Auckland Welsh Choir Welcomes New Royal Baby with Handel's Coronation Anthems

As summer approaches, the Auckland Welsh Choir promises a celebration fit for a prince. In its annual collaboration with the Devonport Chamber Orchestra, titled ‘Music for a Prince’, the choir will perform at Auckland’s beautiful St Matthews-in-the-City on Saturday 23 November at 3pm.

The concert will showcase the famous anthems Handel wrote for the coronation of King George II and his wife Caroline almost 300 years ago. The choir will also perform a range of music for the future 23rd Prince of Wales, the new Prince George of Cambridge (Tywysog George o Caergrawnt in Welsh), including lullabies and favourites from the choir’s cornerstone Welsh repertoire.

The concert will support the nearby Auckland City Mission’s Christmas Appeal. The Mission supports Aucklanders in desperate need by providing integrated services and effective advocacy. Christmas is the Mission’s busiest time of year: in 2012, more than 2,500 food parcels were distributed, 5,000 children received Christmas presents and 2,500 attended Christmas lunch at the Viaduct Events Centre.

New Zealand’s Welsh population is small but substantial: according to the 2006 Census, more than 6,700 New Zealand residents were born in Wales, which itself has a current population of just over three million, including 560,000 Welsh speakers. (There are approximately 720,000 people in the world fluent in Welsh, including 1,080 in New Zealand.) 

The motive for the establishment of the Auckland Welsh Choir in 1988 was to boost the morale of the Welsh rugby team in a contest with the All Blacks at Eden Park. Despite a Welsh loss, the choir has thrived under the musical direction of Diana Williams Rhodes for more than a decade. The assistant musical director is Steven Rapana and the chairman Philip Morgan Rees, a native of South Wales.

In collaboration with the Devonport Chamber Orchestra the choir has proved itself adept at stylish, varied and interesting programmes.

What: The Auckland Welsh Choir’s Coronation Anthems
When: Saturday 23 November, 3pm
Where: St Matthews-in-the-City, 187 Federal Street, Auckland

Tickets can be purchased for $25 + service fee through www.iticket.co.nz, by phone on (09) 361 1000, or at the door. Children under 14 are free.