An Aweful Place

Emperor penguins, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition left Port Chalmers on 29 November 1910. Scott intended to be the first to reach the South Pole. When he and his companions, Bowers, Wilson, Oates and Evans arrived there on 16 January 1912 they discovered that the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it by a month.

An awful place (Baritone solo and choir)
An orchestral prelude indicates the hardships of the march of Scott and his companions to the South Pole.
SCOTT
Great God! This is an awful place
and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it
without the reward of priority.
CHOIR
Lorde have mercy upon us.
 Christe have mercy upon us.
 Lorde have mercy upon us.
SCOTT
Bowers, looking ahead, said he thought he saw a cairn.
 The cairn coalesced – became a black speck –
 a black flag planted where a camp had been:
rumpled snow. . . marks of sledge and ski and paw . . .
We knew what it meant.
The end of all our dreams.
The end of all our hopes.
Amundsen first at the pole.
CHOIR
O Lorde save thy servaunt.
Sende him helpe from thy holy place.
And evermore myghtely defende him.
Whiche putteth his trust in thee.
Lord heare our praiers.
And let our crie come unto thee.
SCOTT
Great God! This is an awful place
and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it
without the reward of priority.
We turn our backs on the goal of our ambition.
So many hopes, so many well-laid plans.
We turn for home, eight hundred miles of soul-destroying hauling.
The return journey will test us to the limit. . .
I am filled with dread.
But what can we do?
We begin . . . we begin the journey home.
CHOIR
Lorde have mercie upon us.
Christe have mercie upon us.
Lorde have mercie upon us.

So begins The Journey Home, John Drummond's new oratorio. (Text reprinted with permission.) Don't miss the world premiere of this significant work! Saturday 8 September, 8pm, Regent Theatre, Dunedin. Tickets are on sale now!

We are the wind

John Drummond, composer of The Journey Home, was at rehearsal tonight!

It was very interesting to hear him talk about the work, and explain the emotions portrayed at various stages of the journey. The concept of "home" subtly changes from the physical home, to death!

According to John the choir is very important in this work, since it ties all the other components together. We play a spiritual role, but we are also the environment - like in the Ah... bits where we are the cold icy wind and we have to sing without any "wobbles" in the voices!

 The Journey Home tells the tale of Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition, and this performance marks the tragedy’s centenary. Join the City of Dunedin Choir and Southern Sinfonia in Tales of Ice and Fire, Sat 8 September at 8pm in the Regent Theatre.

Sausage Sizzle and Cake!

We are working hard at raising funds for next year's festivities when we celebrate 150 years of choral singing in Dunedin. Join us on Saturday and have a sausage and some cake...

What: Sausage Sizzle and Cake Stall 
Where: at The Warehouse, c/o High, Broadway and Maclaggan Street, at the High Street entrance
When: Saturday 25 August from early morning until we run out of provisions

- see you there!

On a Dark and Stormy Night

Scott and his men at Amundsen's base, Polheim, at the South Pole. Left to right: Scott, Bowers, Wilson, and PO Evans. Picture taken by Lawrence Oates.

It was a dark and stormy night... rain lashing and wind howling... and yet choir members ventured forth from hearth and home to come to rehearsal - how great is that? Totally awesome!

Then, musically, we joined Captain Scott and his intrepid band of adventurers in the Antarctic, on the Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole. The 6th movement, "Time steps out of line", has the sopranos and altos singing phrases on Ah... that reminds one of the howling winds - quite eerie and rather beautiful.

Don't miss this performance of John Drummond's new oratorio "The Journey Home" - in Tales of Ice and Fire, Sat 8 Sep at 8pm in the Regent Theatre.

A sad loss

Hugh Montgomery died last night after a battle with cancer. Our thoughts and sympathies are very much with Carol and the family.

Hugh had been associated with City of Dunedin Choir for what seems to be a lifetime, and in recent years he was the choir's Honorary Archivist. Hugh was not a singer, but he has served as chair and president, organised the front of house at concerts, and of course performed the duties of archivist. His passing is a sad loss for the choir and his beloved family.

The funeral is on Thursday 15 August, 10:30 am, at Hope and Sons. Rest in peace, Hugh.

