Choir goes south

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 22

Choir goes south

The Choir of Saint Barnabas’ Church, Fendalton, will go south to Timaru this week-end to give a concert in Sacred Heart Catholic Basilica where the restored Hobday organ can be heard. Paul Ellis, the director of music at Saint Barnabas, will play a varied programme, with pieces by Couperin, Albinoni, Handel, Bach, Bonnet, Langlais and Franck. The choir will present three brackets of motets for different seasons. This choir has been in existence almost as long as the church in Fendalton Road. The chairman of

the choir, Mr Richard Beckwith, has sung continuously in the choir since 1938. Paul Ellis, who has specialised in church music since being a chor-. ister in the Cathedral choir, has held several posts in the city. He was the winner of the first organ playing competition in New Zealand in 1972 and holds diplomas from Canterbury, Trinity College London, Royal Academy and Royal College of Organists. The concert, featuring the Hobday organ, will be

at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Arthur Hobday had an organ building business in Wellington until 1912 and was well known for his tonal design. The organ in Sacred Heart Basilica was his last work and regarded by many as his finest. It is likely that this instrument was an enlargement of an organ imported to Australia from England in 1848. The South Island Organ Company has restored the historic organ, retaining the original action, console, keyboards, stops, pipes and the distinctive case. The 1986 restoration has cost $70,000.