What would Christmas be without Handel’s Messiah? Jubilantly premiered in 1742, the work is not just an oratorio, but an institution, as Christmassy as plum pudding and as English as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
The oft-repeated story that King George II shot to his feet when the Hallelujah Chorus broke out marks such a glorious moment that you feel that if it’s not true, well it should be.
And there are the other well-loved solos and choruses too: “For Unto Us a Child is Born”, “Rejoice Greatly”… a whole string of unforgettable musical treats up to and including the final “Amen” chorus.
Let the spirit of Christmas begin …
Cassandra Extavour, Soprano
Bianca Andrew, Mezzo-Soprano
Manase Latu, Tenor
James Ioelu, Bass
Auckland Choral
Pipers Sinfonia
Uwe Grodd, Conductor
Tickets are available at ticketmaster.co.nz or phone 09 970 9700.
Prices $42-95, concessions available.
Like so many contraltos, I first got put in the alto section as a school girl because I could read music and manage to sing a line of harmony. I joined Auckland Choral when I was in high school and now I’ve been a member for 40 years! I started singing with my mum as a toddler, sitting on her knee while she played the piano and sang soprano and tenor Messiah arias. I used to come to Auckland Choral’s Saturday dress rehearsals in the Town Hall and follow the score in my early teenage years, and it was a natural step to join Mum in the choir when I was 15. I remember Choral Hall in Airedale Street where we used to meet (before Mayoral Drive was built). It was a dusty old building and freezing in winter, but the ladies in the alto section were very kind to me and welcomed me into the back row. Nothing really changes in that respect; the Auckland Choral altos today are a great bunch of people as well!
I learnt to sing on my mother's knee and have been singing ever since! In school in Wales I sang in small and large choirs in the eisteddfod. As soon as I left school I joined a choral society and have always been a member of one choir or another. I joined Auckland Choral in 2006 and have been on the management committee for the last 2 years. Choral singing has given me opportunities to make and keep wonderful friends, to travel, to see magnificent buildings, to hear all the major works and many new compositions, and to be part of a fabulous music making machine, always striving to improve. I have sung Handel's Messiah in 4 continents, in 2016 clocked up my 70th Messiah, and I still love it. I am also a semi retired speech language therapist and enjoy spending time with my 5 grandchildren.
Garnet has a long involvement with Auckland Choral after his first introduction to singing in Lead Roles in Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas at Kings High School in Dunedin,followed by being a member of Capping Sextet at Otago University with Sir William Southgate in the 1960s.