Brian Kay Interview on the Upbeat Programme, Concert FM

Tune in to the Upbeat Programme at 12:00PM, Concert FM on Thursday 8 December 2011 to hear an interview with Brian Kay, our Guest Conductor for our Messiah Concerts. If you missed the interview click the play button above to have a listen.

NBR Magazine Preview: Messiah Across the Land

John Daly-Peoples, Friday 2 December 2011
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. 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. More....

Auckland Choral Represented at Carnegie Hall

Auckland Choral were invited to be part of a massed production of Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem on May 30th 2011. Having performed the work in 2010 this might not seem that extraordinary. However the venue was the famous Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, New York, under the baton of John Rutter! More....

Parking Officer by Day and Singer at Night

Picture (left to right): Rick Bidgood, Joy and Uwe Grodd.

Joy is a Parking Officer by day and singer by night. On Friday 9 September, there wasn't a ticket in sight as she headed to Eden Park for the Opening Ceremony.

“I’ll be part of the choir singing the New Zealand and Tongan National Anthems,” Joy says.

When asked about what singing at the Opening of Rugby World Cup 2011 means Joy smiled broadly.

“It’s freaky, it’s huge. It’s the whole of us presenting to the world.”

Her excitement in being a part of the Opening Ceremony means little without the approval of her musical director at Auckland Choral Society, Associate Professor Uwe Grodd, School of Music, Auckland University.

“Only a few were selected for this honour,” Uwe says. “It is a very special privilege, and we are very proud Joy will be representing us.”

Having the support of her musical director is very important to Joy, as is knowing that her love of music has the backing of her employer.

“I’m grateful that Rick lets me have the opportunity to such amazing things as the Rugby World Cup,” she says.

Rick Bidgood, Operations Manager, Parking, Auckland Transport is right behind his staff maintaining a good work/life balance, and enjoys hearing about Joy’s performances.

“She’s full of stories of amazing experiences, and her artistic abilities are an asset in her daily job of interacting with the public – always a smile, a laugh and a joke,” Rick says.

Joy’s musical pursuits are driven by her desire to make sure her ‘coaches’ are happy with the performance.

“The first thing I’ll be doing is asking Uwe and Rick ‘was it okay?’ Joy says.

It’s a drive for perfection that goes further than perfect pitch and blended harmonies. Joy’s background is rich with stories of hard work, hard knocks and amazing opportunities that include representing New Zealand internationally in dragon boat racing and out-rigging.

Joy is a likable jovial woman with a serious love of music. “My inspiration is Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and my former teacher Ann Stott, who was student of the great Dame Sister Mary Leo, a New Zealand nun who trained many of the great sopranos such as Dame Kiri and Dame Malvina Major.”

Music is very special to Joy.

“What do people get when they hear music? They get a smile.”

Soloist Kenneth Cornish Closes the Curtain on Illustrious Career

The Mozart Requiem holds a special place in Kenneth Cornish’s heart. Kenneth will be the soloist in the forthcoming performance of Auckland Choral. He debuted as a New Zealand soloist singing the Mozart Requiem with our choir on 19 June 1976. On 9 July 2011 at Auckland Choral’s next concert, this work will also be his last as a professional soloist. Kenneth has indicated that he is closing the curtain on his illustrious soloist career spanning thirty-six years. More.... 

EVENT: TaKeTiNa Workshop

Auckland Choral recently had the privilege of having Reinhard Flatischler (Austria) with us for a series of workshops in the TaKeTiNa Rhythm process which he created in 1970. TaKeTiNa is a unique process capable of activating human and musical potential through rhythm. TaKeTiNa conveys rhythm in such a way that people can absorb, understand, and learn in the most natural manner. Instead of being taught random rhythmic patterns, TaKeTiNa guides its participants directly into the experience of primal rhythmic movements that are anchored in the sensory-motoric system of every human being. This underlying rhythmic foundation expresses itself through music in every culture. In TaKeTiNa, the body is the main instrument. The experience is therefore direct, intense and lasting.

