TO SHIVER THE SKY

Christopher Tin is a two-time Grammy-winning composer of concert and media music. Time Magazine calls his music 'rousing' and 'anthemic', while The Guardian calls it 'joyful' and 'an intelligent meeting of melody and theme'. His music has been performed and premiered in many of the world's most prestigious venues: Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, the United Nations, and Carnegie Hall, where he had an entire concert devoted to his music. He has also been performed by ensembles diverse as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, and US Air Force Band.

His song "Baba Yetu", originally written for the video game Civilization IV, is a modern choral standard, and the first piece of music written for a video game ever to win a Grammy Award. His debut album, the multi-lingual song cycle Calling All Dawns, won him a second Grammy in 2011 for Best Classical Crossover Album, and his follow-up release The Drop That Contained the Sea debuted at #1 on Billboard's classical charts, and premiered to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. His third album To Shiver the Sky also debuted at #1, and was funded by a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that raised $221,415, smashing all previous classical music crowdfunding records. His fourth album, The Lost Birds, is a collaboration with acclaimed British vocal ensemble VOCES8 and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2023.

Tin is signed to an exclusive record deal with Universal under their legendary Decca label, published by Concord and Boosey & Hawkes, and is a Yamaha artist. He works out of his own custom-built studio in Santa Monica, CA.

Todd started learning brass at the age of 7 in Palmerston North. He then moved to Blenheim and played with the Marlborough District Brass Band for a decade. During his tenure with the band, Todd made a name for himself as a talented composer of music for brass band. His compositions have been performed and recorded in Australasia and Europe. Notable organizations that have commissioned his work include the National Australian Brass Band, Footscray-Yarraville City Brass in Melbourne, and Brighouse & Rastrick in the UK.

In addition to his compositional skills, Todd is also a talented performer. He has won numerous junior national titles and has been involved with multiple national youth bands. In 2022, Todd was awarded "Best Principal Cornet in the Own Choice section" at the New Zealand National Brass Band Championships.

In 2018, he was brought to Hamilton to further his studies and now works at Hill Laboratories as an IT professional.

Born in Hamilton, Maria Colvin is a choral and orchestral conductor, flautist, singer, and is currently the Director of Music at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls.

She conducts the award winning choir Bel Suono, the all-comers Cantiamo Chapel Choir, was a founding member of the Tron Songsters Children’s Choir, and is also backup conductor for Male Voices Waikato.

As a conductor Maria has participated in courses and masterclasses with conductors Rupert D’Cruze, Marc Taddei, Rodney Eichenberger, Dr Andre Thomas, Jerry Blackstone, Dr Karen Grylls, Dr Rollo Dilworth and has studied singing with Te Oti Rakena and Ian Campbell. 

She has sung in the Graduate Choir, Repertoire Choir, Tauranga Civic Choir, Hamilton Civic Choir, and plays in the Hamilton Pops Orchestra, Trust Waikato Symphony, Civic Players and for numerous school and community musical theatre productions.

She has also led choral workshops with the Southwell School Choir(s), HGHS Mana Wahine Choir, Bethlehem College Choir (Tauranga) and Te Kowhai School Choir and has been one of the organisers of the annual Waikato/BOP Kids Sing since its inception. 

Maria is one of the choral conductors in the Artist Development Programme with Elise Bradley for the Hamilton Civic Choir in 2022 and 2023 and sings in the Soprano section.

After musically directing the amazingly successful “The Armed Man” performed at the Hamilton Arts Festival in 2023, Maria is proud to be Musical Director for “To Shiver The Sky” bringing together the Hamilton Festival Chorus once more with the addition of the newly formed Hamilton Festival Treble Chorus with singers from 12 different schools, Hamilton City Brass, soloists Emmanuel and Elaine and arranged by the talented Todd Smith.

She would like to thank her family, David, Matthew and Charlotte (singing in the treble choir) for making it possible to pursue her musical projects and also the team behind “To Shiver The Sky” Malcolm Barr, Sally Rosenberg, Ian Campbell and Jayne Tankersley.

Malcolm began playing trumpet at age 10, joined Hamilton Auxiliary Brass a few months later, and was promoted to Hamilton City Brass at the age of 15 where he is still a member nearly 30 years later.

Malcolm played in the Cornet section, the Tuba section, the Euphonium section and the Cornet section again before moving to the Trombone and discovering it is actually the best instrument in the band world. He now leads the award winning Hamilton City Brass Trombone section.

Malcolm was a member of the 2001 National Youth Brass Band on Bb Tuba and has been a member of many Waikato/Bay of Plenty youth and representative bands. 

Malcolm is the manager of Hamilton City Brass, the second time he has held this position. He was the Musical Director of Hamilton Auxiliary Brass for a time in the early 2000s, leading them to their first National Contest in 14 years. In 2019, Malcolm was the inaugural recipient of the Colin and Barbara Smith Award for Outstanding Contribution to Hamilton Citizens' Band Inc. for his work as the visionary and chairperson for the 2019 National Brass Band Championships which were held in Hamilton for the first time in 40 years.

As well as brass instruments, Malcolm plays the piano and has been the rehearsal pianist for the choir for To Shiver The Sky. He also accompanies many of the band soloists at regional and national competitions. In 2013, he formed The Malcolm Barr Big Band, which has performed regularly at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival with Malcolm leading the band on piano and vocals.