News Items
The April 2024 Newsletter is now available!
Choir members sing Christmas Carols for Presbyterian Support Club Enliven and Summerset at Bishopscourt Retirement Village.
As for previous years, Choir members again sang Christmas carols for the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven. For three days each week, Club Enliven operates day activities for its clients. At the end of November, on those 3 days, some of our choir members sang Christmas carols for the clients and Carolyn Schmid accompanied on the piano. – The audience was very attending, singing with the choir, and enjoying the comments and jokes from our comperes, Neil, Roy and Kevin.
On a Monday afternoon we were also invited to sing at the Summerset at Bishopscourt Retirement Village. A big number came to listen to us and since they all had sheets with words handed out to them, many of them sang with us. After we finished our songs, we were asked if we would be happy to come up to the First floor, to sing to the people in the Care units that could not come down to listen to us. Up there we walked along the corridors and sang Silent Night and Joy to the World. As we walked past the rooms, we waved to the people, and they waved back. They very much appreciated us coming to their floor and for us, it was a pleasure to be able to sing for them!
Singing at Club Enliven
Singing at Summerset.
Singing makes you thirsty! Having a drink after the performance.
Attendance Badge Presentation – November 2023
John Kerr for 15 Years
John Kerr joined the choir in 2002. After singing with the choir for a few years, he left town and had to cancel his membership. However, a few years later he returned to Dunedin and joined the choir again. He now has been singing with the choir a total of 15 years. We like to thank and congratulate John for his long and loyal service!
Our President David More presenting John with the 15 year attendance badge!
Attendance Badge Presentation – September 2023
Brian Donnelly for 15 Years, Foalima Lemalu for 25 Years
Our two members Brian Donnelly and Foalima Lemalu, received attendance Badges at the choirs Scholar concert. Brian has been with the choir for 15 years and Foalima reached the milestone of having sang with the choir already for 25 years. We like to thank and congratulate both members for their long and loyal service!
Brian at an earlier concert.
Foalima receiving his 25 Year Badge from our President David.
Mark Wigglesworth’s Farewell Concert
Friday 25th August 2023, 7pm at St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin.
The choir was honoured to be asked to sing 4 songs at Mark’s Farewell Concert in St Paul’s Cathedral. Mark had put together an excellent programme with musicians covering a wide range of Music - Organ play, the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, Soloists, a Euphonium player and a violinist. An outstanding programme, with Mark being in some way involved in every item by compering, singing and playing either the organ or the piano. Mark really showed his wide range of talents. All these talents will serve him well in his studies in Glasgow.
We are very sorry to lose him as our pianist. He has been such a great asset for us.
We wish him all the best and we hope we will see him in the future when he returns to Dunedin.
The Choir sings for Erica Paterson’s Farewell Fundraiser.
Saturday 5th August 2023, Marama Hall, Otago University.
Erica held an outstanding Farewell Fundraising concert in the evening of the Saturday 5th August, in the Marama Hall, Otago University. Featuring favourites from opera, musical theatre, and beyond with the Dunedin RSA Choir; Emma McClean, soprano; Claire Barton, mezzo-soprano; Ridge Ponini, tenor; and Tom McGrath and Terence Dennis on the piano.
The choir sang two songs at the start of the concert and then went back onto the stage to sing “You’ll never walk alone” together with Erica and all the soloists. A very fitting finish to an outstanding concert.
Erica and Emma singing with Terence Dennis on the piano.
Erica singing with Terence Dennis on the piano.
Erica Paterson has been accepted into the Royal College of Music in London to study a Masters of Music.
Since the year 2000, the Choir has offered a scholarship and performance opportunities to a student undertaking classical voice training in the Music Department of Otago University. A new student is selected each year and each scholarship lasts for three years. Erica Paterson became one of the Choir's scholars in 2017. She has just informed us that she has been accepted into the Royal College of Music in London to study a Masters of Music. This is a considerable honour and she wrote the following to the Choir as a result of this.
An extract from Erica Patterson’s Thank you letter:
The RSA Choir has been instrumental in me getting to this point in my musical journey of furthering my studies overseas, both because of your scholarship throughout my university degree at Otago but also (and not least) because of your ongoing moral support, performance opportunities, and friendship over the years. So I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you all for this. The RSA Choir and their concerts have, and will always hold, a special place in my heart.
