Whangārei soprano Rhiannon Cooper has double reason to celebrate this week.
As well as playing in her home town with the New Zealand Youth Choir, she's celebrating the choir being selected to perform at the World Symposium on Choral Music.
Cooper and the rest of the choir are expected to dazzle on the global stage.
An international Artistic Committee picked NZYC from a record number of 179 choir entries from 44 countries vying for one of the 24 spots at the symposium, with Cooper likely to attend as part of the choir.
The Artistic Committee was impressed with the high calibre of applying choirs and stated that NZYC's selection was a notable achievement.
NZYC's Music Director, David Squire, is thrilled with the honour.
''The choir keeps performing at the highest level and to see this acknowledged in the invitation to the symposium in our own country is a huge honour. We will prepare a programme that celebrates the music of Aotearoa and the Pacific to tell our unique stories to the delegates from around the globe,'' Squire said.
The World Symposium on Choral Music is the world's premier festival of choirs staged every three years in a major city around the world.
In 2020 it will take place in Auckland, from July 11 to 18. The symposium is the peak global event of the International Federation for Choral Music – its own Olympics and world congress rolled into one.
People will be able to see the NZYC, and Cooper, perform next in Whangārei at Christ Church at the Regent tomorrow as part of their Summer Tour from 7pm.
Tickets available at www.nzyouthchoir.com