Dannevirke: New Zealand Male Choir and guests thrill audience

The two choirs came together for the Easter Hymn with soloist Cindy O'Sullivan.

What a show! On Saturday, August 6, the sound of 30 male voices singing four-part harmony soared into the highest echelons of the Dannevirke Town Hall when the New Zealand Male Choir put on a performance of 14 songs which thrilled the audience of over 200.

Under the baton of Joe Christensen – a renowned soloist in his own right – the choir started appropriately with It's a Grand Night For Singing and in three brackets performed such standards as Empty Chairs and Empty Tables from Les Miserables, The Rose, Anthem from Chess, Bui Doi from Miss Saigon, Prisoner's Chorus with soloist Patrick Power and concluded by joining with The Viking Choir to perform the Easter Hymn in which Cindy O'Sullivan was a soloist.

Some of the 200 in the audience who loved the show.

As is the tradition with the NZ Male Choir, local choirs and soloists are invited to perform and the Dannevirke Viking Choir was honoured to take part in singing two brackets of three British songs in honour of The Queen's Jubilee ranging from a Yorkshire folk song On Ilka Moor Baht 'at to the Scottish Mairi's Wedding and the Welsh hymn Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah to The Yeoman of England.

Dannevirke is extremely privileged to call upon local soloists of the calibre of Patrick Power and Cindy O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan performed the wistful Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from Phantom of the Opera and then launched into Glitter And Be Gay from Candide by Leonard Bernstein which highlighted her huge soprano range and her capacity to change the mood as she told her tale.

Power also sang opera standards which told of love and angst - Tonerna by Carl Sjoberg and Vesti La Giubba, explaining the meaning of the items and similarly entertained with his amazing tenor voice.

A standing ovation after the Easter Hymn resulted in an encore, the combined choirs with O'Sullivan singing Pokarekare Ana and massive audience participation.

Power said that hearing the NZ Male Choir perform made him all the more honoured to be its patron. He reminded the audience that unlike he who is paid to sing as a professional the choir is made up of men with other careers who volunteer to sing in their spare time.

The choir contained three with local connections Ross McDonald (of the Viking Choir), John Botting (former music teacher at DHS) and Ray Seymour of Takapau.