Love to sing? The RSCM and Wellington Cathedral of St Paul is offering a Three-day holiday program just for you!
Make new friends, learn new music, and improve your singing skills with one of New Zealand’s foremost choral directors.
The 2026 RSCM Three-Day Choir School offers three days of singing and fun, culminating in a service featuring the premiere performance of a brand new piece of music specially composed by the Cathedral’s Director of Music Michael Stewart.
Details:
AGE RANGE: 8-18 years
WHERE: The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, 2 Hill Street, Wellington.
COST: $75 per day days including lunch and snacks* ($225 for all three days)
Schedule
Tuesday September 29, 2026
Drop Off: 9:00am
Pick Up: Between 4:30pm - 5:00pm
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Drop Off: 9:00am
Pick Up: 5:00pm
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Drop Off: 9:00am
Choral Evensong: 5.30pm
Pick Up: 6:15pm
SUPPORT
We don’t want costs to be a barrier to anyone who would be interested in joining us. Please email dom@wellingtoncathedral.org.nz to discuss what scholarships are available.
MUSIC TUTORS
Michael Stewart. Director of Music of WELLINGTON CATHEDRAL
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 Deputy Music Director of the New Zealand Youth 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, Radio New Zealand Concert, and in 2020 recorded with the Choir of Wellington Cathedral for BBC Radio 3 - the first time a New Zealand choir has been featured on the Choral Evensong programme.
DR AnNa Leese. Head of Choral at St Peters School, Cambridge
Dr Anna Leese has had an extensive and diverse international performing, recording and teaching career.
Anna has performed many lead roles at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Classical Opera Company, Opera Köln, Vlaamse Opera, Opera Holland Park, the Canadian Opera Company; and with New Zealand Opera. Concert engagements highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with Bernard Haitink; BBC Proms with Sir Roger Norrington; and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony with the Malaysian Philharmonic. Anna has performed on numerous occasions alongside Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as well as Andrea Bocelli, and has toured the UK, Asia and New Zealand with Jose Carreras. Anna appears regularly with all the main orchestras in NZ and Australia. As part of her recently earned doctoral qualification, Anna co-composed (with Kenneth Young) and starred in the operatic film ‘Stranger than Angels’, which was featured in the 2024 NZ Film festival as well as in several European film festivals. A sought after voice teacher throughout New Zealand, Anna has held teaching fellowships at both the Universities of Otago and Waikato, the latter being where she currently supervises doctoral vocal students.
Anna is Head of Choral at St Peters School, Cambridge, where she lives with her two young sons, both choral singers, and leads the Voice Collective choir, as well as leading the music at the school Chapel services.
Testimonials
The RSCM is an educational charity, whose mission is to ‘promote the study, practice and improvement of music in Christian worship’. RSCM New Zealand is a collective of five Branches of RSCM furthering that work in New Zealand.
*Payments are processed via bookings on Humanitix. Booking fees apply