamento d’Arianna weeps for Ariadne, abandoned on a desolate shore.

Come with us, then, TO THE ISLAND
Sunday 3 May, 4pm St Matthew-in-the-City

Ticket prices $45 earners, $35 non-earners, $20 tertiary students, $10 schoolchildren.

Please also join us afterwards for a very early (and free) supper.

Save the dates

Stay tuned for more news about the upcoming concerts in our 2026 series! Meanwhile, please do note the following in your diary:

Concert 2

Sunday, 2 August at 4pm St Matthew-in-the-City

Concert 3

Early November Details TBC

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Founded in 1985, VIVA VOCE is an auditioned chamber choir that specialises in the innovative programming and attractive presentation of a huge variety of music, striving always for both excellence and entertainment. The choir has now given over 400 concerts throughout New Zealand and in 2018 was invited to sing in the China International Chorus Festival in Beijing. Viva Voce is often broadcast on Radio New Zealand and is regularly engaged for choral-orchestral collaborations, while its own semi-staged productions of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Carissimi’s Jephte, Handel’s Solomon and Messiah and Talbot’s Path of Miracles have received critical acclaim.

JOHN ROSSER is the choir’s founder and Musical Director. He was also New Zealand Opera Chorus Master for 23 years and is Immediate Past Chair of the New Zealand Choral Federation, of which he was made a life member in 2018. National Director of both The Big Sing and Sing Aotearoa, John led the NZCF Anthems Project for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He was Artistic Director of the World Symposium on Choral Music 2020 and will head up New Zealand’s hosting of the 2024 World Choir Games in Auckland.