Over the course of a weekend and one Wednesday rehearsal, we were taken through selected movements of the Fauré Requiem and Orff Carmina Burana using TaKeTiNa. A selection of photos is available, so immerse yourself in the TaKeTiNa Rhythm method. More....

EVENT: Japan Benefit Concert: "Wings of Hope"

The New Zealand Japanese Society of Auckland in association with the Japanese Consulate in Auckland and the Auckland Regional Council, hosted the Wings of Hope Benefit for Japan events. Auckland Choral gladly accepted their invitation to be a part of this Event at the Auckland Town Hall. The programme for the evening was coordinated by our Music Director Uwe Grodd, who conducted us together with the Music Association Auckland and the Japanese Choir 'Sakura No Kai'.

The Wings of Hope benefit was in two separate parts:

• an afternoon family-friendly cultural festival starting at 1:00PM and features Japanese cultural demonstrations, live entertainment, an art exhibition, Japanese storytelling and kids activities.
• an evening concert from 6:00PM, where professionals from the New Zealand music community will join their talents with traditional Japanese performance groups to show their support, uplift spirits and help raise money to assist with Japan’s ongoing crisis.

Confirmed artists included Auckland Choral, organist John Wells, singer Juliagrace, Sakura no Kai Japanese chorus and soprano Lilia Carpinelli, plus many more!

To view a selection of photos from this event, click here.

For more details click the link or download the flyer. More....

Download Flyer (File Size: 78kb)

EVENT: SingDownunder, The New Zealand Choir Tour and Festival

The SingDownunder Festival (formerly the NZ Schools Choral Festival) is an annual July festival primarily designed to attract international youth choirs to compete and tour in New Zealand. Billeting is possible. Our high school choirs are aged 13-18 and we expect Australian and Northern Hemisphere school and youth choirs to be our main overseas participants. But others are welcome to apply, such as German Knabenchor who may want their young choristers to have contact with their peers on a tour Downunder. We are offering a safe exotic "choral summer school" experience that also gives our young choristers exposure to a new broader choral event. Auckland Choral's own David Hamilton is Music Director. Click on the SingDownunder graphic for more information.

Unsung Heroes: Singing enthusiast discovers hidden talent in children

By James Ihaka 4:00 AM, NZ Herald Thursday May 6, 2010

Rhondda Garland says everyone can sing. Photo / Natalie Slade

Choir teacher Rhondda Garland is serious when she says everyone can sing, or at least hit the right note with her help.

"Maybe not like Pavarotti - that's probably a bit too ambitious - but I can certainly help people to keep a reasonable tune," she says.

"There are very, very few people who cannot sing. I often get children who sing in a monotone, but they just haven't learned how to get their voices up and down, that's all."

For the past 18 years the 61-year-old former nurse from Avondale has heard a whole range of voices - "some really good" and "some not so good that definitely got better" - teaching hundreds of children the finer points of choral singing at the Auckland Children and Youth Chorus at the Mt Roskill Baptist Church.

A singer with the Auckland Choral Society for nearly 20 years, Ms Garland has always loved working with children, so combining that with her musical passion to work with three youth choirs once a week seemed on song.

"We will take any child that wants to be there," she said.

"It can be a challenge - you get some kids who come in and think 'I can sing' and they can't so it's a challenge to teach them how to get a nice sound."

Ms Garland has been nominated for the Herald Unsung Heroes series by Helen Ashton, a parent of one of her choir singers.

The series recognises the often-unseen work people do in their communities. Five of the nominees will be chosen to go on a P&O Cruise.

"I just love that she believes that everyone can sing," said Mrs Ashton.

"It allows for possibility and potential to be realised and that, like anything, anyone can become good at whatever they do provided they practise enough."

A long-time member of the Girls Brigade, Ms Garland juggles her choir commitments with part-time administration jobs and caring for her 86-year-old mother, who recently lost her sight and lives alone in her New Windsor flat.

