Mixing two worlds: conductor Karen Grylls on founding Voices New Zealand, and the choir's journey to engaging with Māori music

Karen Grylls

Karen Grylls is the founder and conductor of Voices NZ (Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir), one of the major chamber choirs in New Zealand. The choir's range is wide, in the past they have collaborated with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and with the Kings Singers whilst when we spoke, they had just been working with composer Eric Whitacre on his Sacred Veil. Other major recent projects include Voices Love Opera, an event that had to be abandoned due to COVID but which saw the group performing operatic repertoire including music from Nico Muhly's Two Boys. 

The choir also engages extensively with New Zealand composers, in 2017 they performed Passio by the late Jack Body (1944-2015), in an immersive staging of a work inspired by 16th century chant and involving six New Zealand composers. Since 2000, the choir has also been extending its engagement with Māori composers and Māori music. In 2014 they performed Requiem for the Fallen [a work which was subsequently recorded] created by composer Ross Harris, poet laureate Vincent O’Sullivan and taonga pūoro (Māori traditional instruments) specialist Horomona Horo to commemorate the centenary of World War I, for an ensemble that placed Māori instruments alongside the singers.

Karen studied in New Zealand and then the USA. Back in New Zealand she was asked to audition for the role of conductor of the New Zealand Youth Choir which had been founded in 1979 by Peter Godfrey and Guy Janson. She then has spent 22 years at the helm of the New Zealand Youth Choir and the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir. By the time she had worked through several iterations of students in these ensembles, she realised that there was no suitable national ensemble for the young singers to move on to, that they needed a place with a professional level of music making.

Karen Grylls & Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir