On Saturday April 1st our Westlake choral singers were fortunate to perform Mahler’s Third Symphony with Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, American soloist Sasha Cooke and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The 37 singers selected from school choirs Nota Bella, Cigno Voce and Cantare; formed the Westlake Cygnet Choir and were trained by Elise Bradley (Director of Nota Bella). The Auckland Town Hall was at capacity with 2,000 audience members and the singers remained on stage for the entire performance. The concert opened with a new waiata commissioned from Robert Wiremu especially for the event, which was sung by Voices NZ and the Westlake Cygnet Choir.
The Mahler Third Symphony is a colossal Romantic work, with an orchestra double its usual size and twice as many movements. The choirs sang in the fifth movement – the German text describes ‘Love’ as the most important aspect of our earthly lives. It was an amazing and enjoyable experience for our students to be performing with national ensembles and the performance received a standing ovation and rave reviews.
