Nota Bene Choir: The Cloud Capp’d Towers
Date: 09/04/2016
Category: Music / Vocal
Shakespeare in the land of the long white cloud
Date&Time: 7.30pm, 9 April 2016
Venue: Salvation Army Citadel, Vivian St, Wellington
Tickets: $25/$20, children free
2016 marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, the English language’s greatest poet and dramatist. Nota Bene, under its new music director Peter Walls, is marking this occasion with a celebration of his work in word and song.
We started with the title The Cloud-capped Towers (a line from The Tempest), which led us to think about Shakespeare in the Land of the Long White Cloud. It’s extraordinary how much fine music has been inspired by Shakespeare right here in Aotearoa.
The concert includes Douglas Lilburn’s Willow Song (for Ngaio Marsh’s production of Othello), some witty and attractive Shakespeare choruses by David Farquhar, and David Hamilton’s suite A Shakespeare Garland that parodies styles from jazz to ’60s pop.
The programme also includes some real gems from Shakespeare’s own time—music by Byrd and Tomkins—and masterly Shakespeare settings by Vaughan Williams and Amy Beach.
It wouldn’t be Shakespeare without some theatrical flair, and Nota Bene is delighted to welcome back actor Nigel Collins as the Bard of Avon, performing some of his most famous speeches from The Tempest and other plays.
We see Shakespeare in his last days, dreaming of the new world about to be discovered: Aotearoa—the land of the long white cloud whose mysteries were about to be explored and mapped by voyagers from the North.
Fiona McCabe will feature as pianist and the amazing Stephen Pickett will play Renaissance lute, theorbo and guitar.
