Chance to hear Requiem
One of the great choral works is to be presented at two concerts in Napier this week
The Napier Civic Choir, directed by Jose Aparicio, provides an unique opportunity to hear one of the greatest of all choral works, the Verdi Requiem, in St John’s Cathedral, Napier, at 7.30pm on Friday, August 3, with a repeat performance at 2.30pm on Sunday, August 5.
Composed in 1874, long after Verdi had achieved fame as an opera composer, it was his first major work that was not an opera. In fact it is religious music on an operatic scale and is nothing short of a masterwork, with a range of choral and solo work that is fully operatic in its impact.
Last staged in 2013, the Napier Civic Choir is excited to bring again this compelling music to Hawke’s Bay audiences.
Almost overwhelming in its scale and drama, this is profound music, engaging, and befitting the most famous of opera composers and an experience with choir, soloists and orchestra not to be missed! The Requiem follows the form of the Latin Mass for the Dead but on a scale that makes it more suitable for concert rather than liturgical use.
The choir will be joined by four outstanding soloists — sopranos Lisa Harper-Brown and Anna Pierard, tenor Brad Cooper and bass Wade Kernot, and accompanied by the Hawke’s Bay Orchestra.
Acclaimed as “radiant both vocally and visually”, British born soprano Lisa Harper-Brown is a unique and commanding performer.
Equally at home on the recital platform or operatic stages, she has enthralled audiences from Australasia to London with a range of repertoire from Bach to Bernstein and beyond.
Australian tenor Brad Cooper is a “dynamic performer”, engaging in a wide range of genres from Opera to Crossover, and Early Music to Romantic and Modern, being equally at home on both operatic and recital stages.
For Opera Australia, roles have included Albert Herring, The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro, with concert highlights including Haydn’s Orfeo ed Euridice and the oratorios Solomon and Saul by Handel.
Raised in Hawke’s Bay, music was always the focus for Anna Pierard. She was a member of the NZ Secondary Students Choir and Orchestra, the National Youth Choir and Orchestra as a singer and violist.
After gaining her Dip.Perf.Art (Voice) at EIT she travelled to London to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to take up a scholarship and study singing. Following graduation, she performed extensively as a soloist in Europe, returning to New Zealand in 2009 where she has frequently performed as a soloist for Opera New Zealand, the NZSO, regional orchestras and he Napier Civic Choir.
New Zealand bass Wade Kernot was Principal Artist at Theater St Gallen in Switzerland from 2010-2015, performing a wide range of operatic roles. In recent seasons he has performed for New Zealand Opera, the New Zealand Festival and in in Australia and Europe.
Upcoming engagements will include the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni and bass soloist in An Australian War Requiem by Christopher Bowen, with the Sydney University Graduate Choir.
Between the two choral performances of the Verdi Requiem, the Hawke’s Bay Orchestra, concertmaster Stephanie Buzzard and directed by Jose´ Aparicio, will present the first ever Hawke’s Bay performance of Symphony No 2, Resurrection by Gustav Mahler, in St John’s Cathedral at 7.30pm on Saturday, August 4, featuring also the Napier Civic Choir and soprano soloists Lisa Harper-Brown and Anna Pierard.
This epic work takes on the most profound of subjects as it charts a journey across the full gamut of human emotion and experience, ultimately ending in a message of hope, with a choral finale modelled after Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
The Hawke’s Bay Orchestra members are delighted to bring this rarest of music treats to Hawke’s Bay.
The choir will be joined by four outstanding soloists — sopranos Lisa Harper-Brown and Anna Pierard, tenor Brad Cooper and bass Wade Kernot, and accompanied by the Hawke’s Bay Orchestra.
Tickets — adult $39 or both concerts for $72. Gold Card $37 or both concerts for $68. Student $10. 12 and under free.