Choirs combine for Wanganui Central Baptist Church concert to mark WWI Armistice

The Wanganui Male Choir will join forces with five other choirs to present the Peace at Last concert. Photo / Bevan Conley

Choirs from the Whanganui region will present the combined Peace at Last concert on September 29 to commemorate the end of WWI. Choirs from Whanganui and Rangitikei will come together for an afternoon concert featuring songs and readings from the war and about peace.

The Wanganui Male Choir, the Lyric Singers, Schola Sacra, Wanganui Community Choir, the Arcadian Singers from Taihape and the Rangitikei Anglican Parish Choir will present the concert at the Wanganui Central Baptist Church.

Each choir will perform their own items and there will be opportunity for everyone to sing along to famous songs such as It's a Long Way to Tipperary, Pack Up Your Troubles, and I Vow to Thee, My Country.

There is also a distinctly New Zealand flavour to the concert, which includes some of our most famous New Zealand songs.

Songs that were collected and arranged for the WWI Māori soldiers' songbook, including Po Atarau (Now is the hour), Pokarekare ana, and E pari ra.

Modern NZ songs will also feature, from the popular style of folk musician Marian Burns' Beautiful Soldier to items by well-known NZ composer Chris Marshall to poetry by ARD Fairburn, and local composer Alan Cruise-Johnston.

"We are proud to have three young instrumentalists joining us," says Wanganui Male Choir secretary Oliver Lane.

"Whanganui's Gregory Xavier on violin, Marton's Richard Munt on snare drum and Joe Inman of Palmerston North will perform a historic cornet solo."

A PowerPoint display showing historic scenes from the war and Armistice will run throughout the concert, complemented by celebratory decorations.

Peace at Last: Wanganui Central Baptist Church, Saturday, September 29 at 2pm. Adults $20, seniors and students $15. Cash only sales at the door.