Dan is based in Palmerston North, and before University, he attended Palmerston North Boys High School and was a member of the school choir ‘The OK Chorale’; this is where his passion for music and singing began. As a chorister Dan was a member of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir from 2017-18 and this is his second cycle with NZYC. He explores barbershop singing with internationally recognised  Wellington Chorus Vocal FX. Dan has graduated with a Bachelor of Music, majoring in Jazz Performance on the trombone from the New Zealand School of Music in 2021. He has also worked towards a Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching in Primary and Graduated in 2022. Dan now works as a Primary School teacher in the Manawatū, and he continues playing the trombone with various groups within the Manawatū area.

Blake (he/him) is a bass-baritone, conductor, and composer from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He studied composition, conducting, and classical performance voice at The University of Auckland’s School of Music, graduating in 2022. In 2023 he is studying to be a secondary school music teacher, also at The University of Auckland, and in 2024 will be working at his old school, Westlake Boys’ High School, as a music teacher. He currently sings with a number of ensembles around Auckland and NZ including the Auckland Chamber Choir, St. Matthew’s Voices, and Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir. He is music director of the Sacred Heart College Junior Choir and the Pohutakawa Singers. In future, he aspires to sing in professional choral and vocal ensembles overseas.

Originally from the Philippines, Althea is currently based in Auckland. She is studying a conjoint degree in Law and Commerce (majors in Management and Economics) at the University of Auckland. Althea also plays the violin and her passion for music began while studying at Westlake Girls’ High School where she sang as part of Cantare and Choralation choirs. Her other interests include learning different cultures, the Korean language and editing for various law journals. Althea joined NZYC in 2020.

Born in Nelson but now residing in Wellington, Charle Rainey is currently in his first year studying a BA BMus conjoint degree majoring in History and Classical Performance at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University. Prior to this, he studied at Nelson College where he was a part of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir from 2021-2022. In his spare time, Charle enjoys playing piano and tuba, but choral singing is his passion in life! In Wellington, Charle sings with Orpheus Choir, directed by Brent Stewart, and St Paul’s Cathedral choir, directed by Michael Stewart.

MMus (Hons), PGDipMus, BMus, DipTchg

David Squire is one of New Zealand’s most prominent conductors, and Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir. Chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, he is also a national conducting advisor and tutor, and a governance board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation.

David completed his undergraduate study at the University of Auckland, with an emphasis on conducting and composition, later graduating with a Master of Music degree with first class honours in choral conducting. He studied singing with Isabel Cunningham, Glenese Blake and Beatrice Webster, and conducting with Karen Grylls and Juan Matteucci. He has sung with many top choirs in New Zealand, including the Auckland Dorian Choir, University of Auckland Chamber Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir. He was also a founding member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the V8 Vocal Ensemble.

David was appointed to the position of Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir in 2011 and is the first alumnus conductor of the choir. He has led the choir on three international tours, including the USA and Canada in 2013, which featured performances of the War Requiem by Britten in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Washington DC. In 2016 the choir gave concerts in Singapore, the Czech Republic, France and the UK. Tour highlights included singing high mass at Notre-Dame in Paris, a lunchtime concert at Windsor Castle, and producing a live DVD recording of a well-received concert at St Johns Smith Square in London. The choir also participated in the Festival of Academic Choirs in Pardubice, Czech Republic, winning every category it entered, as well as the prize for outstanding vocal culture, and then going on to win the Grand Prix. At the end of 2019 the choir embarked on a Pacific tour aboard the cruise ship MS Maasdam, taking in Tonga, Niue, Fiji, New Caledonia and Sydney.

David has taught music in secondary schools for over 30 years, directing choirs, orchestras and bands, including many groups that have won local, national and international awards. His mixed-voice chamber choir from Rangitoto College, The Fundamentals, won the platinum award at the 2008 NZCF Big Sing Finale in Wellington – the first time a mixed-voice choir achieved this. The Westlake Symphony Orchestra has won a gold award at every KBB Music Festival for more than fifteen years, and also won the award for the best orchestral performance of a New Zealand work for ten of the thirteen years it has been presented. In July 2014 the orchestra won first equal prize at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria. His upper voice choir from Kristin School, Euphony, was placed third in the open female choir competition at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, in July 2013, and then represented New Zealand at the ChoralFest convention in Brisbane in 2017. In April 2019 Euphony represented New Zealand at the Budapest International Choral Festival in Hungary, winning the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category, coming 3^rd in the open Musica Sacra category, and was then invited to compete for the Grand Prix. His boys’ choir from Westlake Boys High School, Voicemale, won the Grand Prix at the 2^nd Leonardo da Vinci International Choral Festival in Florence, Italy, in July 2018, and David also won the award for best conductor at this event.

