Towards the end of May 2023 the Franklin Community Choir, along with Pakuranga Choral Society, performed 2 concerts of Handel’s Messiah. Each choir was responsible for the costs and ticket sales for their local concert. The Pukekohe concert was held Saturday 20 May at St Patrick’s Church. Using St Patrick’s Church, meant more room up front for the combined choirs and more seats available for our audience. This larger audience of around 180 people were treated to a fantastic rendition of Handel’s famous work conducted by David Hamilton and accompanied by Michael Bell on the organ, with 4 soloists and a trumpeter.
Highlights: It was great to be able to provide such an opportunity for the Franklin community, when often people have to travel further to hear such a large group perform. The choir totalled over 70 singers in all. The grant from Franklin Community Arts was able to fund the music hire, printing and advertising costs and the venue hire for the Pukekohe concert. This meant that we were able to cover the costs of the musicians, soloists and conductor from our ticket sales. The choir were also excited to be able to perform in such a large group and the combination of the two choirs (who mainly rehearsed separately) worked very well.
Feedback:“Reports back from the audience were very favourable for the enthusiastic and harmonious singing, the excellent trumpeter that brought extra excitement to several of the pieces, and the amazing soloists which included a tenor soloist on his debut professional performance”. Angela Faire (Treasurer, Franklin Community Choir)