The United Auckland Gospel Choir has cemented its place among the world’s leading choirs after winning gold at the 2026 World Choir Games in Sweden, an event once known as the “Choir Olympics”.
“No one can beat us at being us,” Seumanu Seuoti Simon Matāfai JP, who is the choir master and pianist, said.
“We are the best at being ourselves, as indigenous, Pasifika, Māori, and Oceania as a region.”
United Akld Gospel choir receives gold at world competition
The 50-strong group, who are predominantly Māori and Pasifika, was the only New Zealand and Pacific team to compete in a competition traditionally dominated by teams from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The last World Choir Games were held in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) back in 2024, with each competition hosting two levels: an open competition, and the Champions competition, which is the event’s top tier.
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“We were invited to welcome the international community when Auckland hosted the World Choir Games for the first time it came to New Zealand, and so that was about 11,000 singers from roughly over 150 choirs in 40 countries who came in 2024,” Matāfai said.
“We were invited to compete in the open competition because there’s two competitions: an open competition and a champions competition. And because we were not eligible for champions, we went into the open,” he said.
“So we entered … and we won gold for the open competition and the entire category for the gospel.”
Off the back of their success in 2024, the group was able to compete in this year’s champions competition.
Matāfai said this tier of the competition was typically dominated by American choirs, the origins of gospel.
“We were always nervous about these big countries, America and Great Britain, with their big choirs and experienced choirs who have been in the Champions League for a long time.”
‘We sing for each other’
The group collaborated with Temple View Gospel Choir from Hamilton.
“We maintained a United Auckland Gospel Choir brand, but this time encompassing Temple View from Hamilton,” Matāfai JP clarified.
Amongst other performances, they performed a four-part Pacific/Oceania gospel medley arranged by Matāfai JP, built around Māori (He Honore), Tongan (Himi 114), Fijian (Noqu Masu) and Samoan (Ia Vi’ia le Atua) pieces.
The choirs perform in front of seven judges and are scored on a 0-100 scale.
“Every judge is a doctoral professor in their field, and we scored nearly 100% by one gospel professor from Yale University, he was a big fan of us,” Matāfai said.
When asked what set them apart from other groups, Matāfai said the choir’s multigenerational, multicultural make‑up – and the way they sing from the heart – remains their “greatest strength”.
“A lot of them (judges) commented on our wairua. They gravitate towards us offstage … We meet and greet. We form new relationships and friendships. We exchange gifts. We sing for each other, inspire each other, and celebrate each other,” he said.
“And it was for the first time I really saw the beauty of humanity despite, you know, the chaos around the world right now.”
Auckland’s deputy mayor Desley Simpson wrote: “The most remote participating choir and they bring home GOLD in the Gospel division…So incredibly proud of them all.”
“We pride ourselves in being multigenerational, multicultural, and multidenominational. We come from all sorts of churches, We are all in this together. We are stronger together, better together,” Matāfai added.
“Having the wisdom of our elders, the energy of our young ones, and the dynamism of our middle age, it was lovely. It was really nice having the young ones travel for the first time … and they are coming back now with a different worldview that it is beyond their little community in South Auckland.”
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Matāfai said the trip was only made possible thanks to the whānau and friends.
“We are indebted to our families and the sacrifices, the fundraising… from baking, you know, bake sales to our Christmas carolling,” he said.
“We did concerts, we did fundraisers. It was a real … something is sweeter when you know you’ve put in the hard work. It’s more rewarding because you know you’ve put in the mahi and the sacrifice.”
