Well for my money it was a jolly good concert.
I had seen a 'creature' wandering around the auditorium during the dress rehearsal, she looked as though she was on day release from the local funny farm. Being VERY slow on the uptake it did not occur to me that the large floral print dress, red high heel shoes, bright blue tights and fruit-laden hat were part of the performance: of course, it was Rima Te Wiata, as Frances Hodgkins. All was made clear during the second-half as she read a script based on Frances's letters ostensibly to her mother, which was interspersed with orchestral pieces from the pen of Anthony Ritchie.
Our part in the first part of the first half went off without a hitch, we altos came in on the 'Peace ho' bit and saw Marc smiling when he brought in Deborah on the 'Come ho' bit - there'd been some amusement from him during rehearsals - something to do with his Americanised interpretation of Shakespeare. Never mind, I guess you had to be there.
We enjoyed ourselves, and according to my supprtive chums in the audience they did too.
I am now a complete fan of Ralph Vaughan Williams after two concerts in a row featuring his work.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Final rehearsals
Tonight is the big night of the Southern Stars concert!Last night and this afternoon we had the final rehearsals for this concert and it went really well. Just hear what conductor Marc Taddei had to say last night at the end of the rehearsal:
"City of Dunedin Choir, you know something, you are really a good choir. I'm not just saying it, I mean it! You really are a very good choir, that was excellent."
That is quite a compliment coming from Marc, who is not just an everyday yokel when it comes to his art. Listen to this:
US-born New Zealand conductor Marc Taddei has been widely acclaimed for connecting with audiences through the passion and energy he brings to performances. He is sought after by every professional orchestra in New Zealand and is a frequent guest conductor of the major Australian orchestras. After success as music director of the Christchurch Symphony, in 2007 he was appointed music director of the Wellington Orchestra in New Zealand's capital city. Previous appointments included Principal Guest Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Auckland Philharmonia, and Director of Orchestral Studies at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.
Marc Taddei has conducted the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony, the Queensland Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest Florida Symphony, the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the Silesian State Opera in the Czech Republic. Marc has conducted for Opera New Zealand, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and has been a frequent guest at the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. His performance with the Louisiana Philharmonic was nominated for best Contemporary Classical Performance of the year at the 12th annual Tribute to the Classical Arts in New Orleans.
See more pictures from the rehearsal at this webalbum.
Southern Stars review extract
On 21 March 2009, in the Dunedin Town Hall, City of Dunedin Choir participated in the Southern Sinfonia's presentation of the Dunedin Heritage Festival concert entitled Southern Stars, Celebrating the Life, Times and Works of Frances Hodgkins. The Choir performed Serenade to Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and an extract from Anthony Richie's From the Southern Marches.
"The City of Dunedin Choir joined for Serenade to Music by Vaughan Williams. Excellent balance and gloriously serene harmony passages, including solo violin (Sydney Manowitz), contrasted with well-achieved climaxes."
(Extract from the review by Elizabeth Bouman in the Otago Daily Times of 23 March 2009.)
"The City of Dunedin Choir joined for Serenade to Music by Vaughan Williams. Excellent balance and gloriously serene harmony passages, including solo violin (Sydney Manowitz), contrasted with well-achieved climaxes."
(Extract from the review by Elizabeth Bouman in the Otago Daily Times of 23 March 2009.)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Southern Stars
Hot on the heels of the Proms concert, with only three weeks to rehearse, we are ready for the Southern Stars concert! I think the little bit of pressure was a good thing - everyone must have done their homework because you know what? We've been sounding really good during the last two rehearsals. Yes, there was some polishing to do, but on the whole you could see David was happy. Marc Taddei was quite pleased too when he heard us on Tuesday this week.So come along one and all and get your friends to come too - this concert, presented by the Southern Sinfonia, is going to be a smash hit!
Southern Stars - Celebrating the Life, Times and Works of Frances Hodgkins
Saturday 21 March 2009 8:00pm, Dunedin Town Hall
(As part of the Dunedin Heritage Festival)
Featuring Rima Te Wiata and Deborah Wai Kapohe, with Marc Taddei, Conductor, and City of Dunedin Choir
* Anthony Ritchie: A Portrait of Frances Hodgkins (World Premiere, commissioned by Southern Sinfonia)
* A presentation of Frances Hodgkins's life by Rima Te Wiata (script by Catherine Chidgey), and arias and choruses from countries where Frances Hodgkins lived and performed, by Deborah Wai Kapohe and the City of Dunedin Choir.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Nelson Mass
For those who use Noteworthy Composer there are practice files at nwc-scriptorium.org/db/classical/h/hnm_nelson.html. It is a zipped file by John Hooper with each section as a separate file. It is arranged for SATB (sounding as piccolo, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon voices ) and piano (converted to strings etc) The texts of each section are included in the zipped file, but unfortunately he hasn't entered the words into the score.