As a freelance music educator, David teaches in several secondary schools and frequently runs workshops and professional development courses throughout the country. He has conducted several local ensembles, including the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra. He was the assistant musical director of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir, founding musical director of the Auckland Youth Big Band, chairman and administrator of the KBB Music Festival, and a live performance reviewer for Radio NZ Concert. He is often involved in session and recording work, particularly as a conductor, adjudicator, clinician and singer, including a tour with George Benson as backing vocalist in 2010. He was the choral adjudicator and clinician at the Rhapsody Rotorua festival for four consecutive years. He presented workshops at the 2009, 2013 and 2016 Sing Aotearoa Festivals and the 2010 International Summer School of Choral Conducting, where he was a mentor and tutor. In 2011 he directed training workshops for choirs singing the anthems at the Rugby World Cup, and then conducted anthem choirs at seven matches. In 2012 he was a mentor and workshop presenter at the inaugural ACD Choral Connect convention. In March 2017 he was guest conductor of the mixed honour choir at the AMIS festival in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and in July 2017 he directed the choir for Neil Finn’s critically acclaimed album Out of Silence. In February 2018 he was appointed chorusmaster and choral director for the International Schools Choral Music Society, having taken on this role at the annual festival held in Suzhou, China. In February 2019 he conducted the combined ISCMS choir and orchestra in the Chinese premiere of Tippet’s spirituals from A Child of Our Time in the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall. In July 2019 he served as a jury member for the Andrea O. Veneracion Choral Festival in Manila, Philippines, and also for the 1^st Asia Choral Grand Prix.

In March 2011 he was awarded a New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Medal for services to music education.

Michael Stewart is at the forefront of choral conductors in New Zealand, as well as being one of the country’s leading concert organists. In June 2011 he was appointed Organist and Director of Music at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, after previously serving for five years as Director of Music of The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Michael is also the Music Director of The Tudor Consort, and a member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir.

Michael was awarded a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury and also held the inaugural John Robert Godley Organ Scholarship at Christchurch Cathedral. He was the recipient of a Dame Malvina Major Arts Excellence Award in 2002, which enabled him to pursue further study at McGill University (Montréal, Canada). He was awarded a McGill Organ Scholarship and graduated with a Master of Music degree majoring in organ performance in 2004. During his time in Montréal, Michael held the position of Assistant Organist to The Church of St Andrew and St Paul, a flourishing downtown Presbyterian church which boasts the finest music programme in the country. He has recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio New Zealand – Concert, and has produced two solo organ CDs: Puissant (2001) and Ave maris stella (2007).

Since becoming Music Director of The Tudor Consort in 2007, Michael has continued the standard of choral excellence which this renowned early-music ensemble is noted for. He has broadened the repertoire to include music from the early Tudor composers through to the 20th Century, and has led critically-acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah and J S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. In 2011 Michael led The Tudor Consort in their 25th Anniversary Season, including a performance of Tallis’s Spem in Alium. Following the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch in 2012, he recorded Antoine Brumel’s Missa Et ecce terrae motus (The ‘Earthquake’ Mass) with The Tudor Consort as a fundraiser for Christchurch Cathedral’s music department.

Thomas is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Auckland, completing a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music conjoint majoring in Classical Trumpet and History. He began singing during primary school and took part in the auditioned choirs during primary and secondary school. In early 2017 he was selected for the 2017-19 cycle of NZYC, including the end-of-cycle cruise tour around the Pacific in 2019. Thomas currently lives in Auckland. He has a major passion for all things music and enjoys everything historical. He also loves to compete in pub quizzes and trivia!

Sam is a Judges’ Clerk at Auckland High Court and recently completed at BA/LLB(Hons) conjoint degree at the University of Auckland. He joined the NZ Youth Choir as a baritone in 2023. Sam also sings in and manages the Auckland Youth Choir and plays clarinet in the West City Concert Band. In 2023, he was appointed as the Oceania representative on the inaugural youth committee of the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM).

Josh was born and raised in Auckland, fostering his love of singing at Rangitoto College in The Fundamentals Choir. Since then he has gone on to sing in and with community choirs such as Harbour Voices and Camerata, as well as singing in the Auckland Chamber Choir, New Zealand Youth Choir and the Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir Pool. He is currently in his final year of his Bachelors of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Auckland.