Nature’s Bounty Saturday 23 March 2013, 7:30 pm at Knox Church

City Choir Dunedin has commissioned New Zealander Christopher Marshall to write a new choral work to mark our anniversary year. “For What Can Be More Beautiful?” uses texts extolling the wonders of nature, including one by an early Dunedin seed merchant, which gives the piece a distinctive Otago flavour.

Complementing this will be the Choir’s evocative and colourful 1988 commission by Jack Speirs, “Cantico del Sole”, the ‘Canticle of the Sun’ based on words by St Francis of Assisi.

Celebrating the Choir’s musical heritage we will perform the Victorian masterpiece “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. This oratorio describing the splendours of an American-Indian banquet rivalled “Messiah” and “Elijah” in popularity amongst English-speaking choirs in the early decades of the 20th century and was performed at least three times by the Dunedin Choral Society.

These three works combine to create a musical palette which is contemporary, dramatic and romantic – and is a great way for us to begin our year-long celebration.

Soprano Grace Park
Tenor Matthew Wilson
with the Southern Sinfonia conducted by David Burchell

Venue: Knox Church, 449 George Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

Tickets from:
Beggs MusicWorks Dunedin, c/o Lower Stuart Street and Moray Place
Or Knox Church Office
Or phone Clare 476 2426
(Cash or cheques only)

Admission: Adult $40; Unwaged $30; Student with ID $20; Accompanied school children free

www.citychoirdunedin.org.nz