Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Review: Grief to Joy, Music For Easter

City Choir Dunedin, 7 April 2018. (Photo: Carlos Silva)
Grief to Joy, Music for Easter
Saturday 7 April 2018, Knox Church

City Choir Dunedin opened their 2018 season on Saturday evening with a varied and engaging programme of music for Easter. Led confidently by music Director David Burchell and accompanied on the organ by Douglas Mews the choir began with Verdi’s setting of Stabat Mater Dolorosa. Beginning perhaps a tad too enthusiastically the choir soon found their voice settling nicely into Verdi’s vivid depictions of the Crucifixion. While in some sections the choir seemed unsure of the specifics of Verdi’s more complex harmonies, in others, particularly some of the more lamentful sections, they achieved a pleasing warmth of tone.

Following this the audience was introduced to the guest choir for the evening. The Main Street Singers hail from Los Altos High School in the San Francisco Bay area. The Choir have been doing annual international tours for many years and this year’s brought them to New Zealand and Tonga. Their first bracket contained three works by American composers juxtaposed with a 16th century Madrigal and an African American Spiritual. While their performance of John Bennet’s Weep, O Mine Eyes at times lacked the clarity and confidence demanded by complex renaissance polyphony, their other works were executed sensitively and effectively with the moving Felices Ter by Randall Thompson a particular highlight.

Following this the City Choir returned to sing Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice by Gerald Finzi. For this the choir’s forces were augmented by soloists Benjamin Madden (Tenor) and Malcolm Leitch (Bass) who sang not just the solo roles but in the choir throughout. This was a masterstroke and greatly secured the smaller Tenor and Bass sections of the choir that in turn led to a more confident and well blended sound overall. Finzi’s setting of the text by Richard Crashaw is at times both powerful and sensitive and the choir proved adept at portraying both with the support of Douglas Mews from the Organ. The solos from Madden and Leitch as well as Caroline Burchell (Soprano) from the choir were effective and provided an excellent contrast to the powerful and moving central section of the work.

The second half began with a second bracket of songs from the Main Street Singers. This bracket included a similar selection to the first beginning with energetic and contrapuntal Cantus Gloriosus by Josef Swider and ending with two enthusiastically received spirituals. Overall the choir proved themself an impressive group of young singers evidenced both through the high level of proficiency in the singing and the impressive quality of their soloists. Their commitment to contemporary repertoire must also be noted and commended (although the fact that of five original 20th century compositions none were by women must be questioned).

The evening was concluded with Bach’s Cantata 66 ‘Erfreut euch, ir Herzen’ for this the City Choir were again joined by Madden and Leitch as well as Claire Barton (Mezzo-soprano) and a small, seven piece chamber ensemble from the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. The opening chorus was declamatory and effective as the choir implores the audience to “rejoice” at the news of Christ’s resurrection. This was followed by a series of arias which displayed the virtuosity and tone of voice of the three soloists. The DSO ensemble was effective throughout with the pair of oboes dazzling in the opening chorus, a beautiful Violin obligato solo complementing the voices of Barton and Madden in the final aria. The final chorale was a fitting if brief conclusion both to the cantata and the concert.

By Nathaniel Otley, The Wave, 10 April 2018



Nathaniel Otley is a third year Music Student at the University of Otago studying Performance Violin and Composition. As a singer Nathaniel has sung in roles for both Opera Otago and Little Box of Operas. He has also sung in choirs including the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir and is a current member of the New Zealand Youth Choir.

Monday, January 1, 2018

2018 Concert Season

The 2018 Concert Season


Grief to Joy: Music for Easter

Saturday 7 April 7:30 pm
Knox Church

CITY CHOIR DUNEDIN
DAVID BURCHELL, conductor
SOLOISTS: Claire Barton (mezzo-soprano), Benjamin Madden (tenor), Malcolm Leitch (bass)
DUNEDIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ensemble
DOUGLAS MEWS, organist

Bach: Cantata 66 Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen
Verdi: Stabat Mater
Finzi: Lo, the full, final sacrifice

MAIN STREET SINGERS
MARK SHAULL, conductor
DIANE KELLER PRATT, organist
The Main Street Singers from Los Altos, California, contributed to the programme of music, as follows:

David Conte: Ave Maria
Z. Randall Stroope: Caritas et Amor
Randall Thompson: Felices Ter
John Bennett: Weep, O Mine Eyes
Hall Johnson: Honor, Honor
Józef Świder: Cantus Gloriosus
Peter Phillips: Surgens Jesu
Flor Peeters: Jubilate Deo, Omnis Terra
Larry Fleming: Ride On, King Jesus!
Alice Parker / Robert Shaw: I Got A Key


Orff: Carmina Burana

Saturday 1 September 7:30 pm
Dunedin Town Hall


CITY CHOIR DUNEDIN
DUNEDIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

This concert is presented by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marc Taddei.


Jazz Café
Big choir! Big band! Big night out!

Saturday 6 October 7 for 7:30 pm
Dunedin Town Hall


City Choir Dunedin, conductor: David Burchell
Sophie Morris
Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra, conductor: Calder Prescott
Café Operana
Southern Youth Choir
Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra
Swing Riot Dunedin

Enjoy a relaxing evening of fabulously fizzy and swinging jazz at our café. Watch out for bicycles!

City Choir is letting its hair down with an evening of jazz! Experience the Town Hall decked out as a café with lots of atmosphere and cash bars for coffee, wine and snacks. There will even be room to dance for those who get so moved. You may sit or stand, chat to your neighbour, as you please. Come early to get a good seat and enjoy the pre-show entertainment, from 7 pm, by the Dunedin Youth Jazz Orchestra.

City Choir will perform a selection of jazz standards, as well as Alexander L’Estrange’s quirky Song Cycle: vive la vélorution: songs on the subject of cycling and the great outdoors. It is an exuberant celebration in music of this most environmentally friendly mode of transport. L’Estrange has perfectly captured the euphoria of two-wheel travel for this joyous, uplifting song cycle which includes an amusing take on the invention of the bicycle, as well as stunning new settings of poetry and arrangements of much-loved songs.

City Choir will be accompanied by a jazz quintet and orchestra, while the Swing Riot Dunedin dance group will sizzle on the dance floor and invite you to swing along with them.

This is a general admission, child-friendly, free concert in the Dunedin Town Hall. Suggested koha/donation $10 per person. Seating in the stalls is arranged café style at tables and the usual theatre seating in the gallery will be open.


City Choir Sings Jazz

Saturday 20 October 2:45 pm
Josephine Foyer
Toitu Otago Settlers Museum


DAVID BURCHELL, conductor and pianist
MARK ANDERSON, assistant conductor
CITY CHOIR DUNEDIN

Hear popular songs like I got rhythm, 'S Wonderful, Moonlight serenade, Tea for two, Smoke gets in your eyes and Let's do it. Also on the programme is three songs from Alexander L'Estrange's Song Cycle: A true love of mine, Buying a cycle and My wheel and I.


Christmas @ Otago Museum

Saturday 22 December 1:00 pm
Otago Museum


DAVID BURCHELL, conductor
MARK ANDERSON, assistant conductor
SOLOISTS: Caroline Burchell, Ben France-Hudson
CITY CHOIR DUNEDIN

City Choir Dunedin will present an hour-long programme of Christmas music at the Otago Museum.
Accompanists: Roland Storm and David Burchell