Our Musical Director, Karen Knudson, has been awarded the Queens Service Medal for Services to Choral Music.
The Dunedin RSA choir likes to congratulate Karen for this well deserved award in recognition of the outstanding work she does in her field for our choir and for other Organisations.
Choir Christmas Dinner 2022
This year the Choir had it’s Christmas Dinner again at the Equinox Restaurant in the Forbury Park Raceway. The 40 attending enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, the good company and the very nice evening meal. It was also great to have Kieran Kelly there with his partner. During the evening, the choir members sang three songs with Kieran joining in and he even sang a solo item for the audience.
The Dinner was a very nice finish to this year’s choir activities.
Choir members are waring funny hat’s when singing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”!
Ken reading out one of the Toasts.
All the choir members attending the Dinner singing with Karen conducting.
Kieran singing with Ian and David beside him.
Ross, Carol, Carolyn and Linda.
Choir Members sing Christmas Carols for the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven. - November 2022
Getting ready to sing and play on the third day: Ken, Carolyn, Geoff, Ian, Roy, Brian, Foalima and Paul.
On the first day, Otto, Geoff, Roy, Foalima and Brian singing.
Choir members sang Christmas carols for the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven as for previous years. During three days of each week Club Enliven operates day activities for its clients. So, for one week on these three days, 8 members from the choir sang Christmas carols and Carolyn Schmid accompanied on the piano. – The audience was very attending, singing with the choir and enjoying the comments and jokes Paul Donovan, our compere, presented. We also had our former choir member Peter Thomas singing with us. It’s great to see him taking part and having a singsong with us. - A very enjoyable time was had by all!
All the nice kings crowns they made for us! - Foalima
Ian
IBrian
Geoff
Peter
Carolyn
Our Audience and Peter having a rest from singing.
25 Year Attendance Badge Presentation - September 2022
Two members, David More and Noel Graham reach the milestone of having sang with the choir for 25 years. For David it is actually already 28 years. He joined in 1994. Due to the Covid situation on our country the presentation of the bade had to wait until now.
We like to thank and congratulate both members for their long and loyal service!
David receiving his badge from chairman Kevin
Noel receiving his badge from chairman Kevin
RSA Choir Vocal Scholarship Presentation 2022
RSA Choir Vocal Scholarships Certificate was presented to this year’s new Scholar Kieran Kelly at our Scholar Concert in the St Patrick’s Basilica. The scholarship is for three years and is made up of an annual cash grant, kindly sponsored by the Dunedin Harbour Rotary Club, and regular performance opportunities at RSA Choir Concerts. Phil Godfrey, who is a Choir member and the current Dunedin Harbour Rotary Club President presented the award certificate.
Kieran Kelly receives his certificate from Phil Godfrey.
The Choir Christmas Party 2021
The choir’s Christmas party this year was held on Tuesday December 21st at Equinox, in the Forbury Racecourse complex, at 148 Victoria Rd. This year the decision was made to just invite members and family members due to the current Covid restrictions.
All the members present had a very pleasant evening. The facility was very suitable, the meals excellent, and the service personnel very friendly and efficient.
After the meal, members and partners were handed out words to Christmas carols and everyone joined in singing some of the well-known Christmas songs. An excellent finish to a very pleasant evening!
Ruth, Kevin, Carolyn and Linda.
Getting ready to eat!
Waiting for the remaining meals to be served!
The Choir has new Ties!
With the old dark blue ties getting worn and needed to be replaced, the choir decided to go with a new look that would suit our red jackets. Some of the committee members put their thought together and came up with the new designs that complements very well our uniform. This tie will be worn for all the various functions the choir attends except for the bigger concerts where the black bow ties will be worn. December 2021.
The new tie!
Roy Harry-Young showing off his new tie!
Choir Members sing Christmas Carols for the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven.
Choir members sang Christmas carols for the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven. During three days of each week Club Enliven operates day activities for its clients. So, for two of these three days, 6 members from the choir sang Christmas carols and Carolyn Schmid, skillfully accompanied on the piano. - A wide variety of songs were sung, from the very light hearted like “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer” over the well-known semi classical like “Winter Wonderland” to the very traditional such as “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World”. December 2021
On the first day, Ian, Peter, Foalima, Carolyn, Roy, Otto and Ken, dressed for the occasion!
