Global InformationUniversity of Auckland Festival Choir information
| Auckland University Festival Choir | |
|---|---|
| Choir | |
 Festival Choir brochure | |
| Origin | New Zealand |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founder | Peter Godfrey |
| Genre | Classical music |
| Members |
|
| Music director | Peter Godfrey |
The University of Auckland Festival Choir, conducted by Peter Godfrey was formed in 1970 to represent New Zealand at the third International University Choral Festival in New York in May 1972. In addition to attending the Festival the 40-voice choir toured and performed in England, the Netherland, Germany and Singapore.
In mid-1970 Godfrey formed the choir to audition for a place to attend the Festival.[1] It was the first time a New Zealand choir had been invited to participate in the non-competitive Festival.[1][2] Two earlier Festivals had been held in 1965 and 1969.[1] Auditions were conducted by the Festival director James Bjorge who visited New Zealand in November 1970 to audition choirs in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.[1][3][4] The Auckland choir was selected to represent New Zealand as a joint universities choir was considered unfeasible.[5]: 1 [6] When travel arrangements were investigated it was found that the cost of travel around the world was not substantially more than a return flight to New York so concerts in England, Europe and Singapore were planned.[5]: 3
In preparation for giving recitals the choir gave its first concert in May 1971 followed by a tour of the North Island later that year performing in Palmerston North, Wellington, Hastings, Napier, Rotorua, Tauranga and Hamilton.[1][6] These were also fundraising events as the 40–voice choir had to raise the funds for travel although once in the United States the Festival covered their expenses.[2][3] No funding was forthcoming from the Golden Kiwi lottery funds and only a small amount from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council.[5]: 9
Choir uniforms were designed by fashion designer Colin Cole and made of wool donated by the Wool Board.[1][7] For performing the women wore a long dark bottle green dress with a bib front over a saffron-coloured blouse while the men wore a dark brown trousers with a saffron shirt. For day wear the women had an emerald green suit and the men dark brown trousers and cinnamon-coloured jacket.[7][5]: 6 The choir logo on souvenir programmes and brochures, consisting of lines representing the 40 choristers radiating from a harmonic centre, was designed by artist Richard Wolfe.[5]: 7
The choir undertook its tour to the United States, England, the Netherlands, Germany and Singapore between 7 April and 16 May 1972.[7] During April the choir toured the East Coast for ten days giving recitals at high school and university campuses.[1][4] The tour included Suffolk Community College in Selden, Long Island; Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey; West Chester State College, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia; Wilde Lake High School, Columbia, Maryland; Ferguson High School, Newport News, Virginia; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Stratford College, Danville, Virginia; Southern Seminary Junior College, Buena Vista, Virginia.[1][4][5]: 15–23 [8] At Ferguson High School the school library caught fire during the concert; after evacuating the choir continued to sing in the car park including the madrigal Fire Fire My Heart by Thomas Morley.[9][10]
After the tour the choir joined the 15 other choirs in Washington D.C. to perform in the Kennedy Center and attend a reception at the White House hosted by Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States.[11][1][4][5]: 25
The choirs then moved to New York for the Festival where they performed at the United Nations, conducted by Willi Gohl[12] and at the Lincoln Center, conducted by Robert Shaw.[2][1][4] Under Shaw the massed choirs sang among other things Dona Nobis Pacem from the B Minor Mass by Bach, the Hallelujah Chorus by Handel, the spiritual Soon Ah will be Done, the Echo Madrigal by di Lasso and Gaudeamus Igitur by Brahms.[5]: 24, 30
After the Festival the choir travelled to England on 1 May.[7] Invitations had been received to sing at Westminster Abbey and in the chapel at King's College, University of Cambridge.[1][4][5]: 12 En route from London to Cambridge the choir visited The Maltings, Snape having been invited to visit by composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears.[1] The purpose of the visit was for Britten and Pears to meet a choir member, Christopher Lackner, who was the first recipient of a Pears-Britten Award,[1] a scholarship set up by Britten and Pears in 1970 on a visit to Auckland.[13] "The choir presented a short recital in the Maltings Concert Hall and Christopher Lackner sang a group of songs."[5]: 33 They also made an impromptu visit to the convent at Hengrave Hall, the home of composer John Wilbye, where they sang his madrigal Sweet Honey-Sucking Bees.[1][14]
The choir then travelled to the Netherlands giving a concert in the church of St Servaas in Maastricht, followed by concerts at the Orangerie at Schloss Benrath in Düsseldorf and at St Andrew's Cathedral in Singapore.[1][4][15][5]: 35–38
On its return to New Zealand the choir performed in Auckland at the closing of the Auckland Festival on 27 May.[4][14] It was lauded in the press as the "best choir New Zealand has produced"[16] and in July 1972, it gave a concert in Christchurch[4] where its "supreme music" was likewise praised.[17]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Salmon, Elizabeth (2015). Peter Godfrey: Father of New Zealand Choral Music. Eastbourne: Mākaro Press. pp. 99–112. ISBN 978-0-9941065-8-2.
- ^ a b c "Appeal soon for choir". Press. 6 April 1971. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023 – via Papers Past.
- ^ a b "Invited to New York". Press. 24 November 1970. p. 11. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023 – via Papers Past.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Blaschke, Anthony (1995). "25 Years On: the Auckland University Singers". Music in New Zealand. 29: 29–33.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k University of Auckland Festival Choir; Godfrey, Peter (1973). Report of activities, September 1970 - September 1972. Auckland: The Choir. OCLC 152892521.
- ^ a b "University of Auckland Festival Choir World Tour 1972". New Zealand Choral News. 4: 7–8. December 1971.
- ^ a b c d "Choir members are ambassadors in wool". New Zealand Choral News. 5: 18. July 1972.
- ^ "Auckland choir to hold concert at Stratford". Danville Register. 16 April 1972. p. 15 – via Ancestry.
- ^ Fisher, Marianne. (15 April 1972). 'Choir Charming Before Concert Disrupted By Fire'. Dailly Press. Newport News, Virginia.
- ^ "Fire! Fire! Sang the Choir". New Zealand Herald. 22 April 1972. p. 16.
- ^ "First Lady's Press Office (White House Central Files: Staff Member and Office Files) | Richard Nixon Museum and Library". www.nixonlibrary.gov. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
- ^ VIDEO from 26'10": Third International University Choral Festival. ASSET ID 887083. United Nations
- ^ "Pears-Britten Award in Singing - The University of Auckland". www.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ a b Saunders, L.C.M. (29 May 1972). "Choir gives fine Festival ending". New Zealand Herald. p. 3.
- ^ "Choir on way home". Press. 16 May 1972. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023 – via Papers Past.
- ^ Mahoney, Desmond (29 May 1972). "Best choir NZ has produced". Auckland Star. p. 5.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page).