The Auckland Choral production of Handel’s Messiah at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Helen Foster
The Auckland Choral production of Handel’s Messiah at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Helen Foster
The city would be immeasurably poorer without Auckland Choral’s annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah.
A full house for this first of two performances was hardly a surprise, as the most famous of all oratorios delivers an unfailing flow of tuneful arias and rousing choruses, put together by acomposer who was a master of theatrical flair.
For over a decade now, we have come to appreciate a lively welcome from Auckland Choral’s artistic director and conductor, Uwe Grodd. On Sunday night he included a topical quip about cuts in arts funding before reminding us that Messiah is a work that binds humanity together as only great art can do.
A shapely and purposeful overture from Pipers Sinfonia augured well, and the players continued to illuminate proceedings throughout. Particularly welcome was John Wells on the town hall’s massive organ, whether dealing out subtle shading or storming grandeur.
Allison Harker, mezzo soprano (left) and Felicity Tomkins, soprano. Photo / Helen Foster
Through his 17 years at the helm of Auckland Choral, Grodd has forged a special relationship with his choristers and it showed in both the gentlest of nuancing and spine-tingling eruptions of Handelian pomp and splendour.
Once again, the audience was invited to bring out its smartphones during a thrilling Hallelujah Chorus.
A full house for this first of two performances was hardly a surprise, writes William Dart. Photo / Helen Foster
Soprano Felicity Tomkins, fresh from winning not one, but two prestigious Australian competitions, flaunted her chiselled coloratura in Rejoice greatly, returning to the composer’s original manuscript for a special shivery flourish. Her more reflective arias, exquisitely ornamented, were a highlight of the evening.
Canadian mezzo Allison Harker did not project her voice as one might have hoped, her He was despised being flawed by an alarming lack of dramatic impact.
Young tenor Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono had the responsibility of launching the occasion, his soulful recitative peppered with some courageous ornamentation. Later, the short Behold and see impressed with the sheer naturalness of his lyricism.
If bass Alfred Fonoti-Fuimaono did not quite register the drama inherent in Handel’s many streams of semiquavers, he triumphed in The Trumpet Shall Sound, singing clear and true, in glorious duet with trumpeter Huw Dann.