On the second day in attendance, Peter Thomas (former choir member), Foalema, Carolyn, Peter, Ian, Keith and Otto.
The Choir has a new Practice Venue in the Salvation Army Main Hall, 575 Princess Street Dunedin!
On Monday, 17th May 2021, we had our first practice in our new venue.
The Hall is perfect for our use. It is very central and has ample car parking. It is a big room with good heating, very well set up with comfortable seats, excellent acoustics and even a small raised area for our conductor. There is ample room for having guest artists coming to practice with us, a good piano is provided and at the look’s of things there is even the possibility of projecting our music scripts onto the wall behind the raised area. Very little of our own gear has to be set up and taken away at every practice. There is also an other room available for making tea and having our supper. A much better facility then we had before.
Salvation Army Main Hall entrance, 575 Princess Street Dunedin.
RSA Choir Vocal Scholarship Presentation 2021
RSA Choir Vocal Scholarships were presented to the two current, Lillian Gibbs/Emma McClean and one new recipients, Alexander McAdam, in front of the choir on Monday 15 March 2021.
First started in the year 2000, the Vocal Scholarship is awarded to those studying performance music at the University of Otago. The scholarship is for three years and is made up of an annual cash grant, kindly sponsored by the East Dunedin Rotary Club, and regular performance opportunities at RSA Choir Concerts.
This is the first time that Certificates have been presented.
Scholars Alexander Mc Adam, Emma McClean, Lillian Gibbs, with Otto Schmid, Karen Knudson and Kevin Tansley.
Waitangi Day Church Service at Knox Church
30 of our choir members attended the Waitangi Day Sunday evening Service at Knox Church.
The Service started with the choir singing Richard Browns arrangement of “Hine e Hine” and Richard playing the piano for his song. This was followed with “Where Mountains Rise to Open Skies”, “Sons of Gallipoli”, “Sound ye Trumpets”, and two verses of the National Anthem intermixed with the Service items. The closing song was “Deep Peace” an arrangement by Martin Setchell.
Karen Knudson conducted and Johnny Mottershead supported on the piano and the Organ. Ralph Miller also played the trumpet for the “Sound ye Trumpets”. Ralph and Karen played together an excellent rendition of “Prayer of St Gregory”, Karen on the Organ and Ralph on the trumpet. All together an excellent evening service, very well received by the audience!
Part of one of the beautiful Knox Church Stain Glass Windows.
The Tenor Section with Karen Knudson conducting, Johnny Mottershead on the Organ and Ralph Miller getting ready to play the Trumpet.
Supporting Artists, Richard Brown, Ralph Miller and Johnny Mottershead.
The Choir practicing one of the songs with Minister Rev. Dr Kerry Enright in the background.
Choir Members sing Christmas Carols for the Montecillo Veteran’s Home and the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven.
This year again, the Choir was invited to sing Christmas Carols for the Montecillo Christmas Cake and Carols Morning Tea. 14 choir members attended, all in their splendid looking red blazers! Johnny, our young pianist, very skilfully played the keyboard.
After morning tea, the choir members started off by singing a few carols. They were then joined by the Montecillo staff and together they sang the remaining carols. Between the carol singing there were also two presentations. The RSA Association donated a big Christmas cake for the residents, and a motorbike club handed over a money bag full of cash their members donated for one of the various Montecillo projects. Once the last carol had been sung Santa Claus appeared with a big bag of presents for the residents of Montecillo. It was a great Christmas function!
Choir members getting ready to sing!
Santa Clause’s gifts are being rolled in!
Choir members also again sang Christmas carols for the Presbyterian Support Otago Club Enliven. During three days of each week Club Enliven operates day activities for its clients. So, for each of these three days, 6 members form the choir sang Christmas carols and Alison Paterson, a former choir accompanist, skilfully accompanied on the piano. - A wide variety of songs were in the selection, from the very light hearted like “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer” over the well-known semi classical like “Winter Wonderland” to the very traditional such as “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World”.
This Christmas Carol singing for the Club Enliven has now been happening for many years, since some of the choir members are voluntary drivers for the Club Enliven.