For those who do not have Noteworthy Composer there is a free viewer for these files at www.noteworthysoftware.com Click on Free Viewer button. You cant edit files with this nor can you import midi files. You can also download the full version before buying it by click on the "Try It" option from the same web page
Jennifer
For those who do not have Noteworthy Composer there is a free viewer for these files at www.noteworthysoftware.com Click on Free Viewer button. You cant edit files with this nor can you import midi files. You can also download the full version before buying it by click on the "Try It" option from the same web page
Jennifer
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Serenade to Music, Ralph Vaughan-Williams
Here is a video you could use for practicing Serenade to Music. The sound quality is not 100%, but it will do. Note because of video length restrictions in Youtube this is in two parts.
Monday, March 2, 2009
My First Last Night Of The Proms!
I promised I'd do a quick write-up of the Proms, so here I am!
I'll apologise in advance if I offend any Brits (well, actually if I offend anyone, for that matter!), but I'm an Aussie, and anti-Royalist, and I couldn't help finding it all rather amusing, seeing a pack of Antipodean Kiwis waving Union Jacks and wearing silly hats, singing anachronistic songs about a long-dead Empire and a Monarch who has only visited this country a handful of times.
Can Lizzie The Second place New Zealand on a world map? Does she know what a sheep looks like? Would she ride a Segway up Baldwin Street? Whadayareckon? Your guess is as good as mine.
However, getting back to the Proms. We were awesome!
Yes, we were. We really were. Admit it, people! We ROCKED.
It's time to give ourselves a pat on the back, and say, without reservation, that old Queenie-poohs should have taken it upon Her Royal We-ness to come to Dunedin and attend the Proms, because I think she would have had a ripper of a time. And no Cliff Richard, which has to be a bonus.
As you probably know (but I'm going to tell you anyway), we started the night with God Save The Queen and God Defend New Zealand. We were LOUD. We were SEXY. We were WONDERFUL. God had His ears on, and was almost certainly duly impressed.
Then into a whole stack of great stuff by the Sinfonia (but not quite as good as the openers, because WE weren't singing!). I rather enjoyed my top, back-row view of the audience, because from where I was you could see everything.
I could see audience members dressed as Beefeaters and Guardsmen and Morris dancers, and even an old lady - who went on to win the prize as Best Promenader - dressed as Queen Victoria herself! And she was highly amused.
It was a colourful sight, looked like loads of fun, and almost made me wish I were down in the peanut gallery instead of up on stage!
Naaaaaah!
The highlight of the evening was of course our own performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Toward The Unknown Region, the text of which is of course taken from Whitman's great work Leaves Of Grass (Book 30), and speaks of the crossing over from life into death.
Toward The Unknown Region is a stunning work, and in it you can hear many similarities with Vaughan Williams' much larger masterpiece, A Sea Symphony, which also uses text from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
Enough of the scholarly rubbish, as it's pretty boring to everyone but me, I'm guessing.
The Proms was certainly a huge success. A notable mention was Alex Campbell-Hunt's new work Sakura Trees, which was very beautiful. I enjoyed it immensely, it was very well received, and I know that many of us on stage and in the audience are looking forward to hearing Alex's next offerings.
The soloists were great. I particularly enjoyed Tom McGrath's performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto 2 (movements 2 & 3) - but then, I admit that piano has always made me swoon.
Throughout the Proms, Helen Medlyn did an excellent job of her performances, and showed us what really first-class talent New Zealand can produce. She was great - as were her outfits!
Doing it all again - in Oamaru!
Come Saturday afternoon I found myself boarding a bus for Oamaru, ready to do it all over again at the Oamaru Opera House.
Just to prove a point, no sooner had we boarded than we were pushing uphill out of town (don't mention the gear changes!) against some of the south island's finest summer weather. Not. And I was wishing I'd brought an umbrella. Typical - whenever I bring one it doesn't rain. Leave the brolly at home and it downpours.
