The New Zealand Ukulele Festival Goes To Town

The New Zealand Ukulele Festival Goes To Town For 10th Birthday

Monday August 8, 2016 - The New Zealand Ukulele Festival is set to roll out the red carpet at Vector Arena to celebrate its 10th birthday on Saturday December 3.

The free festival day begins at 11am with a mix of performances, workshops and competitions, culminating in a concert by the Kiwileles Massed Ukulele Orchestra, with over 2500 Primary and Intermediate students representing 115 schools from Northland to Christchurch.

Chairperson Mary Cornish says the New Zealand Ukulele Trust is proud to be celebrating 10 years of bringing music and fun to the community.

“We want the 10th anniversary festival to be a real celebration, so when going to Vector Arena became possible, we saw the potential for a huge party.”

“We’ll literally be rolling out the red carpet for our 2500 Kiwileles, who are going to be very excited about being on the same stage that superstars like Beyonce and Ed Sheeran have performed on.”

Schools start preparing for the festival as early as May, when the songbook and CD is released, with training workshops for teachers, who then work with their schools to learn the music.

“We believe that music is a very important part of children’s development and that’s why we’ve run the festival and our related programmes for the past decade,” Cornish said.

“Teachers do a great job making sure their students learn the songs and are ready to show off their new skills to their families on the day of the festival.”

The 10th New Zealand Ukulele Festival is dedicated to the memory of former Patron Bill Sevesi QSM and his inspiring dream that every child in NZ would get the chance to play the ukulele.

The New Zealand Ukulele Festival
Saturday December 3
11am-4pm
Vector Arena
FREE

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