Nelson Civic Choir presents ‘A Choral Celebration’

Nelson Civic Choir present a varied programme of music that celebrates choral singing and their 160th anniversary. The concert debuts the Nelson Youth Choir singing in their own right, and features the celebrated Italian lyric coloratura soprano Lilia Carpinelli.

With guest organist Paul Rosoman, and under the baton of their Music Director Nigel Weeks, the Nelson Civic Choir will perform firm favourites from great oratorios such as The Heavens Are Telling from Haydn’s Creation and the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.

The celebration of choral singing includes the hauntingly beautiful sacred motet Locus Iste composed by Anton Bruckner in 1869.

By way of contrast, the programme also includes David Childs’ tender melodic love song, Song of Ruth, and Paraire Henare Tomoana’s iconic Māori love song, Pokarekare Ana.

Pokarekare Ana has been specially arranged for the Nelson Civic Choir by New Zealand composer John Rimmer.

A Choral Celebration proudly presents The Nelson Youth Choir, conducted by Nigel Weeks and Zoe Dee, with their first opportunity to sing to a public audience. The Nelson Youth Choir offer a number of songs with different moods. These range from Daniel Elder’s 2011 Ballade to the Moon, exploring experiences associated with love, nature, darkness and light, to Billy Joel’s love ballad, And So It Goes, written in 1983 and Another Day of Sun, a dance song from the 2016 American musical romantic comedy-drama film La La Land.

Against a seasonal backdrop of the Nelson Cathedral Christmas Tree Festival, a selection of traditional carols completes a programme that offers a joyful choral celebration.

Doors Open at 7:00 pm