The Big Sing Finale
- Piers Menhinick
- Oct 2
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 6
The Big Sing is New Zealand's largest annual choral event for secondary schools - a festival and competition with multiple gold, silver and bronze awards, special awards and commendations for different styles of performance.
The 2025 finale featured the top 24 secondary school choirs and saw six Auckland choirs win gold awards and several others received special recognition, such as Voicemale for the audience impact award and Leonessa for the best song in te reo Māori.
Key Award Winners 2025
Gold Award Winners: Six Auckland choirs received gold awards: Cantare (Westlake Girls' High School), Fortissimo (Dilworth School), St Cecilia Singers (Auckland Diocesan School for Girls), Euphony (Kristin School), Voicemale (Westlake Boys' High School) and Choralation (Westlake Boys and Girls Schools).
Audience Impact Award: Voicemale from Westlake Boys High School won this award.
Te Reo Māori Song Prize: Leonessa from Takapuna Grammar won the award for best performance of a song in te reo Māori.
Magic moments:
Photographs by Pieter du Plessis.
Videos:
Dilworth School, Fortissimo | Hala Kuo Papa - Queen Sālote Tupou III of Tonga, arr. Jacob Moore
Westlake Girls High School, Cantare | Gan Lan Shu (The Olive Tree) – Li Tai-Xiang, arr. Saunder Choi. (the piece starts 30 secs in)
Massed Item, conducted by John Buchanan - I will lift up mine eyes – Chris Artley
