AYC's new administrator is on board! Shannon Rego came to AYC from the United States, where she worked in artistic planning and production for the Cincinnati Symphony and development for the Cincinnati Children's Choir. Prior, she earned her MA in arts administration, as well as an MBA, from the University of Cincinnati. An amateur cellist and chorister herself, Shannon is delighted to be part of AYC. When she's not administering the arts, Shannon can be found cooking (for better or worse--more often worse), reading, and eating peanut M&Ms.

Last Saturday, 6 June, the choir performed Shared Secrets, an awe inspiring performance which filled St-Matthew-in-the-City with soaring notes and brought tears to the eyes of audience members. St Matthews, with its vaulted ceilings and stained glass, providing the perfect gothic backdrop to the haunting programme developed by Rostislava Pankova-Karadjov - our internationally reknowned conductor.
The programme included works by classical composers such as Brahms, Mendelssohn, Debussy, and Holst alongside contemporary composers like Paul Simon and New Zealand's David Hamilton.

Be sure to check out the Music section to see the choir in action on YouTube

John Rosser - Chairperson
Dale Sutherland - Administrator
John Houldsworth
Binna Jang
Matt Lubowicz
Grace Meyer
Celeste Oram
Lin Yan Pang
Joanna Winder
Brett Logan

Ronnie Pankova-Karadjov remains as Director of Music

It was announced at the 2007 AGM that Lucille Ryan, aka Lucy Lawless, has agreed to be a patron of the AYC. Lucy was a founding member of AYC and now joins Mike Lee, Chairman of the Auckland Regional Council as a Patron of the AYC. Go Lucy!

AYC was again invited to be part of both the Dawn Ceremony of Remembrance beginning at 6.00am and the 11.00 am Civic Commemorative Service. The Dawn Service was particularly moving with an estimated 15,000 people witnessing a glorious sunrise (and even a large ocean liner rounding North Head through the early morning mist) to the accompaniment of a bugle sounding The Last Post as the lights were dimmed and the flags lowered.

A generous breakfast of muffins, pastries, apple slices, buns etc, supplied by Eve’s Pantry, refuelled us and we used the time between the services as an extra rehearsal. We had a near complete turn-out and again we earned some good publicity with an impressive performance and a worthy contribution to an important civic occasion. Well done and thanks to all.

The Choir is delighted to welcome Mrs Ronnie Karadjov as our new Conductor and Director of Music. Already she has displayed great enthusiasm and initiative by putting an exciting draft programme of performances and music together for 2007. Her qualifications and experience as a teacher, performer, conductor, composer and arranger are impressive and we look forward to a long and rewarding association together.

Ronnie is a native of Bulgaria where she did her musical training. At the age of 14 she was accepted into the Secondary School of Music in Sofia as a percussion student and she continued her studies at the Bulgarian Music Academy, majoring in choir conducting and musicology. She was a member of the prestigious Sofia Lady’s Chamber Choir and was hooked for life with a love for choral singing. After graduating from the Music Academy Ronnie taught Functional Harmony at the Secondary School of Music in Sofia. In 1992 she left Bulgaria for Swaziland, Southern Africa, where she spent the next 11 years working as a music teacher in a primary school and as HOD at Waterford Kamhlaba United World College and as founder and conductor of various choirs.

Ronnie came to New Zealand in 2003 as guest conductor for the Garden City Male Voice Choir (Christchurch) after which she accepted a position at Te Kauwhata College as HOD of music where she set up a thriving department. She came to Auckland 18 months ago with her husband and young son and she is currently teaching at Diocesan School for Girls where she has already made her mark by directing the Diocesan choir, Bella Cantoris, which was named Best Junior Choir at the Auckland Big Sing in 2006.

To find out even more about our new conductor, have a look at her website, www.ronmus.com. It makes impressive reading!