This is a live recording from 2003 of The Elysian Singers of London singing the beautiful motet Am Neujahrstag (On New Year's Day) by Felix Mendelssohn. City of Dunedin Choir will be recording this work with TVNZ next week, for transmission on the broadcaster's Praise Be programme.
What an achingly beautiful song of praise!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
How to breathe when you sing
 |
| Alexander Massey |
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4106258C0A0DD571
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Fundraising Garage Sale
Saturday 14 April, 9 am – 1 pm
North East Valley Salvation Army Hall
North Road, NEV, Dunedin.
All donations of goods will be most welcome. The sale will include plant, cake, book, clothing and craft stalls as well as general garage items. Come along on the 14th and find the treasure waiting just for you!
Why are we raising funds?
The Choir will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2013 with a Festival of Choral Celebration which will include concerts, a newly commissioned work and the publication of our history. The major celebrations will occur at Labour Weekend with a Massed Choir Concert. We need a truckload of money to make all this happen, and with your help we'll be able to do it. Everyone will be invited to the events during our celebrations in 2013!!
Getting ready for the big sale on Saturday!
See more photos at
See more photos at
 |
| Preparation for Monster Garage Sale 13 April 2012 |
Thank you everyone, we made a profit of about $3000!!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Baroque celebration enjoyable
Beauty of Baroque, Knox Church, Friday, March 30
Knox Church in Dunedin was packed on Friday evening for "Beauty of Baroque", presented by City of Dunedin Choir, Southern Sinfonia, David Burchell, guest organist Simon Mace and six soloists - sopranos Pepe Becker and Grace Park, mezzo-soprano Amanda Cole, counter-tenor Christopher John Clifford, tenor Stephen Chambers and bass Julien van Mellaerts.
Handel filled the first half of the programme, beginning with Utrecht Te Deum (1713), a grand work with sacred text for choir, soloists and baroque orchestra. From the very intro of this work, I felt the orchestra set a good performing standard for the entire evening, bright toned with well-judged subtle trumpet gilding.
The choir too, was in excellent form, generally well-balanced, despite the 23 to 7 ratio of basses to tenors, but I had mixed feelings about some of the solo work.
Soprano duet To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin, achieved a fine blend, but some of Becker's later work, although well-intoned, showed disappointing technical support at climactic exposures. Cole's lower register lacked fullness of tone, with lower melodic phrases regularly falling short in projection. Her When thou tookest upon thee ... was totally overshadowed by glorious woodwind counter melodies.
Commendable counter-tenor tone quality was regularly lost through "head in the book" syndrome, consequently undermining vocal ensemble balance.
Tenor and bass delivered with beautiful tone, intelligent phrasing, and prudent strength. Laetatus Sum (Charpentier) and J S Bach's Magnificat showed similar vein, though a highlight was a tenor solo sung by Chambers with realistic fortitude and conviction.
A brilliant performance of Concerto in B Flat for Organ Op 4 no.2 by Handel showed Burchell as master of the pipe organ. Supreme dexterity ensured clarity and unblemished co-ordination throughout four short movements of contrapuntal texture. Nicholas Cornish conducted the ensemble from his position at 1st oboe.
Review in the ODT, 2 April 2012, by Elizabeth Bouman
Were you there? What did you think of this performance? We welcome feedback from the audience!
Knox Church in Dunedin was packed on Friday evening for "Beauty of Baroque", presented by City of Dunedin Choir, Southern Sinfonia, David Burchell, guest organist Simon Mace and six soloists - sopranos Pepe Becker and Grace Park, mezzo-soprano Amanda Cole, counter-tenor Christopher John Clifford, tenor Stephen Chambers and bass Julien van Mellaerts.
Handel filled the first half of the programme, beginning with Utrecht Te Deum (1713), a grand work with sacred text for choir, soloists and baroque orchestra. From the very intro of this work, I felt the orchestra set a good performing standard for the entire evening, bright toned with well-judged subtle trumpet gilding.
The choir too, was in excellent form, generally well-balanced, despite the 23 to 7 ratio of basses to tenors, but I had mixed feelings about some of the solo work.
Soprano duet To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin, achieved a fine blend, but some of Becker's later work, although well-intoned, showed disappointing technical support at climactic exposures. Cole's lower register lacked fullness of tone, with lower melodic phrases regularly falling short in projection. Her When thou tookest upon thee ... was totally overshadowed by glorious woodwind counter melodies.
Commendable counter-tenor tone quality was regularly lost through "head in the book" syndrome, consequently undermining vocal ensemble balance.
Tenor and bass delivered with beautiful tone, intelligent phrasing, and prudent strength. Laetatus Sum (Charpentier) and J S Bach's Magnificat showed similar vein, though a highlight was a tenor solo sung by Chambers with realistic fortitude and conviction.
A brilliant performance of Concerto in B Flat for Organ Op 4 no.2 by Handel showed Burchell as master of the pipe organ. Supreme dexterity ensured clarity and unblemished co-ordination throughout four short movements of contrapuntal texture. Nicholas Cornish conducted the ensemble from his position at 1st oboe.
Review in the ODT, 2 April 2012, by Elizabeth Bouman
Were you there? What did you think of this performance? We welcome feedback from the audience!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)