I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful this country of ours is. The absolute irony of us all going along to wave the flags of another, far less beautiful (and wonderful, in my opinion) country and sing its songs instead of ours was not lost on me. Regardless of this, I had thoroughly enjoyed my First Last Night Of The Proms, and was determined to enjoy my Last Last Night of the Proms too.
After a rather slow bus convoy, we finally arrived, and were ushered into one of the strangest and most dungeon-like green rooms I've ever experienced.
In all fairness, the Opera House is still being built. And this was one of the 'incomplete' sections. But I did feel rather like a Star Trek Red Jacket or a nameless extra in a Dr Who episode, and I wondered when the four-headed, fifty-foot-long-fanged creatures would be released to dine on us.
A quick rehearsal, then we all headed over to a local hotel for drinks followed by an extremely delicious dinner. Full marks for this one. No matter what your tastes or inclination in food, it was provided. Yumm-oh! I won't admit to the actual number of roast potatoes I consumed, but yes, it was obscene. And the dessert was delicious. My dining companions were friendly and fun, and dinner exceeded expectations. Vairy noice.
Back to the concert venue. Problems getting 160 people through three toilets in succession in time for a concert. Note to any architects reading this: PLEASE build public buildings with more bathrooms than you think will be needed! There's nothing worse than waiting in line with ten (or more) people ahead of you, and knowing you're due on stage in two minutes!
The concert was good fun. I won't say we were quite as spectacular as we had been in Dunedin (you always perform better to a home crowd), but I had a good time. Snapshots in my memory include the audience member who won the prize to conduct the Sinfonia. I've never seen such raw talent! Arvin - I must get a copy of your footage - please!!!
And also our esteemed musical director David, making a complete, ummmm, Brit of himself with plastic hat and Union Jack cape. There are some "looks" we can carry off, and there are others that should be carried off. Permanently. (Yes, I'm teasing. Being an Aussie I can't resist stirring a Pom - it's in my blood.)
In short, although this supposedly "short" write-up of the Proms has been anything but, Oamaru was fun. I had a great time. At the end of the night there was mad confusion as we all scrambled through mud and rain onto three buses. I don't know how anyone could tell whether we all made it home. Maybe we didn't? If the tenor section is missing on Tuesday, the first place to look is the toilet queue at Oamaru Opera House.
The journey home was filled with wonderful views of the neon lights of the bustling city of Oamaru - changing from red, to amber, then green, and back to red again.
The views of the bays were similarly awe-inspiring - if you had a very vivid imagination you could almost see beyond the drizzle and the pitch black to the sweeping beaches and rolling hills. Almost.
I finally got home at around midnight - I think. I had to catch a taxi from the Octagon home, but no dramas - the drivers were all avoiding the north end of the city after the liquid delights of last week's toga parade, and hailing a cab for any person not resembling a drunken student was easy-peasy.
In closing, I'd like to give huge thankyous to our wonderful committee, the Sinfonia, to David, and to everyone involved in organising our concerts for us. We, the humble choristers, expect everything to be beautifully organised and well-planned. And because you guys are so awesome, it always is! So thankyou - we do appreciate it very much, even though we may usually be too witless and self-centered to say so!
Bring on the rest of 2009! We'll be awesome!
I'll apologise in advance if I offend any Brits (well, actually if I offend anyone, for that matter!), but I'm an Aussie, and anti-Royalist, and I couldn't help finding it all rather amusing, seeing a pack of Antipodean Kiwis waving Union Jacks and wearing silly hats, singing anachronistic songs about a long-dead Empire and a Monarch who has only visited this country a handful of times.
Can Lizzie The Second place New Zealand on a world map? Does she know what a sheep looks like? Would she ride a Segway up Baldwin Street? Whadayareckon? Your guess is as good as mine.
However, getting back to the Proms. We were awesome!
Yes, we were. We really were. Admit it, people! We ROCKED.
It's time to give ourselves a pat on the back, and say, without reservation, that old Queenie-poohs should have taken it upon Her Royal We-ness to come to Dunedin and attend the Proms, because I think she would have had a ripper of a time. And no Cliff Richard, which has to be a bonus.
As you probably know (but I'm going to tell you anyway), we started the night with God Save The Queen and God Defend New Zealand. We were LOUD. We were SEXY. We were WONDERFUL. God had His ears on, and was almost certainly duly impressed.
