Waiheke Choral Society: (Interim) President Report for AGM March 2020.
I, Gavin Smart, am writing this Mar’20 AGM president report as interim president. Saskia Herren, our president elect over the last year, left our shores at the end of November and went overseas to Europe on a scholarship to further her studies in classical history. We wish her well and thank her for her time and enthusiasm and look forward to when she can join us once again.
2019 saw the choir perform or represented at 5 concerts/events:
23 & 24 March we courageously performed Puccini’s “Messa di Gloria” and Brahms’ “Alto Rhapsody” at Morra Hall, Oneroa under the directorship of Richard Melville. These 2 concerts were dedicated to the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings that shockingly occurred just a week before on Friday 15 March.
29 & 30 June saw us performing a musical variety show “Potpourri – Here We Go Again” at both Rocky Bay Hall and Morra Hall, put together and ably led by Anne Willmann.
On 20 November, some members of the choir were able to join with Richard Melville at the Waiheke Retirement Village to put on a few songs in celebration of the 100th birthday of Kara Nelson, a long-time member of the WCS.
We joined with Sister Shout and the V12 men’s choir at Morra Hall on 23 November in a packed-out combined concert called “Freedom Land – Songs for Summer”. Richard Melville led our portion of the concert, plus the combined singing of “The Slaves Chorus”.
Our end-of year Christmas concert, called “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”, was held 7 and 8 December at St Peter’s Church, Oneroa, led by Richard Melville. The second half of each concert was a carols sing-along, and proceeds were donated to the Waiheke Resources Trust.
WCS members and associates also met for mid-year and end-of year parties at Onetangi Hall.
So many thanks go to so many people. Special thanks to both Richard and Anne for stepping up and leading us during different times through the year. Thanks also to my lovely wife Carolyn for being our pianist, both at our regular Tuesday night practices and at the above 3 WCS concerts. Thanks to the many people who do things in the backgound, like Dee Austring and those who bring milk and biscuits for our mid-practice cuppa. Thanks also to the other members of the committee:
Sue for being Secretary,
Mark for being Treasurer (even while he was overseas for several months) and maintaining our website,
Saskia for being our spokesperson as president, designing the posters for the concerts, etc,
Maya and Nic for all their input, ideas, and behind the scenes work. Both are standing down as committee members this year, Maya being overseas for the majority of this year, and Nic to have a well deserved break. Consequently we are seeking nominees at this AGM to join the committee so that it can continue to function effectively.
And of course, thanks to everyone who has played a part in the life of the WCS this past year, faithfully coming to practices and singing together at the performances. It’s great we can enjoy our love of singing together.
A big thankyou to Richard who has kindly taken us on again for the first half of this year 2020, with concerts planned for the 2nd and 3rd weekends of June at the 4 main community halls (Rocky Bay, Palm Beach, Onetangi Hall, and Morra Hall). The second half of the year has not been finalized yet, suffice to say that Richard is not available to continue leading us.