Concerts & Services

Choral Evensong

The choir sings Choral Evensong at 5:00pm on the last Sunday of each month (in 2008: February to September inclusive, and November). These services take place at the beautiful church of St Matthew-in-the-City in central Auckland. The services follow the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: they are short, fully choral, and there is no sermon. The Officiant is the Rev'd Richard Girdwood. Free parking on Sundays is available in the church parking building immediately adjacent to the church, on the south side of the building.

PLEASE NOTE: because of Labour Weekend, there will be
NO CHORAL EVENSONG on 26 October 2008.

Evensongs in 2008:
Feb 24; Mar 30; Apr 27; May 25; Jun 29; Jul 27; Aug 31; Sep 28; Nov 30

Click here for a map showing the location of St Matthew’s.

Concerts

quick links:

Buxtehude: 21 March

Palestrina and Parry: 22 June

Howells and Victoria: 16 August

Christchurch Cathedral: 26 October

Tenth Anniversary Concert: 15 November

Christmas Concert: 20 December

Good Friday, 21 March

TWO performances: 3:30pm and 8:00pm

St Matthew-in-the-City

BUXTEHUDE: Membra Jesu Nostri (The Limbs of our Lord Jesus)

Pepe Becker, soprano

Kate Spence, alto

Iain Tetley, tenor

Hadleigh Adams, bass

Graham McPhail, Iselta Allison, violins

Helen Polglase, cello

John Middleton, bass

Dr John Wells, chamber organ

Written in 1680, this is a cycle of seven short cantatas, each of which is dedicated to a contemplation of a different part of Christ's crucified body: feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart, and head. This beautiful and devotional work is often regarded as Buxtehude's masterpiece.

Sunday 22 June

2:30pm

St Matthew-in-the-City

PALESTRINA AND PARRY

Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli

Sir Hubert Parry: Six Songs of Farewell

ADMISSION FREE (with a retiring collection, suggested amount $20)

Two of the great masterpieces of the choral repertoire. The Missa Papae Marcelli is Palestrina's most famous setting of the Mass, with which he is popularly held to have 'saved church music' by writing a setting in which the words were clearly audible, at a time when the Council of Trent was thinking of abolishing elaborate church music. Parry's beautiful and moving Songs of Farewell were written in 1916, two years before the composer’s death. Far from being morbid, the songs are generally optimistic in character, looking towards what might be waiting ‘on the other side’.

click to enlarge

Saturday 16 August

7:30pm

St Michael's, Remuera

VICTORIA AND HOWELLS: Ancient and Modern

Howells: Requiem

John Rutter: Hymn to the Creator of Light

Victoria: Officium pro defunctis (Requiem) 1605

This concert contrasts two superb settings of the Requiem Mass: Victoria's incomparable setting written for the funeral of his Patroness, sister of Phillip II of Spain; and Herbert Howells' highly emotional response to the death of his son Michael at the age of 9. Rutter's spectacular and dramatic Hymn to the Creator of Light, written for the dedication of the Howells Memorial Window in Gloucester Cathedral, rounds out the programme as a companion piece to the Howells Requiem.

Sunday 26 October

2:30pm

ChristChurch Cathedral, Christchurch

MUSICA SACRA in concert with the Jubilate Singers

Fauré: Requiem, with orchestra

Anthony Ritchie: Three Widow's Songs

Stainer: I saw the Lord

Gowers: Viri Galilaei

The choir makes its first visit to the South Island with this concert of choral masterpieces, presented jointly with Christchurch's Jubilate Singers (conductor Grant Hutchinson). The ever-popular Fauré Requiem forms the second half of the programme, and in the first half a selection of choral favourites will be performed by the two choirs both separately and together.

Also on 26 October, Musica Sacra will sing at the Cathedral's Choral Eucharist at 10:00am and at Choral Evensong at 5:15pm.

Saturday 15 November

8:00pm

Holy Trinity Cathedral (venue to be confirmed)

TENTH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Handel: Coronation Anthem Let thy hand be strengthened

Organ Concerto

Chandos Anthem No 11 Let God arise

Ode for Saint Cecilia

Musica Sacra was founded on 14 November 1998 and so we celebrate the significant milestone of ten years with a major orchestral concert, almost ten years to the day, with a superb programme of music by Handel. Both the words and music of Handel's Ode for Saint Cecilia celebrate the power of music, and there can surely be no more appropriate way to mark this special occasion. The Ode will be joined by Handel's Coronation Anthem Let thy hand be strengthened and the colourful and dramatic Chandos Anthem No 11, Let God arise, with its vivid word-painting and excitingly vigorous music, as well as a Handel Organ Concerto to be played by conductor Dr Indra Hughes.

Saturday 20 December

8:00pm

Venue to be confirmed

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Musica Sacra's annual Christmas Concert is now an established fixture in Auckland's musical scene. Our 2007 concert at St Patrick's Cathedral was enjoyed by a huge standing-room-only audience, and following the success of our CD recording, Christmas a cappella II (five weeks at Number One in the NZ Classical Chart), we expect this year's concert to be equally popular. Turn up early to be sure of a seat!

Click here to read the archive of our performances in 2006.

Click here to read the archive of our performances in 2007.