She has recently started mentoring two teenagers who want to teach singing.

She also helps to organise trips for children in the choir, many of whom, she says, are not from affluent backgrounds.

"[They're] good kids - we work hard but we have a bit of a laugh."

Review: Daring flourish marks end of successful concert year!

By William Dart
NZ Herald, 15 December 2009

Auckland Choral's Messiah is a major event in our city's musical life, marking the close of the year's concert season and a particularly successful 12 months for Auckland Choral under the directorship of Uwe Grodd.
With Miranda Hutton leading the strings of Pipers Sinfonia, the familiar Overture proved an irresistible welcoming, its Allegro bubbling over with Handelian energy.

If David Hamilton's Comfort Ye was occasionally wanting in robustness, few tenors could match his daring final flourish in Ev'ry Valley and dramatic presentation of Thou Shalt Break Them.

Morag Atchison, never less than musicianly and remarkably nimble tackling the coloratura of Rejoice Greatly, was burdened with an intrusively tight vibrato that seriously undercut her subtly decorated I Know That My Redeemer Liveth.

Wendy Dawn Thompson, last seen swooping around the Aotea stage on a Segway as Rossini's Isabella in The Italian Girl in Algiers, showed a rare ability to cut straight to the emotional core of her arias.

One felt the weight of every word in He Was Despised, with some utterly spellbinding moments when her burnished mezzo floated unaccompanied throughout the hall.

Jared Holt gave a workmanlike performance but was uncomfortable in the lower register, failing to muster enough rage for Why Do the Nations or create the requisite wonderment in The Trumpet Shall Sound.

Grodd's year with the choir has been a good one. From the lilting clarity of And the Glory to the final resounding Amen, there was a real engagement with Handel's score.

Two choruses, rescued from the cutting-room floor, showed the singers coping well with sturdy counterpoint. Grodd took risks too, stressing those extraordinary textural shifts in Glory to God with memorable results - only in Behold the Lamb of God were there twinges of insecurity.

While Pipers Sinfonia gave of their very best, the evening would have been much poorer without the two continuo men, John Wells and Indra Hughes.

Both provided apt and often ingenious musical commentary, Wells' harpsichord making us feel the sting of the smiters in He Was Despised and Hughes' chamber organ offering an insouciant ramble around the fringes of All we like sheep.

Sacred Masterpieces: Haydn, Mozart and Hummel

By William Dart
NZ Herald, 2 November 2009

Insanae et vanae curae is a curiosity in the Haydn catalogue, a storm-tossed chorus rescued from his aria-heavy oratorio, The Return of Tobias.

It made a suitably celebratory work for Auckland Choral's Amadeus concert, with the full forces of the hundred-plus singers and Pipers Sinfonia behind it. Uwe Grodd marshalled it all with his customary enthusiasm, although occasionally the men of the chorus sacrificed focus for gusto. Some phrases sounded closer to the Finnish shouting-choir tradition than what we expect with the First Viennese School.

Mozart's Coronation Mass brought more refinement and so, when words like "Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum" were punched out in the Credo, they made a real impact. In the later Sanctus, the "Hosanna in excelsis" had an attractive lilt to it.

A quartet of soloists blended well in the "Et incarnatus est" with Patricia Wright standing out, particularly in her Agnus Dei with its uncanny premonition of the lovelorn Countess's "Porgi amor" in The Marriage of Figaro.

After interval came the Australasian premiere of Hummel's Missa Solemnis, which Grodd premiered on disc back in 2003.

Hummel is one of a number of composers caught, as it were, in the shift from classic to romantic. For this generously proportioned work to register fully, it needs sturdier orchestral playing. The choir was tonally patchy, with too many passing glitches in the ensemble, although the soloists (Wright, Kate Spence, Derek Hill and Stephen Bennett) were a sonorous foursome.

Hummel's Agnus Dei was eight superb minutes, propelled on a series of poignant suspensions. This movement fully deserved the enthusiasm of Allan Badley's programme note and the choir sang with an appropriate fervour.

