Puccini's Messa di Gloria/Brahms' Alto Rhapsody

This concert is dedicated to the families of the Christchurch shooting victims, and all profits going to the NZ Council of Victim Support Groups' Give-A-Little page for them: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurch-shooting-victims-fund

Waiheke Choral Society will be presenting Brahms' Alto Rhapsody sung by Harriet Crampton and the tenors and basses of the choir, followed by Puccini's Messa di Gloria by full choir and guest artists Calvin Baker (tenor) and Mark Covich (baritone) at MORRA Hall at 2pm on Sat23 and Sun24Mar. Richard Melville will be directing, and William Green will be our pianist.

Tickets: $20 general, $15 concession (student/senior), $50 family (2+2) may be purchase at Shop the Rock, Oneroa; or ring Dee on 372-3456 to book.

The weekend's concert could almost be called Bohemian Rhapsody, because it involves both the composer of La Bohème, and the Alto Rhapsody by Brahms.

Giacomo Puccini is best known as a composer of grand, sweeping romantic operas such as La Bohème and Madama Butterfly. Few know that he also composed a full Catholic mass, as his graduation exercise from the Pacini Institute in his native Lucca, Italy. It is this mass that the Waiheke Island Choral Society will perform today.

Puccini came from a long line of liturgical composers, and everyone expected him to follow the family tradition and become the choirmaster at the cathedral in Lucca. But young Giacomo had other ideas. He had fallen in love with dramatic opera and wanted to become the next Verdi. He dutifully composed his mass, then left religious music forever; his mass was performed in 1880 and then forgotten for seventy-two years.

Also on the programme is the Alto Rhapsody by Johannes Brahms. Harriet Crampton is the alto soloist, and the tenors and basses of the choir will accompany her in this rendition of a Goethe poem about a misanthropic hermit.

The Rhapsody evokes both the pain of the hermit's isolation and the sympathy of the poet for his plight. The piece has all of Brahms' emotional sweep and dense harmonies.

Freddie Mercury, who was also known for his emotional sweep and dense harmonies, would be pleased.

(Poster by Saskia Herren; blurb by Mark James).