Dunedin Civic Remembrance for Christchurch

Tuesday 1 March 12:51 in the Octagon, Dunedin - two minutes silence for the victims of the recent Christchurch earthquake.

City of Dunedin Choir will lead the citizens in the singing of the national anthem and "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Photo gallery 2011: Proms

The Southern Sinfonia presented this "Last Night of the Proms" concert in the Oamaru Opera House. City of Dunedin Choir joined the Sinfonia players and a grand time was had by all, including the very enthusiastic audience!



(The first batch of photos were taken by Leta and the last 11 photos were taken by John Roxborogh.)

Most enjoyable Proms

Thank you Southern Sinfonia, that was a lovely Last Night of the Proms concert - we enjoyed being on stage with you all! So for the folks who missed tonight's awesome performance, there's another chance tomorrow if you want to take a drive over to the Oamaru Opera House.

Anna Leese was just beautiful and sang like the Nightingale in Berkeley Square:


"A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square" sung by Sonia Sjöbeck in 1943.

Toy Story 3 = Awesome! (The Facebook Song)

Australian Voices are at it again:



This is, well, awesome :-)

Enjoy!

Singing Teachers

Are you looking for a singing teacher?
Not sure that you should get singing tuition?

Have a look at the NEWZATS website. NEWZATS is the New Zealand Association for Teachers of Singing.

You could email the folks at NEWZATS if you'd like a referral to a singing teacher in your area: enquiries@newzats.org.nz


You could also contact Judy Bellingham or Isobel Cunningham at the University of Otago Department of Music for advice and a referral.

Singing at the Proms

As usual City of Dunedin Choir will try to lift the roof at the Last Night of the Proms! See you there!!

Choir archive photos 1947 to 1994

Hover the cursor near the bottom of the black frame to see the controls. Click the speech bubble on the left to see the captions. The slideshow will play automatically until you start using the controls; then you'll need to advance by clicking the arrows.

Bad opera joke

Don't blame me for this one - it is from my husband.

Q: To what question is the answer 9W?

A: "Do you spell your name with a 'V', Herr Wagner?"

(told you it was awful!)

Tannhäuser

Here's another taste of what's waiting to delight the audience at the forthcoming Proms concert - 'The entry of the guests' from Wagner's Tannhäuser.

Proms

The Proms concert with the Southern Sinfonia is coming up again soon.

Like last year, the Choir will probably be required to sing from memory during the second half of the concert, so here is advance notice of the second half programme, except of course that the national anthems are sung right at the start (also from memory):

God Save the Queen
God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God Save the Queen!



God Defend New Zealand
God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

Men of every creed and race,
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our free land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our state,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.

(Yes, we need to memorise the words for all three verses.)

Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance


Land of Hope and Glory
Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still, and wider, shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!



Rule Britannia
Here the choir sings only the chorus:
Rule Brittania! Brittania rule the waves
Britons never shall be slaves
(Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone)



Jerusalem
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
'Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land



Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For days of auld lang syne!

And there's a hand my trusty friend,
And give a hand of thine,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For days of auld lang syne!

Repeat chorus



Haere ra / Po Atarau

Haere ra
te manu tangi pai
E haere ana
koe ki pamamao

Haere ra
ka hoki mai ano
Ki i te tau e tangi atu nei

Now is the hour
when we must say goodbye
Soon you'll be sailing
far across the sea

While you're away
oh, please remember me
When you return you'll find me waiting here

Are you a Gleek yet?

Okay - I'll admit it. Over the last few months, I've become a Gleek.

What's a Gleek? A fan of the hit series "Glee" of course! "Glee" is a musical comedy series about a high school glee club in the USA.

The series has heaps of great music, and while the standard of supposedly typical high school singers is a bit unbelievable (most of the cast are professional performers with long CVs, and some are off Broadway), it's a lot of fun.

So if you're not a Gleek yet, and you love music and good TV, here's a few snippets to convince you to start following and join the legion of fans :-)

A conductor is born

This is 3 year old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. This piece was originally conducted by Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker, one of Jonathan's favorite conductors and orchestras. Jonathan's passion for classical music became apparent when he was only eight months old. Shortly after that he began conducting on his own.

Proms preview

In June 2006 City of Dunedin Choir performed the beautiful "Vesperae Solennes de Confessore" by Mozart. At this year's Last Night of the Proms concerts presented by Southern Sinfonia on 25 and 26 February, we'll be singing the 'Laudate Dominum' from this work again.

We are looking forward to performing this movement with soprano Anna Leese!



Enjoy the "preview"...