An Overflowing Holy Trinity Cathedral: Pounamu and Vivaldi's Gloria

Tuesday August 04, 2009
By William Dart

Opening up its annual "subscribers' bonus concert" to the general community was a shrewd ploy on the part of Auckland Choral. The result was as predictable as it was deserved with musicians playing to a packed Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Setting off with a taste of Kiwi, David Hamilton conducted Helen Fisher's Pounamu, a fragrant meld of European and Maori sensibilities.

Uwe Grodd's flute spun its own mystical rhapsodies and then wove and flickered through Fisher's often sumptuous choral textures.

With an eloquent soloist in Kate Spence, this was a performance that captured the calm, glisten and shimmer that the score's central waiata sings of.

Hamilton's own Orpheus, a tribute for the Haydn bicentenary, was based on a poem by the American William Jay Smith.

After a robust start, with a bracingly confident choir against John Wells' sometimes tumultuous organ toccata, Hamilton carefully drew out specific words and images through his music. Spence's shapely melodic line was beautifully turned, especially when the poem transported us to places extra-terrestrial.

There were passing moments of choral thinness, but the final combination of vibrant vocalising and instrumental splendour were the perfect celebration of both Haydn and the composer's singing colleagues.

Talking splendour, Vivaldi's Gloria is a prime specimen of the Baroque variety, born of the same spirit as Handel's Zadok the Priest. Taking over the baton, Uwe Grodd ensured that Vivaldi's work lived up to its name.

Kate Spence and soprano Lilia Carpinelli duetted well, Carpinelli impressing with a clear, unaffected soprano voice and Spence using her lustrous tone to advantage in numerous solos.

The drive and thrust of the opening chorus was not to be resisted and nor were the conviction and resonant singing of Qui tollis peccata mundi and the mighty fugue of the final Cum sancto spiritu.

Grodd also inspired some of the best playing that I have ever heard from Pipers Sinfonia, with outstanding contributions from oboist Alison Dunlop along with the untiringly ingenious harpsichord styling's of John Wells.

Auckland Choral at Auckland Town Hall: The Creation

Tuesday, 31 March 2009
By William Dart

Auckland Choral's The Creation was an imaginative contribution to the Haydn bicentenary as well as being a welcome opportunity to hear a work last performed in this city eight years ago. This is one of the monuments of its genre. Influenced by the popular oratorios of Handel, The Creation has Haydn setting texts from Genesis, the Book of Psalms and Milton's Paradise Lost to express his wonderment and faith in Mankind.

Uwe Grodd and his musicians certainly caught the freshness of Haydn's score, even if the opening Representation of Chaos had its insecure moments. However, from James Harrison's authoritative opening recitative, with its simple but effective choral refrain, we were caught up in this marvellous score.

With Auckland Choral joined by the young voices of the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, the great optimistic choruses like The Heavens are Telling stunned as intended. The more testing weave of the later Achieved is the glorious work also held no fear for these singers.

Pepe Becker is a soprano with Early Music allegiances so, not surprisingly; she allowed herself the occasional ornamentation here and there, her voice rising clear and true above the orchestra in arias like With verdure clad.

Kenneth Cornish's scrupulously moulded tenor was apparent from his opening Now vanish before the Holy Beams although he was not always as successful as Becker in penetrating through the orchestra. His aria, In Native Worth, immaculately phrased, would have benefited from more vocal bloom.

The lightish bass voice of James Harrison made for complete audibility as far as texts were concerned and he also has a keen appreciation of Haydn's shapely lines, although the recitatives in which he introduces the newly-made creatures of sea and land, cried out for more dramatisation.

The only severe disappointment of the evening came not from the musicians but from The Edge. A delay of 20 minutes was brought about through inefficient box office procedures and patrons were permitted to enter during the performance, one scampering none too lightly across the hall in front of us - an intrusion that is an insult to the audience, the musicians and, finally, to Haydn.