2011 Concert Season

Last Night of the Proms
Friday 25 February, 7:30pm at Dunedin Town Hall
Saturday 26 February, 7:00pm at Oamaru Opera House

The Southern Sinfonia presents this annual Proms concert at which the City of Dunedin Choir provides the choral support. Featuring a dazzling line-up: Conductor Hamish McKeich with soloist Anna Leese and the City of Dunedin Choir, and introducing Miles Chen, Cello, and Chris Geddes, Composer.

The Choir performed "Laudate Dominum" from Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, and "Arrival of the Guests" from Richard Wagner's Tannhauser.

Bach's Mass in B minor
Saturday 16 April, 7:30pm, Dunedin Town Hall

The City of Dunedin Choir, supported by the Southern Sinfonia and conducted by David Burchell, presents Bach's Mass in B Minor. The soloists for this performance are:

Lois Johnston, Soprano
Sarah Court, Mezzo-Soprano
John Murray, Tenor
Daniel O'Connor, Baritone

The Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) is a musical setting of the complete Latin Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach. The work was one of Bach's last, although much of it was made of music that Bach had composed earlier. Bach assembled the Mass in its present form in 1749, just before his death in 1750.

Belshazzar

Walton's Belshazzar's Feast
Saturday 16 July, 8:00pm, Dunedin Town Hall

Dane Lam, Conductor, Paul Whelan, Bass Baritone, and City of Dunedin Choir perform in this concert presented by the Southern Sinfonia.

Programme:

• Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis 
• Copland: Appalachian Spring 
• Walton: Belshazzar's Feast

Drama in Babylon! The king commits sacrilege and is miraculously killed, the kingdom falls, and the Jews regain their freedom. This strongly rhythmic and richly orchestrated work, with soloist and choir, has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions. By contrast, Appalachian Spring depicts a happy celebration of the American pioneers, and includes a section based on a well-known Shaker melody. "Unlike many bass voices, Paul Whelan's is a wondrously flexible (voice)... that most other basses would give their eye teeth to emulate." Wellingtonian Paul won the 1993 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, and since then has appeared at the world's most prestigious opera houses, including the New York Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera. Talented young Australian conductor Dane Lam set the orchestra and audience alight at his Dunedin début concert last year. Expect a thrilling and inspired performance!

Claire Barton Farewells Dunedin
Saturday 20 August, 8:00pm, Dunedin Town Hall

In September 2011 Claire will begin study towards a Post Graduate Artist Diploma at Trinity Laban in London. Before she leaves she is performing in a fundraising concert with proceeds going towards fees, travel and living costs.

Expect an evening full of entertainment from some of Dunedin’s best performers including Claire Barton, mezzo-soprano, the City of Dunedin Choir, the Dunedin RSA Choir, pianist Julia Horsnell, and many more.

City of Dunedin Choir performed:

Bach: Mass in B Minor 'Kyrie eleison'
Mozart: Requiem: 'Sanctus' and 'Benedictus'
Handel: Messiah: 'O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion'

Tickets are available from www.ticketdirect.co.nz or from the Regent Theatre Box Office, phone 03 477-8597

Last Night of the Proms
Thursday 22 September, 7:30pm, Dunedin Town Hall

The Southern Sinfonia presents a second Proms concert this year and as usual the City of Dunedin Choir provides the choral support. Featuring a dazzling line-up with conductor Tecwyn Evans and MC Kate Meade. The solist is bass-baritone Judd Arthur.

The Choir performs with the Southern Sinfonia:

• Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
• Verdi: Il Trovatore, the Anvil Chorus (Gipsy Chorus)

NZSO: Odes to Joy
Wednesday 28 September, 6:30pm, Dunedin Town Hall
Presented by NZSO

Pietari Inkinen conductor
Madeleine Pierard soprano
Sarah Castle mezzo-soprano
Simon O’Neill tenor
Jonathan Lemalu bass
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Voices NZ Chamber Choir and City of Dunedin Choir

Programme:

• FARR Kaitiaki
• BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 Choral Symphony
  

New Zealand's proud tradition of producing great voices continues into the next generation, and four of our modern greats are assembled here with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to perform the magnificent Ode to Joy. Beethoven's intensely emotional expression of hope for mankind is the apotheosis of Romantic optimism, a work which your soul needs to hear to gain replenishment and exhilaration. It is paired with a specially-commissioned new work by Gareth Farr, revered among today’s composers for his ability to conjure spectacular and magical sound-worlds, with words by Witi Ihimaera. An evening of uplifting music you won't want to miss, led by NZSO Music Director Pietari Inkinen.

