Nota Bene's 10th Anniversary Concert

Some old favourites—and a new commission—feature in the next concert for innovative Wellington chamber choir Nota Bene. This concert will be a double celebration for the choir—its 10th anniversary, and the launch of its first CD.

Music Director Christine Argyle says the choir is looking forward to sharing some of its favourite music with the audience. “We’ve covered a lot in 10 years of music—from jazz to art songs, oratorio to world music—and we really want to share some of the highlights with the audience that has supported us over those years,” she says.

For this concert, Nota Bene has invited back former members to join with current singers, bringing the choir up to 40 in number. Nota Bene is also joined by special guest, former Radio NZ presenter Geoff Robinson, who toured with the choir for its theatrical Sentimental Journey series. Guest conductors Peter de Blois and Julian Raphael will share the conducting honours with Christine Argyle, and they’ll be joined by pianist Emma Sayers and bassoonist Penny Miles.

Nota Bene has always had a strong commitment to performing New Zealand music, with several composers writing specially for the choir. To mark its 10th anniversary, the choir has commissioned a work from noted choral composer David Hamilton. With lush choral textures and rich harmonies, Canción de Invierno is a setting of a poem by Juan Ramón Jiménez, based on the theme of singing.

Adventurous programming has been a feature of the choir’s performances over the years, and many of its concerts have been captured for broadcast by Radio New Zealand Concert. To mark the 10th anniversary, Nota Bene has chosen highlights from these recordings to produce a CD—Accents—which will be launched the afternoon of the concert.
“This is an exciting venture for us,” says Christine Argyle, “and a wonderful way to make our music available to a wider audience.

“We’ve had some amazing experiences over the past 10 years: from our first concert with a small group in Thistle Hall to performing Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral; commemorating the Wahine disaster in the Museum of City and Sea and celebrating French music at Te Papa. We travelled on a Sentimental Journey to Nelson with our ‘radio show’ and brushed up our Shakespeare in Masterton.

“We hope the concert and the CD will give people a taste of the pleasure we get from being able to bring this music to you.”