Choir close to tour target

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 11

Choir close to tour target

The National Youth Choir is “within sight” of' raising the $150,000 needed for its six-week overseas concert tour, according to the choir's musicial director, Mr G. E. Jansen. The choir has been canvassing the. business community and national agencies during the year in an effort to supplement its own earnings to pay for the invitation tour.

“By the end of the choir’s farewell concert on Sunday we should realise the required $150,000,” Mr Jansen said.

The choir’s 89 members have also contributed $2500 each towards the cost of the tour and a Government grant has been made.

“We are appreciative of the support given throughout New Zealand towards funding the choir,” Mr Jansen said. It has been verv hear-

tening< We have also seen an enormous increase in the numbers involved in the Friends of the Choir who help us-financially.”

Mr Jansen hopes that the tour will give the world a chance to see another side of New Zealand, and not just recognise it “in terms of butter, lamb, and rugby.” The choir, whose members are aged between 14 and 24, will leave New Zealand on Sunday evening on the first leg of the tour. It will give concerts in the United States, including Disneyland, and in Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, West Germany, and Singapore.

•While in Britain, the choir will appear with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, in a performance for Prince .Charles.

Donations towards the tour may still be made at the National Bank of New Zealand.