Christmas Spectacular

Recorded at Auckland Town Hall, New Zealand on 5 and 12 July and 18 September 2011.

Musica Sacra’s debut performance was a Christmas concert in December 1998 at St Michael’s, Remuera, and since then the choir’s annual Christmas concert, almost always on the last Saturday before Christmas, has become an established fixture in Auckland’s musical scene. As audiences grew the venue changed to Holy Sepulchre, Khyber Pass and then to St Patrick’s Cat­hedral; in 2010, with the arrival of the superb new organ, they moved to the Town Hall for their thirteenth Christmas concert, a Christmas Spectacular with the brass and percussion from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

This recording presents selections from the programmes of the 2010 concert and of the 2011 Christmas Spectacular concert. This is not a live concert recording: it was made in sessions in July and September 2011.

This recording balances a number of different elements, all with a Christmas theme: choral showcases for Musica Sacra; an organ solo by the City Organist and Musica Sacra Organist, John Wells. There is some ‘serious’ classical music as well as lighter, more popular fare: there is something for everybody in this programme.