Welcome.
Welcome to the Jubilate Singers, a Christchurch (New Zealand) SATB chamber choir of around 30 singers conducted by Music Director Philip Norman. The 'Jubes' present 3-4 public concerts a year featuring a wide range of international and New Zealand choral music, and we are well-known for our innovative programming and consistently high standard.
We're looking for new members
Fancy an action-packed trip to Broadway, a connoisseur’s taste of some fine New Zealand poems set to music, and the chance to luxuriate in the sumptuous soundworld of Duruflé’s Requiem, one of the most evocative requiems of all time? If so, then membership of Jubilate Singers in 2025 will be the perfect cure for your choral cravings. But! You have to relish variety, be curious about the unfamiliar, be excited by a musical challenge, love singing unaccompanied and revel in convivial company.
You don’t have to be a soloist to join. All voice types welcome, come and try before you buy: come along to rehearsals on Monday evening, 27 January and 3 February, at 7.15 Knox Church Hall, 28 Bealey Avenue, Christchurch.
Feel free to email our secretary Viv with any questions - secretary@jubilate.org.nz - or learn more about singing with us on our 'Join' page.
Join us at our next concert
The feature work is Requiem by Maurice Duruflé. A sumptuous mid-century soundworld with organist Samantha Poh and conducted by Philip Norman.
Join us on April 5th 2025, at 7.30pm in the Cardboard Cathedral. ‘A chance to luxuriate in one of the most evocative requiems of all times'.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori wrote Roman poet Horace in c.30BC – ‘It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country’. The sentiment, cynically, became a rallying cry over the following two millennia for any monarch or potentate wishing to seize or defend territories, wealth and prestige.
By the time of World War I, when the horrors of full-scale mechanized warfare were unleashed, the phrase had become known as ‘The Old Lie’, well-versed in Wilfred Owen’s searing poem ‘Dulce et decorum est’.
This concert is about history repeating itself. It opens with Shchedryk a traditional Ukrainian New Year’s song of hope. Our arrangement dates from 1918, commissioned by the fledgling Ukrainian People’s Republic, for a 1,000-concert tour across Europe and the Americas by the Ukrainian National Chorus seeking political recognition for the country.
Following Shchedryk (the Carol of the Bells tune), comic opera genius Arthur Sullivan reveals a dignified demeanour in his stirring Boer War Te Deum. Woven into the texture is his ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ melody, in effect summarising his life’s achievement and marking the close of the Victorian Age. Sullivan died before he could hear his Te Deum performed, two months before Queen Victoria in January 1901.
By stark contrast, Philip Norman’s Pro Patria is a visceral setting of World War I poetry by contemporaries of Wilfred Owen. In the course of its eight short movements we are left in no doubt as to the brutal truth of ‘The Old Lie’.
Our feature work, Duruflé’s Requiem, was commissioned in 1942 by the Vichy Government during the German occupation of France. Perhaps deliberately, Duruflé did not finish his commission until the close of World War II. Often described as ‘the last impressionist’ Duruflé imbued his score with ancient echoes of plainchant. It is a poignant meditation on mortality and the spiritual aftermath of war, widely regarded as a masterpiece.
NZCT Sponsorship
We are very grateful for the support of NZCT for venue hire for our Not Tonight Josephine concert.
St Andrews win Jubilate Award at Big Sing
St Andrew’s College’s Staccoro choir won the inaugural award for Outstanding Performance by a Mixed Voice Choir at the Canterbury-West Coast Big Sing in June, 2024. Christchurch chamber choir, the Jubilate Singers, had donated the trophy for the regional competition in an effort to support local choral music and young voices in particular.
A large audience filled the Christchurch Town Hall to hear 22 choirs sing a song each in an evening gala concert which was staged at the conclusion of a of a long day of competition. At the end of the concert many awards were presented, including the Jubilate Singers trophy. Senior St Andrew’s College student and Head of Music, Jack Flanagan, said that Staccoro were honoured to receive the inaugural award. Conductor, Jared Corbett, also thanked the Jubilate Singers for their support of the event.
The New Zealand Choral Federation organises the Big Sing Choral Festival every year and the best secondary school choirs from throughout the country are then invited to attend the national finals.
Read our Music Director's Report for the year ending 31 January 2023 for a summary of our recent activities.
