BACH MUSICA NZ

Register now for our annual String Orchestra Workshop on Saturday 16 May held by our concertmaster, Yanghe Yu! 🎼🎻

Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1657CQvg7CjwFhBZ6Ga3Z3d53RgsZDX_19Io_mo0Lao0/edit

William Dart review from last Sunday's concert 👇

Bach Musica launches 2026 season with Bach and Esmail Jono Palmer led Bach’s Easter Oratorio with zest.

Welcoming our tenor soloist for Bach's Easter Oratorio: IAIN TETLEY 🎵

Iain developed his passion for singing in England, with training from opera singer John York Skinner, and gained his music degree at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Iain has performed with many of Auckland’s leading choirs including Musica Sacra and Bach Musica NZ.

His solo performances include 1st Tenor in an octet that sang for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Taupo, baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with Auckland Choral, tenor soloist in excerpts of Handel’s Solomon alongside world-renowned countertenor Andreas Scholl, and in music by Bach and Handel accompanied by the late organist John Scott.

With City Choir Dunedin, he sang Evangelist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, tenor in Messiah, and Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, a role he has also sung with Bach Musica NZ. With Auckland Choral he was the tenor solo in the Mozart’s Requiem at Holy Trinity Cathedral, and Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion.

Iain specialised in Conducting at University. From 2005 until 2013 he was Deputy Conductor of Musica Sacra. In 2008 he combined three choirs, full orchestra and eight soloists (222 performers) in the successful Auckland premiere of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace at the Auckland Town Hall, and again for the 100th anniversary of Anzac in 2015.

He conducted the Franklin Community Choir from 2009 to 2016 and from 2012 to 2017 he was the Musical Director of the South Auckland Choral Society. In 2014 he formed Cantorum, a new choir specialising in early sacred music. Diversifying his repertoire, he conducted a concert of opera choruses and 1930s swing music in 2016 with Cantando Choir in Hamilton.

In 2018 Iain moved to Whanganui, where he took over conducting the chamber choir Schola Sacra. Notable performances included The Armed Man at the Royal Whanganui Opera House on Anzac Day in 2021. Iain sang in quite a different genre in March 2023, as the Phantom in eight performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Whanganui Opera House with local amateur dramatics society, Amdram Whanganui.

He had a busy year of singing the Evangelist in 2024, for Handel’s Brockes Passion with Scholars Baroque Aotearoa, the Bach St Matthew Passion with Auckland Choral, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Parts I-III) with Bach Musica NZ, and the Bach St John Passion in Dunedin Town Hall with City Choir Dunedin.

In 2025, he sang the Evangelist again for The Bach Choir of Wellington in the Bach Christmas Oratorio (Parts I-III and VI).

Book your tickets here: https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/bach-musica-this-love-between-us-auckland-19-04-2026/event/2400638C9BFF21B4

Introducing our baritone soloist for Bach’s Easter Oratorio: Blake Scanlen 🎶

Blake is a baritone, conductor, and teacher from Tāmaki Makaurau. He currently sings with Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and St. Matthew’s Voices where he is Leader of the Voices. He is Artistic Director of the Neotectonic Vocal Ensemble, teaches classroom Music and English at Westlake Boys High School, and is currently Guest Conductor for Harbour Voices. Recent solo highlights include Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Mass in A, and Stainer’s The Crucifixion. He has previously performed as a professional guest chorister with Bach Musica NZ and is a member of the NZ Opera Chorus, making his mainstage debut in 2025 with La bohème.

Upcoming performances include conducting Haydn’s Nelson Mass with Harbour Voices, as bass soloists for Handel's oratorios Messiah (Pakuranga & South Auckland Choral; Tauranga Civic Choir) and The Triumph of Time and Truth (Handel Consort & Quire), and as guest artist with NZ Barok. He is a graduate of the University of Auckland School of Music in composition, conducting, and performance voice and recently attended the 2026 New Zealand Opera School. His teacher is Catrin Johnsson and in September this year, will be moving to the UK to pursue a Masters in Solo Voice Ensemble Singing at the University of York.

Book your tickets here: https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/bach-musica-this-love-between-us-auckland-19-04-2026/event/2400638C9BFF21B4

Photographer: Becki Moss 📸