Wairarapa voices help fuel Supertonic

RAISED IN SONG: Wellington's choir Supertonic is coming to Masterton.

Three Wairarapa voices will be among Wellington's new choir for "young professionals" , Supertonic.

Singers Annie Baird, Ingrid Crispin, and Eirene Cairns-Cowan, who grew up in Wairarapa, are relishing the opportunity to perform in front of friends and family, and sharing parts of their childhood with their fellow singers, in this month's concert in Masterton.

Crispin, a former Wairarapa College student, has been kept particularly busy, not only as a member of the choir, but as organiser of the Wairarapa visit for the Wellington Central based choir.

The choir last performed in Masterton for its 'Home' concert series in November last year, but will look a little different this time.

It has doubled in size to 56, after an "unexpectedly responsive", audition season, said music director Isaac Stone. Mr Stone said the choir has adopted the stage name of 'Supertonic', which reflects its spirit of serious musicianship but within a social collaborative environment.

"It's simple: in order to create music of a high standard the choir needs to know each other and trust each other," he said. He thinks their repertoire will be an "emotional rollercoaster" for both choir and audience.

The concert will start within the setting of the concentration camps of World War II, with the haunting Holocaust Cantata and Voices of Terezin - a fitting place to begin in this, the year that marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, said Stone.

The theme will also explore institutionalisation, imprisonment, and slavery.

Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb will feature, as will popular spirituals Give Me Jesus and Steal Away.

The concert is on June 14, 2.30pm at St Luke's Union Church.