About the Choir

Patron: Dr Barry Rose OBE FRAM FRSCM
Trustees: Kerrin Vautier CMG (Chairman), Graeme Edwards, Tim McWhannell, Mary Whaley
General Manager: Kevin Bishop MEdAdmin(Hons) BEd LTCL(GMT)
Conductor: Dr Indra Hughes MA(Oxon) DMusA FRCO(CHM) FRSA
Assistant Conductor: Anita Banbury ARAM ARSCM GRSM ARCO(CHM) LRAM ARCM AIRMT
Assistant Conductor: Iain Tetley BA(Hons) PGCE
Organist: Dr John Wells MA(Cantab) DMus

Organ Scholar: Yuri Lee

'…disciplined and imaginative choral singing…the singers created an enchanting weave of sound, the Sanctus almost mesmerising in its waves of glorious vocalising.'

(NZ Herald, November 2007)

'...Zadok the Priest showed the choir at its considerable best.'

(NZ Herald, August 2006)

'…wonderfully rich and beautifully shaped performance, sung with such immense musicality and obvious enjoyment…a 'must-have' disc: with such distinct and compelling singing it stands as one of the most impressive choral discs I've heard for a very long time.'

(International Record Review, London June 2005)

'Magnificent choral singing' (NZ Herald, June 2004)

Musica Sacra is a chamber choir of around 30 voices with an enviable reputation for choral singing of magnificence and extraordinary finesse. Founded and directed by Dr Indra Hughes, the choir is now recognised as one of New Zealand's foremost cultural assets.

                                                                            photographs by Marcel Tromp

The choir's programmes are entirely of sacred repertoire, bringing to life music from the fifteenth century to premiered and commissioned works of the twenty first century.

In 2001, the choir's CD of Christmas Music, Christmas a cappella, was sold out within weeks of its release and was number one in the classical charts. The choir's 2002 release, Musica Sacra, with music by Scarlatti, Stanford, Wood and Rheinberger, has enjoyed outstanding international reviews. Later that year the choir achieved the rare distinction of having two different recordings in the top ten of the charts at the same time, an achievement that was repeated in 2007 when both Christmas a cappella and our 2007 release, Christmas a cappella II, were once again in the top ten, the latter at number one for five weeks. The choir has enjoyed growing support from a loyal public in Auckland and more recently throughout the country with the broadcast of each of its concerts by Radio New Zealand Concert (92.6FM).

The choir sings Choral Evensong according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer at St Matthew- in-the-City, Hobson Street, Auckland on the last Sunday of each month at 5.00pm.

In 2008, our Tenth Anniversary Season, there are concerts on Good Friday (21 March), Sunday 22 June, Saturday 16 August, Sunday 26 October (in Christchurch), Saturday 15 November and Saturday 20 December. (See our Concerts & Services and News pages for further details.)

Musica Sacra is a member of the New Zealand Choral Federation.