For Huia Ockwell who attended the sessions, this is sadly the last time he was wearing the Choir Uniform. Huia, after singing for the choir for the last 17 years, decided to retire from the choir. He has been a very valued choir member and his singing and story telling ability will be greatly missed. We wish him all the best.
Huia reading a Christmas Story.
Huia, Ken, Otto, Peter and Neil singing.
Otto, Alison, Neil and Peter
Some of the audience, singing with the choir.
Choir Christmas Party 2020
The Choir had its Christmas Party this year at the Village Green Café and Bar, Green Island.
With not having had many opportunities for singing during the year, the choir committee decided to make this an even more special occasion, where the choir would sing some pre-prepared items and also would ask the invited Choir Scholars if they would sing a few items.
This format worked very well with 80 attending the function. Besides the choir members with their partners, choir member’s guests and our Musical Director Karen Knudson, we also had attending our three Choir Scholars, Rhiannon Cooper, Lillian Gibbs and Emma McClean, their lecturer Tessa Romano and pianist Mark Wigglesworth.
The choir first sang 4 items with support in the last item from the Scholars and Tessa Romano. This was followed by a lovely buffet meal, followed by the traditional toasts, and some excellent singing by the scholars. This was capped off with good desserts. To close off the evening we all sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. A very fitting end to a very pleasant evening!
Choir members ready to sing!
Lillian, Tessa, Rhiannon and Emma singing with the choir with Mark playing the piano.
All the choir members watching Karen, our Musical Director.
Armistice Day Concert in Knox Church – 11. November 2020
The combined concert by our choir and the St Kilda Brass was a great success! After such a difficult year, it was great to be able to perform in a concert again and Knox Church was a very fitting venue.
The Choir and Band, ready to perform!
Under the direction of the two conductors, Karen Knudson and Shane Foster, the combined effort of the choir, the Brass Band, Johnny Mottershead on the piano, David Burchell on the organ and Alexander McAdam providing soloist support, made for an outstanding evening of music.
The choir’s songs and the band’s items were all well-known items. In the first half, The Lord’s Prayer was dedicated to Colin Challis, the choir’s last World War 2 veteran, who died earlier in the year. In the Ceremony of Remembrance towards the end of the second half, Shane Foster played The last Post on a bugle handed down from his Grandfather, who played the instrument at Somme during World War 1 a very special performance!
The large audience seem to really enjoy the programme, so much so, they were relucted to get up after the final item, God saves the Queen!
All photos kindly provided by Paul Donovan
Shane Foster conducting
The Cornet soloist.
Choir Members singing
The Basses and Baritones singing.
Alexander McAdam, our soloist.
Our audience!
Karen Knudson conducting
Johnny Mottershead on the piano.
Our audience.
The two drummers.
Beautiful instruments!
A combined effort!
Two recitals for Scholar Rhiannon Cooper’s honours degree.
Rhiannon is having two recitals for her honours degree at the end of this month and she would love to see us all there.
First Recital: Tuesday 20. October at 2 pm at Marama Hall - Otago University.
An approximately 35-minute programme with Handel arias from Giulio Cesarean, Serse, Hercules and more. This is being combined with items by Terence Dennis followed by Scott Bezett’s recital at 3pm.
Second Recital (the big one!): Wednesday 28. October 7 pm at Marama Hall - Otago University.
An approximately 1 hour programme featuring a wide variety of languages with French, English, Spanish, German and Italian as well as some fabulous women composers and also has a few ensembles which feature Scott as well as the other two RSA Scholars, Emma McClean and Lillian Gibbs.
Everyone is very welcome and both events are free of charge.
Anderson Lloyd Dunedin Lawyers
Tribute to one of their founding partner, Peter Anderson
Plaque at the Railway Station
On Monday 12 October 2020 the Choir sang in the Dunedin Railway Station entrance hall 3 songs for Anderson Lloyd’s tribute to their founding member Peter Anderson who was a soldier in the Passchendaele battle during the first World War. Peter Anderson was also a founding member of the RSA Choir in 1920.
Choir Members Ron and Neville relaxing!
27. September 2020
The Choir is now back, practicing for our November Armistice Day Concert!
We were not able to have practices during the Duration of the Covid - 19 Level 2 restrictions due to the age of many of our members and the required restrictions like keeping members apart during practices.
However since we are now in Level 1, practices have resumed. It is great to be back!