Then into a whole stack of great stuff by the Sinfonia (but not quite as good as the openers, because WE weren't singing!). I rather enjoyed my top, back-row view of the audience, because from where I was you could see everything.
I could see audience members dressed as Beefeaters and Guardsmen and Morris dancers, and even an old lady - who went on to win the prize as Best Promenader - dressed as Queen Victoria herself! And she was highly amused.
It was a colourful sight, looked like loads of fun, and almost made me wish I were down in the peanut gallery instead of up on stage!
Naaaaaah!
The highlight of the evening was of course our own performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Toward The Unknown Region, the text of which is of course taken from Whitman's great work Leaves Of Grass (Book 30), and speaks of the crossing over from life into death.
Toward The Unknown Region is a stunning work, and in it you can hear many similarities with Vaughan Williams' much larger masterpiece, A Sea Symphony, which also uses text from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
Enough of the scholarly rubbish, as it's pretty boring to everyone but me, I'm guessing.
The Proms was certainly a huge success. A notable mention was Alex Campbell-Hunt's new work Sakura Trees, which was very beautiful. I enjoyed it immensely, it was very well received, and I know that many of us on stage and in the audience are looking forward to hearing Alex's next offerings.
The soloists were great. I particularly enjoyed Tom McGrath's performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto 2 (movements 2 & 3) - but then, I admit that piano has always made me swoon.
Throughout the Proms, Helen Medlyn did an excellent job of her performances, and showed us what really first-class talent New Zealand can produce. She was great - as were her outfits!
Doing it all again - in Oamaru!
Come Saturday afternoon I found myself boarding a bus for Oamaru, ready to do it all over again at the Oamaru Opera House.
Just to prove a point, no sooner had we boarded than we were pushing uphill out of town (don't mention the gear changes!) against some of the south island's finest summer weather. Not. And I was wishing I'd brought an umbrella. Typical - whenever I bring one it doesn't rain. Leave the brolly at home and it downpours.
I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful this country of ours is. The absolute irony of us all going along to wave the flags of another, far less beautiful (and wonderful, in my opinion) country and sing its songs instead of ours was not lost on me. Regardless of this, I had thoroughly enjoyed my First Last Night Of The Proms, and was determined to enjoy my Last Last Night of the Proms too.
After a rather slow bus convoy, we finally arrived, and were ushered into one of the strangest and most dungeon-like green rooms I've ever experienced.
In all fairness, the Opera House is still being built. And this was one of the 'incomplete' sections. But I did feel rather like a Star Trek Red Jacket or a nameless extra in a Dr Who episode, and I wondered when the four-headed, fifty-foot-long-fanged creatures would be released to dine on us.
A quick rehearsal, then we all headed over to a local hotel for drinks followed by an extremely delicious dinner. Full marks for this one. No matter what your tastes or inclination in food, it was provided. Yumm-oh! I won't admit to the actual number of roast potatoes I consumed, but yes, it was obscene. And the dessert was delicious. My dining companions were friendly and fun, and dinner exceeded expectations. Vairy noice.
Back to the concert venue. Problems getting 160 people through three toilets in succession in time for a concert. Note to any architects reading this: PLEASE build public buildings with more bathrooms than you think will be needed! There's nothing worse than waiting in line with ten (or more) people ahead of you, and knowing you're due on stage in two minutes!
The concert was good fun. I won't say we were quite as spectacular as we had been in Dunedin (you always perform better to a home crowd), but I had a good time. Snapshots in my memory include the audience member who won the prize to conduct the Sinfonia. I've never seen such raw talent! Arvin - I must get a copy of your footage - please!!!
And also our esteemed musical director David, making a complete, ummmm, Brit of himself with plastic hat and Union Jack cape. There are some "looks" we can carry off, and there are others that should be carried off. Permanently. (Yes, I'm teasing. Being an Aussie I can't resist stirring a Pom - it's in my blood.)
In short, although this supposedly "short" write-up of the Proms has been anything but, Oamaru was fun. I had a great time. At the end of the night there was mad confusion as we all scrambled through mud and rain onto three buses. I don't know how anyone could tell whether we all made it home. Maybe we didn't? If the tenor section is missing on Tuesday, the first place to look is the toilet queue at Oamaru Opera House.
