OrpheusChoir.org.nz
Title
Orpheus Choir of Wellington - Home
Description
The Hutt Valley Music Society was founded in 1947 to promote and stimulate an interest and appreciation of music in the Hutt Valley, and immediately set up a piano group, song group, recorded music group, and a choral group. Malcolm Rickard took over the choral group in 1949, and when the Music Society was wound up in 1951, the fifty singers decided to carry on, meeting on 26 February 1952 in St Stephen's Hall, Lower Hutt, to found the Hutt Valley Orpheus Society.
The first concerts were given in the Hutt Valley High School Hall, with mainly English repertoire. Messiah had been performed since 1950, and became an annual event for the Orpheus Society. Concerts were accompanied by the Alex Lindsay Strings, in a relationship which lasted until the early 70s.
With the advent of John Hopkins in 1958 as conductor of the National Orchestra, engagements with the orchestra became a regular part of the choir's schedule. In 1959 they recorded the Berlioz Childhood of Christ, and performed Mahler's Resurrection Symphony. The Beethoven 9th was first performed in 1967 and the Verdi Requiem in 1965.
