SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT FROM CHALIUM POPPY
Kia ora!
2020 marks the 10th year anniversary of the founding of the Scholars Baroque Aotearoa. Since the beginning, an incredible amount of music has passed the lips of our singers. Scholars performances have ranged from the great and popular oratorios such as Haydn's Creation, Mozart's Requiem or Handel's Messiah to lesser known choral works by Charpentier, Salieri, and Rameau. No matter what the concert has been, the Scholars dedication to the fine art of singing and musical excellence in performance has been a constant. The Scholars continue to strive towards a deeper understanding of the music they perform and display an even greater emotional range in their musical execution.
10 years ago, the very first concert of the Scholars featured music of the English Chapel Royal and included glorious works by Purcell, Handel and others. Appropriately, the Scholars now begin their 10th season with more English choral music loosely connected to the Chapel Royal, this time, specifically of the Renaissance. This concert features 2 main works, the majestic Mass for Five Voices by William Byrd and the deeply searching Lamentations of Jeremiah by Thomas Tallis. Both Byrd and Tallis were giants of English Renaissance choral music and it will come as no surprise that both had affiliations with the Chapel Royal; Byrd as a composer, and Tallis as a choirboy. The Reformation was a bloody and cruel business, particularly in England. It was a time of tremendous fear and uncertainty. The transcendent nature of music to rise above all that sought to divide is never more evident than in these great choral masterpieces by Byrd and Tallis. The concert programme will also feature works by Parsons (Byrd's predessor at the Chapel Royal), Weelkes (a famous composer of madrigals) and Robert Ramsey (a Scottish composer who followed James VI from Scotland to England upon James' ascension as James I of England).
The Scholars second concert of 2020 takes a quantum leap forward and features music composed post year 2000. While the primary focus of the Scholars, as their name suggests, is music of the Baroque, the choir does and will from time to time explore music from all times. Modern composers are writing simply sublime and extremely accessible music and the Scholars will explore some of this in this their second concert. Works on the programme include music by American composers Morten Lauridsen (whose music is a favourite of the Scholars) and Eric Whitacre. It has long been a dream of mine to perform Whitacre's magnificent work 'When David Heard' with the Scholars. This is beautiful yet complicated composition, and the Scholars are finally ready to meet its challenge. The concert will also feature works by European composers Ola Gjeilo and Eriks Esenvalds.
Finally, as usual, the Scholars Baroque conclude their 2020 season with their beloved and annual performance of Handel's Messiah with NZBarok and a fresh line up of world class soloists. It is in fact no easy feat to perform the same choral work each year while still making it sound fresh and new each time. The Scholars never fail to find interesting and exciting new ways of interpreting Handel's melodies
Chalium Poppy
Artistic & Musical Director