The journey home was filled with wonderful views of the neon lights of the bustling city of Oamaru - changing from red, to amber, then green, and back to red again.
The views of the bays were similarly awe-inspiring - if you had a very vivid imagination you could almost see beyond the drizzle and the pitch black to the sweeping beaches and rolling hills. Almost.
I finally got home at around midnight - I think. I had to catch a taxi from the Octagon home, but no dramas - the drivers were all avoiding the north end of the city after the liquid delights of last week's toga parade, and hailing a cab for any person not resembling a drunken student was easy-peasy.
In closing, I'd like to give huge thankyous to our wonderful committee, the Sinfonia, to David, and to everyone involved in organising our concerts for us. We, the humble choristers, expect everything to be beautifully organised and well-planned. And because you guys are so awesome, it always is! So thankyou - we do appreciate it very much, even though we may usually be too witless and self-centered to say so!
Bring on the rest of 2009! We'll be awesome!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The DCC photo shoot
As you've heard before during notices time at rehearsal, a few members gathered in the Town Hall for a photo shoot arranged by the DCC on Monday 26 January 2009. This had to be arranged on rather short notice, so it was quite a scramble to get a few people together, since many of us were still away on holiday at that time.
The purpose of this photo shoot is so that the DCC could use the Choir images in their marketing materials for the DCC's 2009 Annual Plan. One of the images will be shown in the Dunedin City Council Annual Plan and State of City Report and feature on a TV commerial on Channel 9. It will also be placed on an internal banner within the 2009 Have Your Say Expo in the Dunedin Town Hall, 27 to 28 March.
So finally, here are a few pictures that are representative of the shoot. The photographer was Bill Nichol. Ask Graham if he enjoyed the make-up session! We all had to submit to being puffed and powdered so we would not have too high a gloss in the bright lights!
The purpose of this photo shoot is so that the DCC could use the Choir images in their marketing materials for the DCC's 2009 Annual Plan. One of the images will be shown in the Dunedin City Council Annual Plan and State of City Report and feature on a TV commerial on Channel 9. It will also be placed on an internal banner within the 2009 Have Your Say Expo in the Dunedin Town Hall, 27 to 28 March.
So finally, here are a few pictures that are representative of the shoot. The photographer was Bill Nichol. Ask Graham if he enjoyed the make-up session! We all had to submit to being puffed and powdered so we would not have too high a gloss in the bright lights!
Proms in Dunedin and on tour
To add to Rosi's great photos, here is more at this web album.
We'll remember this Proms as Alex Campbell-Hunt's BIG NIGHT. It was the premiere of his composition Sakura Trees (The Airborne Shadow) - and what a marvellous work! I just loved it - so interesting, so neatly done, with attention to detail, crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's, and a lovely tuneful theme too. I was happy to hear it at all the rehearsals and both performances, and would go back for more!
This picture tells it all - Alex and Colin in animated congratulatory mode - so well-deserved!
The Choir's moment in the sun came with the performance of Toward the Unknown Region by Vaughan Williams. Wow, what a buzz that was! Vaughan Williams really knew how to put together a smashingly good tune. Don't forget the Southern Sinfonia - I was really impressed with their playing. Well done!
And then the Choir went on tour - we got to do it all again a second time in Oamaru at the newly refurbished Opera House. What a sweet little opera house - not very big, but ever so pretty, with a real chandelier hanging from the centre dome. Mmm... behind the scenes there is still a heap of work in progress and for our warm-ups etc. the Choir was shoved into a dungeon beneath the stage - all concrete and unfinished and cold, but I suppose that was just the "growing pains" of the refurbishing project.
The Oamaruarians really got into the spirit of the Proms - they even had a guard of honour all dressed up smartly in red jackets, kilts and pith helmets (I think that's what those funny hats are called) who escorted the "Queen" to the royal seat in the front of house just before the concert started.
I could safely say that much fun was had by all and we made it safely back to our beds in Dunedin by about midnight on Saturday.
What the audience didn't see...
... a sea of red, white and blue (with occasional yellow balloons as there seemed to be a shortage of white ones). We are all lined up in blocks according to our shirt colours, red, white and blue, ready for the second half more informal half of the concert. And jolly good it was too. I'm surprised the roof is still intact after the effects of choir, orchestra and sizeable audience all going full blast for Land of Hope and Glory. There are a heap more pictures at this web album. As usual you may need to wait a little while before they load.
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