The following tribute was offered by Peter Adams:

It is with great sadness that the choir records the passing of Hugh Montgomery and acknowledges his outstanding service to the choir over many years.

Hugh did the choir a great turn by not becoming a singing member (Graham Shirley is adamant Hugh was no singer at all!); instead, he supported his wife Carol’s membership of the choir by doing what he was best at – helping with the administration and smooth running of the choir. Hugh was either chairman or president, and was both for seventeen years, resigning only in 2007 after nearly thirty years’ service – a remarkable contribution.

I was the third or fourth conductor Hugh worked with: he began his association with the choir when Peter Warwick was conducting and Raymond White and Roy Tankersley followed before me. I shall be forever grateful to Hugh for supporting me as a young and very green choral conductor – my entire experience had been in orchestral and instrumental music – Hugh was patient with my mad enthusiasms and supportive of my fledgling endeavours as music director.

During my ten years with the choir, I saw Hugh oversee the change of name from Schola Cantorum of Dunedin to the City of Dunedin Choir and he also organised and led a very busy and successful 125th anniversary year in 1988.

Hugh’s chairmanship of the committee over many years was exemplary – often he had strong personalities (mostly women with plenty to say!) to deal with: he was always patient, courteous and respectful – I never saw Hugh even mildly irritated with other committee members. Eventually he would pull everybody around to a consensus position – even when the topic was as difficult and as serious as the colour, design and material for the women’s uniform (how many hours did we spend on that topic?!).

Hugh was also the choir’s archivist – he had programmes and newspaper cuttings going back years, and he could tell many fascinating stories from the choir’s past. I remember his enthusiasm for Coleridge- Taylor’s Hiawatha and his wish that the choir revisit this work again – how sad that he will not hear the 2013 performance.

Hugh’s vast and valued service to the choir is all the more impressive when you consider how busy he was in other spheres: a successful veterinary researcher, a husband to Carol and father of four, a busy mem- Rehearsal with John Drummond ber of his masonic lodge, a historian, a camera lover, collector and camera club member, and his musical administrative skills also saw him serve on the local committee of Chamber Music New Zealand and organise (with Graham Shirley) the school’s chamber music contest for quite a few years.

My lasting image is of Hugh in his large velvet bowtie, ice cream container in hand, cheerfully leading the front-of-house and box office at many a Town Hall concert over the years. I shall remember a friendly, enthusiastic gentleman whose support I greatly appreciated. I am sure I speak on behalf of all past and present members of the City of Dunedin Choir in extending to Carol our sincere sympathies and our great respect and regard for Hugh.

Another super evening at rehearsal

Wow! What a cracker of an evening it was. We had John van Buskirk there - he's one of the pianists for the Rossini concert on 29 September. So, the evening was dedicated to "Petite Messe Solennelle" - a most pleasant and enjoyable work. It is just glorious to sing! Add to that John's expert accompaniment and you have a winner, for sure.

Have I mentioned before that we laugh a lot at rehearsals? There is always something that cracks us up. Tonight it was the final coda of the "messe solennelle" that was anything but "solennelle"! As John played out the last 9 bars of the 'Agnus Dei', we started sniggering, and finally gave up trying to be polite, and roared with laughter!

You may wonder why? Well, you really had to be there, but I can tell you I now understand why people say Rossini had a brilliant sense of humour. After the final 'dona nobis pacem' you think the movement will end now, except it doesn't...

So rather than trying to describe it to you, have a listen to the beautiful "Agnus Dei' performed here by Brigitte Fassbaender, Mezzo-Soprano, with Katia and Marielle Labeque playing the pianos, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, and Stephen Cleobury, Conductor

Talented soloists for "Petite Messe"

Emma Fraser

Announcing our talented soloists for the Rossini "Petite Messe Solennelle" performance on 29 September:

Soprano - Emma Fraser
Mezzo-soprano - Amanda Cole
Tenor - Matthew Wilson
Bass - Julien van Mellaerts

Also, the instrumentalists will be:

John van Buskirk on piano
Sandra Crawshaw on piano
Simon Mace on the organ

Conductor: David Burchell

We are looking forward to sharing this lovely music with all our friends  - don't leave town, mark Saturday the 29th September in your diary. This performance is going to be too good to miss!