Upcoming Performances

American Art Songs

Sunday 30th August 2026

Tickets are available now through Eventfinda.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

These familiar lines from Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken form part of Frostiana, Randall Thompson's celebrated setting of Frost's poetry and the centrepiece of Kāpiti Chorale's Session Two programme.

As 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the choir will explore a selection of American high choral music spanning more than two centuries, from Billings in the eighteenth century to works by 20th and 21st century master composers Thompson, Barber, Bernstein, Copland, Hagenberg, Higdon, Lauridsen, Stroope, Weill, and Whitacre.

The programme brings together music inspired by poetry, folk frontier traditions, sacred texts, and the natural world. Audiences will hear familiar favourites such as Simple Gifts alongside works including Sure On This Shining Night, Dirait-On, The Seal Lullaby, Lux Aurumque, and A Quiet Moment.

Moving between accompanied and a cappella works, the programme offers a wide range of musical styles and moods while showcasing some of the most loved art music in the American choral repertoire.

Kāpiti Chorale will be joined by accompanist Phillip O'Malley and tenor soloist Jamie Young.