City Choir Dunedin

City Choir Dunedin logo.

City of Dunedin Choir logo prior to December 2012.

City Choir Dunedin, formerly the City of Dunedin Choir, (trading name of the Dunedin Choral Society Incorporated) is a community choir in Dunedin, New Zealand. It accepts singers of all age groups from the wider Dunedin community and performs large-scale classical choral works. The choir's membership grew from an initial 45 to around 120 as of 2012.^[1] The Choir is a member of the New Zealand Choral Federation (NZCF), which was formed in 1985 to promote high quality choral singing in New Zealand.^[2]

Repertoire

The choir's repertoire encompasses Baroque, Classical and Romantic orchestral works, and includes contemporary New Zealand choral music. The choir is usually involved in four or five concerts a year and regularly performs with the Southern Sinfonia. Occasionally the choir performs with other orchestras such as the Dunedin Youth Orchestra, the Saint Kilda Brass Band and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, as well as with other choirs like the Christchurch City Choir, Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, Auckland Choral Society, the Invercargill A Capella Singers and the Southern Children's Choir.

History

In 1863 the Choral Society was formed. The following year this choir was absorbed into the Dunedin Philharmonic Society with George West as conductor.^[3] With varying success the Dunedin Philharmonic Society carried on until 1870. The name "Dunedin Choral Society" was introduced the following year. At this point Mr. West resigned and Mr. A.J. Towsey was appointed conductor. In 1879 Mr. West was reappointed conductor to the Society.^[4] Records of the activities of the Society in the following years are scant and musicians were mainly occupied with preparing works for the Exhibition of 1889-90 (New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition (1889)). At a meeting of the Exhibition Choir the Dunedin Choral Society was affirmed and continued functioning under the conductorship of Mr. James Coombs. In 1891 the Society was in recess due to financial difficulties, but a new society was formed in 1897.^[5] The existence of the choir has since been continuous. Notable past conductors include Sidney Wolf (1914–1922), Victor Galway (1922–1925) and Jack Speirs (1966–1973).

The Dunedin Choral Society continued to give performances during the war, and by 1939 Alfred Walmsley led a choir of about 85 members, with their own orchestra. The orchestra was disbanded in 1959. The Dunedin Choral Society also occasionally combined with the Royal Dunedin Male Choir and the Returned Services Association Choir.^[6]

The Choral Society changed its name to Schola Cantorum in 1967, upon merging with the University Union Choir,^[7] and then to City of Dunedin Choir in 1993, the year it celebrated 130 years of existence. At the end of 2012 the choir's trading name was again changed, this time to City Choir Dunedin,^[8] in time for its 150th anniversary celebrations in 2013.

References

• Campbell, Margaret. Music in Dunedin. Dunedin: Charles Begg and Co., 1945, pp. 40–43.
• "A 'Cheery Kid' [Sidney Wolf]", Otago Daily Times, 24 May 2008, p. 46.
• "Choir has Long and Proud History", Star (Dunedin), 28 November 2002, pp. 20–21.
• Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4 (Otago and Southland). Dunedin: Cyclopedia Co., 1905, pp. 215–216.
• "Dunedin Choral Society. Seventy-fifth anniversary. Varied and interesting history", Otago Daily Times, 2 August 1938, p. 6.
• Thomson, John M. Oxford History of New Zealand Music. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 91, 111-112.

The archives of the Dunedin Choral Society Incorporated are held by the Hocken Collections, Dunedin, under the reference number MS-2086.

External links

• Official website
• Performer of New Zealand music, article on SOUNZ
• Southern Sinfonia, performance partner to City Choir Dunedin