Congratulations to all the NECOM choristers in Mini Singers, Cantilena, Cantilena Chorale, New England Singers and the New England Chamber Choir for their outstanding performances in the Armidale Eisteddfod this year.
The Armidale Eisteddfod showcases the amazing talents of our young musicians and this year’s 33rd Eisteddfod definitely did not disappoint. NECOM choirs presented an incredibly high standard of repertoire, performing pieces that delighted audiences and displayed the talents of each group as a whole.
Armidale is renowned for its outstanding choral singing as most schools across Armidale performed in the Eisteddfod. This made competition very robust across all sections so it was a great achievement for the NECOM choirs to do so well in the following sections:
Vocal Ensemble (Yrs K-6) – 1st Cantilena Chorale
Unison Choir (Yrs K-6) Division 2 – 1st Cantilena
Choir 2-part (Yrs K-6) Division 2 – 1st Cantilena
Choir (Year 10 & under) – 2nd New England Singers Junior Choir
Choir (19 years & under) – 1st New England Singers Senior Choir
Vocal Ensemble (Open) – 2nd New England Singers Chamber Choir
New England Choral Championship – 1st New England Singers
On Tuesday 16th May, MiniSingers performed in the K-2 Non-Competitive Choir section at the Eisteddfod. They performed two pieces, “Wibbleton to Wobbleton” by Richard Gill conducted by Mrs Constance Dunham and “Seasons Go Round” conducted by Mrs Bekk Baumgartner. The children performed extremely well, with a beautiful tone and tons of energy! Congratulations go to Kate Loxley, Max Junge and Mem Lay who performed a solo at the beginning of ‘Seasons Go Round’.
Thank you so much to our accompanist Nicole Mackson, who played beautifully! Congratulations MiniSingers!
How wonderful! The Cantilena Choir and Cantilena Chorale have again done exceedingly well in the 2017 Eisteddfod.
The first event was the Primary Small Ensembles of 25 or less singers. Our small Cantilena Chorale of 14 singers performed Five Eyes in two parts, and All Through the Night in three parts and were placed in 1st position. Well done, Chorale!
Later on the same day the full Cantilena Choir performed in the Unison song section. We performed In the Café and The Hour That I like Best, which was the set piece selected by the Adjudicator, Luke Byrne. Although In the Café was a very short piece, the Adjudicator was very impressed and on the feedback form wrote: ‘Just great!’ Of course we staged the performance with some small humorous movement and interpretation and this was very well received. The choir sang The Hour That I Like Best just as we had interpreted and rehearsed which also impressed the Adjudicator. Cantilena won our division and the overall trophy. If you missed these performances, you will be able to hear Cantilena Choir sing both these songs at the Eisteddfod Gala concert in the afternoon on 18th June in the Auditorium.
The next day, Cantilena Choir performed in the Primary two-part section. We performed O Wind! and Better World with recorder, piano and djembe accompaniment. Thanks to Wilke and Felix for their recorder playing. Again your children were outstanding and won our division and the overall trophy.
A very special thank-you to Warrick Dunham, our wonderful accompanist, who is also much more than that on many occasions. Thanks also to Jess Stocker who performed with us in Better World on the djembe.
Leanne Roobol, New England Singers conductor spoke of the choir evening, “I was very proud of them. In all of their performances, they sang with a beautiful blend, stylistic understanding and technical facility. They performed with obvious enjoyment and it was wonderful to see many members of the choir perform in other choirs, which added to the community feel of the evening”,
‘The dedication and commitment to our Choral Program from our conductors and accompanists is incomparable’ comments NECOM program manager Corinne Arter. On behalf of all our staff, students and families, congratulations to Bekk Baumgartner, Constance Dunham, Robyn Bradley, Warwick Dunham, Nicole Mackson, Leanne Roobol and Cathy Wellsford for their work with our singers.