Must see musical gems
Central Otago Regional Choir will perform their show, Diamonds, throughout the region next week, across the Mother’s Day weekend. The show will feature an array of musical gems spanning across three centuries and is one of only two shows the group put on each year.
The performance will showcase the choir singing a variety of songs across different genres to appeal to a wider audience. It will be conducted by the esteemed Richard Madden, who chooses the fabulous music for the night. The show will feature guest artists Cameron Monteath, and Aspiring Quintet, along with Alison Frude on piano, Kate Lovell on bass, and Peter Doyle on drums.
The choir has always supported up-and-coming artists from various locations and this year they will be showcasing Cathy Highton-Sim. The songs she will be performing showcase her versatility as an artist. “Cathy went through Otago University and graduated in German and Music with a BA Honours,” says Alison Frude, the concert accompanist.
“She then went overseas and taught in the UK and Germany before she came back here in 2021 – she’s been involved in the music scene in Dunedin since. She’s a lovely soprano singer and she’s going to be accompanied by Cameron Monteath, who is quite an amazing young man. He’s a fantastic pianist and is one of the finalists for the Dunedin Concerto Competition.”
Aspiring Quintet are another guest performance that the choir are excited to have on board. The Wanaka-based trio are a chamber music group. They will be playing two movements of the Trout Quintet. Bassist of the group, Kate Lovell, will be wearing two hats on the night as she also plays jazz bass alongside Alison and Peter for the choir.
Some of the songs that will be performed include ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ and ‘Love is a Many Splendid Thing’. There will also be some well-known pieces by Norwegian composer and pianist, Ola Gjeilo, which Alison says are very treasured parts of the choral repertoire that they’re very pleased to be singing.
“We’re also doing some more traditional choral singing like madrigals, which are special unaccompanied pieces. Robert Lucas de Pearsall, who was an English guy in the 19th century that wrote music that sounded quite old, we’ll be performing two very beautiful pieces of his, ‘Great God of Love’, and ‘Lay a Garland’, which is about a woman who fell in love but the guy wasn’t good for her, so she died – but it’s beautiful,” says Alison.
The choir hope to bring positivity and joy to the community and welcome all ages to their events. Alison says that children have really enjoyed themselves in the past, and these shows are a nice way to introduce little ones to music different than what they may be listening to. Additionally, the show would be a “lovely present on Mother’s Day.”
The Central Otago Regional Choir’s Diamonds performance will take place at Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall on Friday 12 May, at Lake Wanaka Centre on Saturday 13 May, and at Dunstan High School in Alexandra on Sunday 14 May. Tickets can be purchased at Paper Plus Wanaka and Cromwell, Lakes District Museum Arrowtown, Life Pharmacy at Wilkinsons and Queenstown, Unichem Summerfield’s Pharmacy, Frankton, and Community House, Alexandra.
