Musical Director for Heaven Bent Gospel Choir

Heaven Bent is a well established and highly rated non-denominational, 35-voice community choir that sings in the gospel genre and in particular, music with Afro-American roots. We have in recent year’s added Maori, Pacific Island and contemporary songs to our repertoire. Our members are people who have a passion for what they do as a choir, and they are also committed to using their skills for the benefit of various charities every year.

The choir was originally formed following a workshop with gospel guru Tony Backhouse and has been performing for fourteen years, securing a special reputation all of its own. The choir specializes in gospel and with beautiful harmonies they perform songs ranging from the deeply moving to the hand-clapping, foot stomping tunes of the African/African American Gospel tradition.. It also strives to maintain a balance between musical excellence and fun singing with a real passion for the love of gospel music.

As an a cappella choir Heaven Bent has performed for a wide variety of audiences in New Zealand from television, corporate gigs, to weddings, public performances, charity events and Arts and Music Festivals around the country; a Heaven Bent performance has become something very special.

Heaven Bent has also formed an alliance with award-winning Kapa Haka choir Hatea initially performing with them at the 2007 Waitangi Day service in the Treaty Grounds, and to packed houses in Whangarei and Auckland. Both Choirs were first brought together during 2007 Waitangi Day commemorations by Bishop Kitohi Pikaahu, who invited them to come together and reflect on what the Treaty meant for them. "For the first time for many of us we stayed on the marae, experienced our traditional New Zealand culture and we just had such a wonderful time. It was an amazing weekend and we came away with some wonderful feelings, not just for ourselves but our country as well and the potential for our country” Mr Christenson says. NZ Poet Kevin Ireland composed and read poetry especially for the concerts in Whangarei and Auckland. Also, we have a special relationship with the Auckland-based African group, Taste of Africa.

In August 2010, the choir was part of the “The Edge - Pick & Mix” programme and was given the opportunity to create a public community workshop, which had fostered confidence and communication performance within a greater audience. This programme took the form of an interactive workshop that was rich in vocalisation, movement and performance dynamics which expressed the African/African American gospel tradition and engaged the audience in lots of fun!

Heaven Bent has made many guest media appearances on APRA Scroll Awards, Mika Show, Auckland City Council Jazz & Blues Gig, Rotorua Accapella Event, Hamilton Gardens Summer Event, Sweetwaters, Organ Donation Thanksgiving Service Annual Event (since1998), Praise Be, Waitangi Day Celebrations and had released a CD The Spirit of Gospel.