Music Director

Patron

President

What the Critics Say

Patron’s Message Welcome to the Christchurch City Choir’s 1997 season! It promises to be a year to remember. What a varied selection of choral music is anticipated! The choir looks forward to sharing this music with you, and I am delighted to be participating in A Night at the Opera. I am sure you will find this year’s selection of music both thrilling and rewarding. Malvina

Dame Malvina Major

Dame Malvina Major has chosen to live in New Zealand while maintaining an active international singing career.

Recent international concert performances have included those during a promotional tour to Japan where she sang at the New Zealand Embassy, at Casals Hall in Tokyo, and nationally for Asahi Television; an amphitheatre concert at The Jerash Festival in Jordan; and recitals in Washington, Salt Lake City, and Noumea. She sang Verdi’s Requiem with conductor Shungo Moriyama in Osaka, Japan, in 1994, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Sydney Philharmonia in 1995, and sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on its weekly CBS broadcast in both 1995 and 1996. In 1996 and 1997 she also sang for the BBC’s "Friday Night is Music Night" and charity concerts with Dame Vera Lynn in London.

Recent operatic engagements include Anna in Lehár’s The Merry Widow for Wellington City Opera, Hamilton Operatic Society, and Canterbury Opera; the title roles in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Puccini’s Tosca for Canterbury Opera; and the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for Wellington City Opera.

Recent concert performances in New Zealand include Freia in Wagner’s Das Rheingold for New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with Franz Paul Decker conducting and Britten’s War Requiem with Auckland Philharmonia under the baton of Michael Lloyd.

Dame Malvina has recorded Tosca and Mozart’s Il Seraglio as well as Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen for Television New Zealand and has released a number of compact discs under the Kiwi Pacific label, including Malvina Major, Dame Malvina in Concert, I Remember, Casta Diva, Christmastime, and Alleluia.

The establishment of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation in 1993 marked a significant step forward in Dame Malvina’s commitment to develop all disciplines of the performing arts. The Foundation supports education and performance opportunities for talented young New Zealanders. The work of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation is funded by private and corporate sponsors.