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North Shore Chorale

About the Chorale
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North Shore Chorale Today:

The North Shore Chorale, under the musical direction of Jenny Firth, is an auditioned, mixed voice choir that loves the challenge of singing a range of music from classical to light music, secular and sacred.  There are currently about 60 members and welcomes enquiries from potential members, especially men.

The Chorale rehearses on Wednesday evenings for approximately 14 weeks prior to each concert.  There are usually three concerts per year.
  • The first concert is usually held around Easter time where the chorale often sings a major composition, for example, in 2009 the choir combined with Tauranga Civic Choir and performed "Brahms Requiem" in Auckland and in Tauranga.
  • The next concert in August/September is usually of a lighter nature, taking music from many sources including stage and screen.
  • The Christmas concert is held early December and usually contains a mixture of works including extracts from "The Messiah" to Christmas carols with audience participation.

In June each year members of the Chorale are invited to join with other singers to form a large choir for "the Last Night of the Proms" to sing with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gary Daverne ONZM.

Mid December the Chorale sings a short Christmas concert in the foyer of the North Shore Hospital, followed by a tour around the wards, singing carols.  A delightful experience to put cheer into peoples' lives at Christmas time.
Musical Director:  Jenny Firth TTC; LTCL - Viola; LTCL - CMT (Class Music Teaching)

Jenny Firth came as Director of Music to the Chorale in 2008. This followed a lifetime involved in education and music. Her career began in the Music Department of Pakuranga College, then, while raising a family of three she built up a large home studio offering violin, viola and theory lessons.

This extended into itinerant ‘strings’ teaching in schools around Auckland, where Jenny also started training school choirs, including an NZCF “Big Sing” Silver award- winning girls’ choir.

Over the years Jenny has played in the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra and St. Matthews Chamber Orchestra.   However, singing is Jenny’s main passion and she sang for thirty years in the Auckland Dorian Choir. For the last two years Jenny has been a member of Musica Sacra, conducted by Dr. Indra Hughes. Her singing teachers have included Philip Todd, Beatrice Webster and Penelope Watson.

During the last fifteen years Jenny has been involved in musical adjudication for regional competitions and in July, 2010 is to adjudicate the Tauranga vocal competitions classes.
The History of the Chorale:

North Shore City 100 Voice Chorale was founded by Margot Lloyd QSM in 1985 to give the wider community an opportunity to sing and perform without needing to audition.  In 2005 the decision was taken to audition choir members, to raise the standard of the choir, with a view to the twentieth anniversary concert.  In 2010 the choir adopted the name North Shore Chorale to reflect its current status as a smaller choir.

Margot was the Musical Director for 23 years and worked tirelessly for the Chorale which raised much money for local Charities.  Margot retired in 2008 and has now graciously agreed to be the Patron of theChorale and of course is still involved as the sole adjudicator in the Margot LLoyd Vocal Scholarship held each year in August.