SouthCity Soundz (aka South City Harmony and Soundz of Counties)
In 1990 a group of women met in a private home in Papatoetoe to bring Sweet Adelines to South Auckland. Jan Smith was the Musical Director at this time and under her direction the Chorus grew and expanded eventually moving into the Papatoetoe Town Hall for Rehearsals. South City Harmony Chorus was officially chartered in 1992 and this was the first year that they also competed in the New Zealand Sweet Adelines Convention held in Wellington.
In 1995 several members were part of the 167 strong New Zealand contingent who attended the 50th anniversary celebrations of Sweet Adelines in New Orleans.
Alice Hedgeman was the Musical Director of the Chorus for a number of years until Melody Lowe took over this position. Melody had been a member of the Chorus from its earliest days and was delighted to become its Musical Director. In 2002 when Melody was appointed as Director of Greater Auckland Chorus her daughter Jocosa was ready and willing to take over the Directorship of the chorus.
In 2003 Adrienne O'Connor, who had been Musical Director of Soundz of Counties, decided to step down from this position and following discussions between the two Choruses they decided to almagamate - forming SouthCity Soundz. The combined Chorus went from strength to strength under Jocosa's Direction and won the Small Chorus competition at the New Zealand Sweet Adelines Convention in 2005 with an impressive score of 546.
Angela Tsai took over as Musical Director from Jocosa in 2006, and at this time rehearsals had moved to St John the Evangelist School in Otara. 2009 saw Sheryl Willis, step into the position of Musical Director when the Chorus suddenly found themselves without one. She was joined in 2015 by Cheryl Weijermars and together they led the Chorus until August 2022 when Sheryl decided to step down and take on different positions within the Chorus.
The Chorus is currently in a stage of Revitalisation whereby it is working to grow it's memberships - and members remain excited for the future. The Chorus recently celebrated their 30th Anniversary with a fantastic Friends'n'Family Christmas concert.
