Choirs sing Handel's Messiah across the land

Handel’s Messiah

Auckland Choral and Pipers Sinfonia
Auckland Town Hall
December 12-13

Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
St Mary's Pro Cathedral
373 Manchester St
December 11

The City of Dunedin Choir and the Southern Sinfonia
Regent Theatre
December 13

The Wanganui Chamber Orchestra
Wanganui Central Baptist Church
December  3

St Mary’s Church
Taihape
December 4

Hamilton Civic Choir and Opus Chamber Orchestra
Founders Theatre
December 12

Napier Civic Choir and the Hawkes Bay Orchestra
Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist,
December 11-12

Nelson Civic Choir and Orchestra
Nelson School of Music
December 2-3

As well as Santa parades in the lead up to Christmas, performances of Handel’s Messiah, bringing the inspiring seasonal classic to life, are being held throughout the country.

The work, which was first performed in Dublin in 1742, has been a venerated English institution for Christmas and choral societies, and remains Handel's best known work

He is said to have composed the piece in 24 days, going without food or sleep while he frantically penned the work. He emerged from his room with the completed score, muttering to a servant, “I did think I did see Heaven before me and the great God Himself!”

With the destruction of Christchurch Cathedral, St Mary’s Church, Manchester St, has been designated as the new Christchurch Pro-Cathedral. The spacious and resonant church has proved an excellent venue for concerts and is an inspired location for Messiah.

The soloists will be Sue Densem (soprano), Ruth Reid (alto) and Wally Enright (tenor). The bass Anthony Schneider is a young Auckland singer of Austrian ancestry who is proving an exciting new talent. The Cathedral Orchestra will be led by David Williams, with continuo accompaniment by Ellen Doyle and Michael Lawrence. Don Whelan will direct the performance.

The Dunedin performance will be conducted by David Burchell with soloists Anna Leese (soprano), Wendy Doyle (mezzo), Cameron Barclay (tenor) and Chalium Poppy (bass).

The Wanganui Schola Sacra Choir and the Taihape Arcadian Singers are collaborating under the direction of Roy Tankersley for two performances. The combined choir will be supported by four young singers – Jayne Tankersley, soprano, Dean Sky-Lucas, counter tenor; John Beaglehole, tenor and Chalium Poppy, bass.

The Wanganui Chamber Orchestra will be supplemented by a string quartet from the Vector Wellington Orchestra, Clyde Dixon and Kieran Smith, trumpet, and Kathryn Ennis, continuo.

Hamilton Civic Choir and Opus Chamber Orchestra will be conducted by Peter Walls, one of this country’s foremost baroque specialists They are joined by soloists Anna Leese, Kate Spence. Patrick Power and Kieran Rayner.

The Hawke's Bay Orchestra and the Napier Civic Choir will be conducted by Jose Aparicio and joined by soloists Morag Atchison, Kate Spence, Oliver Sewell and Jared Holt.

In Nelson, the Nelson Civic Choir and Orchestra will be under the baton of Pete Rainey with soloists Anna Argyle (soprano), Elisabeth Harris (alto) and Oliver Sewell (tenor) from Christchurch and Anthony Schneider (Bass) from Auckland.

In Auckland, the Pipers Sinfonia and Auckland Choral will be under the direction of guest British conductor Brian Kay, with soprano Katherine Wiles, tenor Keith Lewis, counter tenor Dean Sky Lucas and bass David Morriss.
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Maestro Kay will be arriving direct from London where he will have conducted Messiah with almost 4,000 singers at Royal Albert Hall.

“Although I've had the pleasure of conducting this glorious oratorio on many occasions, with choirs of different styles and sizes, I'm particularly looking forward to sharing the platform once again with Auckland Choral, whose skill and enthusiasm I've so much enjoyed on my previous visits. And indeed to bringing this timeless classic to an Auckland audience,” Kay says.

The maestro has previously visited New Zealand and conducted Auckland Choral performing Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in 2003 and Joseph Haydn’s The Creation in 2001.

Kay has had a number of programmes on the BBC with his former BBC World Service programme Classics with Kay reaching an audience of millions all over the world.

His television presentations have included the competitions to find the Cardiff Singer of the World and the Choir of the Year, and every year since 1996, the New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna. He has twice won a Sony Award as Music Presenter of the Year, including the coveted Gold Award in 1996.

Among his many conducting achievements is his role as principal conductor of The Really Big Chorus, with which he regularly directs massed voices in London’s Royal Albert Hall, together with recent concerts in Salzburg, Seville, Prague, Venice, Cape Town and Dubrovnik, and a performance of Messiah in Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall.

He has twice appeared at the Royal Variety Show: in 1978 as a member of the King’s Singers (he was a founder member, and as the bass voice in the group performed over 2000 concerts world-wide); and in 1987 conducting the Huddersfield Choral Society.

He sang the voice of Papageno in the Hollywood movie Amadeus (his wife, the soprano Gillian Fisher sang Papagena). He has also been the lowest frog on a Paul McCartney single, one of the six wives to Harry Secombe’s Henry VIII, and a member of the backing group for The Pink Floyd!