"It was all centred around Mauao.
"We went there one night at dusk and the idea to have only the sounds came to us as we walked around that space.
"Our preference was to perform this at dawn and you could have felt that feeling of it going up your spine," she said.
Instead, the choir gathered at 7am in front of an audience of about 100.
The performance, featuring solos from Ria Hall, was well received by the onlookers, and so were the drinks of hot chocolate on offer afterwards at the Pacific Crystal Palace in Masonic Park.
Ms Ormsby-Teki, who wrote the lyrics alongside Ms Hall, who composed the music, said it was a new experience to write for a group that learned from written music instead of her usual style of teaching by ear and repetition.
Ms Hall said the musical chords were chosen to reflect the moment between light and dark, "the moment the dawn breaks".
The group only had two rehearsals before their performance and she was happy with how they went.
They even did an impromptu encore for some fans who hung around.
The Tauranga Arts Festival runs for the next 10 days. All the details and the programme can be found at www.taurangafestival.co.nz.
