Christmas staple Messiah performed

Anna Pierard

For some people an essential part of any Christmas celebration is the opportunity to attend a performance of Handel's Messiah.

Such enthusiasts and many others will be able to hear this immortal work when the Napier Civic Choir, with soloists and the Hawke's Bay Orchestra, presents two performances, directed by Jose Aparicio, in St Paul's Church, Tennyson St, Napier at 7pm tomorrow and at 2pm on Sunday.

Frank Carter

Surely one of the most enduring of all choral works, composed in just a few short hectic weeks, Messiah is now sung, either in part or in full, every year, by choirs large and small, amateur or highly skilled professionals, in great cathedrals or large halls, or in a small village hall or church.

Handel was a genius - much of the music for the choir is extremely difficult yet somehow, such was Handel's understanding of the human voice, even unskilled singers manage this great music and please audiences.

"I thought I saw heaven before me and the great God himself," Handel said on writing the Hallelujah Chorus. There is certainly a divine spark in this music as once again we join the rest of the world paying tribute to one of the most often performed oratorios in the history of music.

Soprano Anna Pierard, mezzo-soprano Sarah Court, tenor Frank Carter and baritone Benson Wilson will join with the choir in the performances.

Anna Pierard developed her career as a versatile operatic and concert mezzo-soprano, but now has extended her range to soprano. In Europe, she studied at De Nieuwe Opera Academie, in Amsterdam and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and subsequently performed recitals and operatic roles throughout Europe.

Now she performs predominantly in New Zealand, with performances with the Auckland Philharmonia, the NZSO, the Christchurch City Choir and the Auckland Choral Society.

Mezzo-soprano Sarah Court holds music degrees from both the universities of Otago and Waikato, as well as having completed post-graduate study at the Prague Conservatorium in the Czech Republic. A recipient of the Dame Sister Mary Leo Scholarship and a former Emerging Artist with NBR New Zealand Opera, solo engagements have included performances with the Auckland Choral Society, Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the NZSO. She recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at Griffith University, Brisbane.

Tenor Frank Carter, now based in Hawke's Bay, has had a distinguished career throughout New Zealand as recitalist and soloist with choral societies. He has recorded for Radio and Television New Zealand, for several years was principal tenor with the De La tour Opera and travelled to Germany as tenor soloist with the Auckland Bach Cantata Society.

Baritone Benson Wilson is a proud New-Zealand born Samoan. A previous Hawke's Bay Young Musician of the Year, winner of the Napier Aria Competition this year and second in the 2014 Lexus Song Quest, he completed BMus(Hons) in Vocal Performance at the University of Auckland and was awarded the University of Auckland's Vice-Chancellor's Cultural Grant. As a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir he toured to Canada and the United States.

An enthusiastic teacher, Wilson works as a vocal coach at several high schools in Auckland and next year he hopes to pursue postgraduate training at one of the elite music institutions in the UK.

Between the two Messiah performances, the Hawke's Bay Orchestra will present a programme of baroque Christmas Concertos, together with Vivaldi's famous The Four Seasons with Amalia Hall, one of New Zealand's foremost young violinists, as soloist.

Based on four poems, The Four Seasons is one of the best-known and best-loved collections of string repertoire.

Tickets from Beattie and Forbes, Ahuriri and Take Note, Havelock North, plus door sales. Adults $39 or $75 for both concerts. Students $15 each concert.