Handel's Messiah
Tuesday 13 December, 7:30pm, Regent Theatre

The City of Dunedin Choir and the Southern Sinfonia jointly present Handel's admired oratorio Messiah.
Conductor: David Burchell

Anna Leese, Soprano
Wendy Doyle, Mezzo-soprano
Cameron Barclay, Tenor
Chalium Poppy, Bass-baritone


Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. For over 260 years people of different religious persuasions have enjoyed this grand choral work.

Choir sang it beautifully

The performance on Saturday evening - well done everybody, that was great! Here is what the reviewer, Marian Poole, had to say (ODT, Monday 22 November 2010):

A capacity house to St Paul's on Saturday evening applauded an all-British twentieth-century programme directed by David Burchell, very enthusiastically.

There is a problem, however, with presenting wordy liturgical works as pieces of performance art. Musical cohesion in Burchell's setting of "Te Deum Laudamus" was, as the programme notes predicted, mired by words. Presented with obvious pride by City of Dunedin Choir and Southern Sinfonia Ensemble under the composer's baton, it becomes, as work of art, happily innocuous.

Likewise, Finzi's "Dies Natalis" sung excellently by David Hamilton, gets itself bogged down with words. Finzi's ethereal music transports the ear to celebrate that everyday miracle - the birth of new life - and again speaks more effectively than the words.

By way of admittedly unfair contrast, Vaughan Williams' "Valiant for Truth" successfully conveys a similar message - that of hope in adversity or wishful thinking - weaving musical airs with poetically economical words. The Choir sang it beautifully without accompaniment and with confidence.

Britten's "Saint Nicolas" gave David Hamilton another opportunity to display his devotion to opera-like drama. The work explores many musical languages from Royal Schools' tonality to something close to serialism, while remaining less than dissonant, thus overcoming some of the verbal shortcomings - for example "And leaping from his mother's womb [St Nicolas] cried: God be Glorified"  (- yeah, right!).  The work is chilling at the start and ends with auspicious lines from the choir. St Nicolas's birth becomes a street carnival sung by St Paul's Choristers. James Burchell cries God's glory with knowing eyes. While overall the work is uneven, the word painting in the sea storm, the prison scene and Nicolas' ascent to heaven was most successful. Special commendation goes to pianists John van Buskirk and Sandra Crawshaw, the organist Rachel Swindells, the percussion ensemble and, of course, the pickled boys.

Zimbe! review in the Listener

Zimbe! Come sing the songs of Africa! a new work by Alexander L’Estrange was given its New Zealand première under the direction of David Burchell. The combined forces of City of Dunedin Choir, St Paul’s Cathedral Choristers, Southern Children’s Choir and dancer Ojeya Cruz Banks accompanied by jazz ensemble of Graeme Perkins (piano), Nick Cornish (alto saxophone), Sam Healey (bass), Robert Craigie (drum kit) and Justine Pierre (percussion) packed out the stage. This infectiously joyful and energetic community show had the audience clapping along and won all performers a standing ovation.

L’Estrange, known for his creative versatility and for the music he wrote for the TV adaptation of McCall Smith’s book The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, describes Zimbe! as “coming from the seeds of my affinity with African music and the gospel tradition”. The Oxford graduate has collected 15 traditional songs, backed them with jazz. The collection reflects the role of music in everyday life in Africa - from sun rise to sun set, or as the song “Ilanga libuya, ilanga liyaphuma” more optimistically puts it “the sun sets… the sun rises”.

The collection is in two halves, bracketed with slightly altered versions of the refrain “Njooni!, Zimbe!” (Come sing the songs of Africa!). Two children’s games “Sansa Kroma” (Sansa the Hawk),  “Pete, Pete!” (Vulture vulture!) and two wedding songs “Wai Bamba “ (You’ve got her!) and “Hamba Lulu” (Go Lulu)  highlight the lighter side of the African experience while “Thula Mama, Thula” (a lullaby for mothers of imprisoned sons) and “Vamudara” (in which a drunken man dances himself to death) highlight the everyday pain. The second section opens with the funeral song “Aleluya/Thuma Mîna” accompanied by a section of the choir offstage and danced to most lyrically and sensuously by Banks. Anthems and prayers make up the remaining collection, reflecting the importance of maintaining hope in dire circumstances. “We shall not give up the fight”, “Siyahamba”, “Freedom is coming/ Hamba vangeli” were sung with vigour and joy.

The combined choirs gained momentum as they warmed to the music and warmed the music as they gained momentum. While individual members were obviously not natural-born sing-and-dance people, or at ease without their scores, they were aided by the majority who did enter the spirit of the songs, albeit with elbows firmly wedged to their sides. The overall performance lifted markedly when the scores were put aside and the choir projected the life in the music, imperfections and all, out to the audience.

Zimbe! could be successfully performed by smaller groups less inhibited by a lack of space to move, but a huge crowd singing at full throttle is tremendously exhilarating and a sight to gladden the world-weary.

By Marian Poole, New Zealand Listener, 18 September 2010