About
Our kaupapa
Our kaupapa is at the heart of how we sing and how we gather.
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To entertain and engage with our audience and each other
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To raise people’s spirits
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To celebrate cultural diversity
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To sing with ease, form, beauty, connection and wholeness
An essential part of our kaupapa is sharing the joy of singing beyond our own community. We regularly sing in rest homes and care settings, lifting the spirits of our elders and those who may be experiencing ill health.
Rehearsals
We rehearse every Tuesday from 7pm–9pm during school terms. Each rehearsal includes a short break, giving time to pause, connect, and socialise.
Location
Ngaio Union Church
3 Kenya Street, Ngaio
Wellington 6035
Annual retreat
Once a year we head away together for a weekend retreat. It’s a chance to deepen connection, build the ensemble, and stretch both our repertoire and singing skills.
The weekend includes shared meals (potluck-style), relaxed time together, and focused singing sessions. We always return feeling more connected, refreshed, and grounded. This retreat is a special part of what makes WOSOSI the close ensemble we are.
Communication, resources and tools
We use the choir management tool Choir Genius, which acts as a one-stop hub for our choir life. Members use it to access:
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News and rehearsal notes
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Practice tracks and music lyrics/sheets
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A calendar of rehearsals, workshops, and events
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Song lists, directions, notes, and details for performances
Members check in regularly to stay up to date with choir business and rehearsal resources.
Learning new songs
There are many ways to learn a song, and every singer has their own learning style. WOSOSI members are not expected to be able to read music.
Many of the songs we sing are traditional and either don’t have written music or are best learned by ear. To support this, we provide a comprehensive and continually growing library of audio practice tracks. These are especially helpful when learning new repertoire or preparing for performances.
And don’t worry about not speaking the languages we sing in – it will come to you through sound.
Interested in working the way we do? Visit our Join Us page for more details.
Choir Director – Bert van Dijk
We are delighted that Bert van Dijk has returned as choir director for WOSOSI from March 2025. Bert was the founder and musical director of WOSOSI for ten years until leaving Wellington in 2012.
Bert is an internationally renowned theatre director, performer, conductor, voice and acting coach. His voice work integrates the unique Roy Hart approach of the Extended Voice with principles from the Michael Chekhov technique. Bert taught us to “sing from the souls of your feet”.
"For me the human voice is by far the most potent, intimate, soulful, extraordinary, profound means of expression and communication. I particularly love exploring our extreme vocal possibilities: the roars, the squeaks, the sighs, the rattles, the sobs and the wailing"
Rawiri Hindle
Teaching alongside Bert is the one-of-a-kind, wonderful Rawiri Hindle. This beautiful soul leads us in waiata, kapa haka, and pump-inspired warm-ups.
A fine tenor/soprano, Rawiri’s energy is infectious and impossible to resist. He can’t help but inspire and move you.
"I was a part of WOSOSI from back when it started and love the whanaungatanga (relatedness) within the group. I love the variety of songs WOSOSI sing from around the world and there’s nothing quite like the feeling when it all comes together when performing – the synchronicity of words, music, action, gesture and sound working together as one."
Our history
WOSOSI has been in existence since 2002. Over the years, we have worked with a range of choir directors, each bringing their own approach to polyphonic, a cappella singing and helping the choir evolve while staying rooted in world song.
Bert van Dijk (Founder)
Bert was the founder and first director of WOSOSI. During his travels and work with inspiring singers around the world, he gathered a rich repertoire of mostly a cappella songs and chants from diverse cultural backgrounds.
In the mid to late 1990s, Bert began sharing this repertoire through workshops. From this grew the desire to form a choir of like-minded people who shared a love of world song. In its early years, the choir was known as the Wellington World Choir, rehearsing in the Erskine Chapel in Island Bay, with around 50–60 singers attending rehearsals and performances.
As the group grew and changed, Bert recognised the need for a smaller, more committed ensemble. From this shift, WOSOSI (World Song Singers) was formed.
Naomi Parker
After Bert’s departure in 2012, WOSOSI was led by a series of directors. Naomi Parker brought a new chapter to the choir.
Naomi is a scientist who sings like an angel. She led us fearlessly into new gospel territory and beyond, keeping us in line, in tune, and focused – sometimes with the help of an occasional shepherd’s whistle.
"I really appreciate the opportunity I've had through WOSOSI to spread my conducting wings and to explore some of the rich gospel tradition along with the world music genre. It's an amazing feeling when we collectively get to those moments where the wonderful WOSOSI voices and the intention of the song come together into something very special."
Pam Hughes
Pam Hughes joined WOSOSI as a singer in 2002 and moved into a music leadership role in 2012. Pam specialised in creating a fun and safe space where members could create a kaleidoscope of beautiful music together, while maintaining a consistently high standard.
She worked tirelessly, drawing on carefully researched methodologies, an intuitive musical sensibility, and a slightly suspect sense of humour.
"What a fantastic choir family WOSOSI is - laughs, love and naughtiness - often all in one evening!! From my very first time singing with WOSOSI I was hooked on world music - the variety, the depth, and the stories behind the songs make for an exciting, challenging and often moving repertoire. It's wonderful to share these songs with others and know that we are helping to keep alive some very old treasures."
It was with sadness that we farewelled our long-term leader Pam Hughes in June 2022. Pam passed away in February 2023, leaving an extraordinary legacy of songs, singers, and shared joy.
Nino Raphael
Nino Raphael was Musical Director of WOSOSI from July 2022 to March 2025.
Alongside leading WOSOSI, Nino worked as a performance and voice coach at Toi Whakaari National Drama School, Rata Studios, and the New Zealand School of Music. He is also a freelance director and composer, including creating an operatic adaptation of Margaret Mahy’s My Mother was a Pirate.
“Coming into the room to lead a very well-established group was a scary job to take on as a young choir leader. However, that fear instantly vanished on my first day when WOSOSI welcomed me with warmth and enthusiasm. I was impressed by the focus that singers brought to singing and learning, and by the way they collaborated with each other. The group gives me a lot of pride in my work and is ready to meet the challenges of all the songs I bring to them from around the world.”