20 February, 2025

Westlake singers perform at choir-movie premiere

Stepping up for première… Members of Choralation with choir director Fiona Wilson and Tinā star Anapela Polataivao

Students from a North Shore school choir that helped inspire a New Zealand film delighted the audience at its recent red-carpet première, with performances before and during the event.
Members of award-winning Choralation – the combined choir of Westlake Boys and Girls high schools – also appear in the film, Tinā, which opens in cinemas, including in Takapuna, from next Thursday, 27 February.
The film tells the fictional story of a grief-stricken teacher who leads a secondary-school choir to the Big Sing Finale, the culmination of a nationwide schools choral festival at which, in real-life, Choralation has been a repeat gold medallist.
The choir director and Head of Music at Westlake Girls, Fiona Wilson, says it was a thrill to be involved in the première at the Civic Theatre. Parents of choir members, WGHS principal Jane Stanley and associate principal David Burton were among those in attendance.
Choralation first assembled on a theatre balcony, serenading those entering and mingling in the theatre lobby. They later joined other singers on stage for a rendition of Dave Dobbyn’s “Slice of Heaven” before the screening to an audience of 2300 began.
Westlake singers also feature on the film’s soundtrack, after Wilson was contacted by director Miki Magasiva in late 2023, seeking Choralation’s participation.
About 45 singers were involved in the audio recording for the film last year, with members of both the 2023 and 2024 choir line-ups involved. Around 15 of the students also worked as extras on the movie.
But the Westlake connection dates back more than a decade. Wilson told the Observer Magasiva first contacted her after seeing a video clip of Choralation performing a song in Samoan at the Big Sing Finale in 2013.
The spirited rendition of ‘Maunga e ole Atuolo’ went viral, with many in the Samoan community both amazed and delighted that a traditional school choir had chosen a Samoan song for its repertoire at what is effectively the national schools singing championship.
That year, there were no Samoan students in Choralation, but the choir honoured the language with correct pronunciation and an enthusiastic performance under its then director Rowan Johnston.
“They sang so beautifully,” said Wilson who was at the school at the time but yet to take up the baton with Choralation.
The performance stuck in Magasiva’s mind, and the uniting power of music is a theme of Tinā, which takes its name from the Samoan word for mother.
The film is partly set at a private school in post-earthquake Christchurch, where the lead character, Mareta, starts a choir. Filming took place at the Christchurch Arts Centre, but also in Auckland, where a mock Big Sing Finale was staged at Victory Church.
Magasiva called on Wilson to help with the choir depicted in the film. “I was able to work behind the camera as well, to help [lead actress Anapela Polataivao] work with the choir.”
Polataivao was a quick study, having sung in choirs growing up. “She was lovely to work with – a natural.”
Wilson says Westlake Girls likes to reflect the school’s diversifying community in its choirs. “It’s important for students’ world view.”
It resonated with students and families to include a range of cultures. “With our cultural makeup in Auckland it’s important to reflect that.”
This year she has commissioned a new Samoan work from Elisha Fa’i-So’oialo. A piece in Mandarin was in the 2024 repertoire, and Indonesian and Malaysian songs have been performed previously.
Pasifika students are to the fore in Choralation this year, including Westlake Boys head boy Constantine Mataafa and Westlake Girls’ Melesini Teulilo. “I have two beautiful choir leaders, one Samoan and one Tongan,” says Wilson.
She suggests that anyone going to see Tinā listens out for Choralation singing ‘Nearer My God to Thee’. And even putting the choir’s performances aside, she rates the film highly for its strong emotional thread.
“It is everything you want in a New Zealand movie – it feels like home.”

• To help raise money to get Westlake choirs to this year’s Big Sing, a fundraising screening of Tinā will be held at Takapuna Beach Cinema on 5 March. The regional Big Sing finals are in Auckland in June, with nationals in Dunedin in August.

Please consider supporting The Rangitoto Observer by clicking here: