Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
There are eight Anglican cathedrals, each with choirs, around Aotearoa: Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.
But this Labour Weekend, they'll all be singing under the one spire in Wellington.
The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul is this year's host of the festival of the nation's Anglican Cathedral Choirs, with more than 150 singers gathering for a concert on Saturday evening and two services on Sunday.
Not a bad place for a sing. Photo: RNZ / Charlotte Cook
RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump spoke with Andrew Williams, who sings with the Wellington Cathedral Choir but has also begun writing music for it, thanks to a long layoff from work due to a sports injury.
The Welsh-born tenor was playing a game of social touch rugby when he found himself gaining on an opposition player faster than he expected.
Surgery after the resulting collision left him with a bit of metal in his leg and time on his hands.
Inspired by the improvisations of then Cathedral organist Richard Apperley, Williams began writing his own mass.
His Missa Brevis went down so well with the choir, the organisers of the 2024 Anglican Cathedral Choirs Festival put it into the programme.
When not singing in the cathedral choir, Williams works at Wellington Hospital as a medical physicist.
He enjoys the choir partly because he grew up singing in church choirs in Wales, but also because of the variety of music - something new for every service.
Andrew Williams Photo: Supplied / Andrew Williams
