There was a buzz in the auditorium as a large and lively audience, many dressed in British-themed costumes, took their seats for the 2016 Proms Concerts on Thursday evening. Choralation Choir, the premier choir combined with Westlake Girls, opened the concert with a varied repertoire, including the World Premiere of ‘Joy’ by locally-based New Zealand composer, David Hamilton. They were followed by the Westlake Symphony Orchestra, who gave an accomplished performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, 4th Movement – a well-loved and technically challenging piece – and Anthony Ritchie’s ‘Procession’.
This year’s senior soloist was Year 13 soprano, Michaela Cadwgan, whose magnificent voice moved the audience with an emotive performance of ‘Summetime’ from Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’. She followed this with two sparkling arias from Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’, joined for the second of these by Morag Atchison, whose many musical endeavours include being voice-coach for Choralation.
Westlake Symphony Orchestra began the second half of the concert with a delightful medley from the musical ‘Cats’ by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was then audience participation time, with the traditional Last Night of the Proms favourites, Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and Rule, Britannia! Before the British and New Zealand national anthems brought a thoroughly enjoyable evening to a close.
A gallery of photos from the event is available here. Our thanks to student photographer Yu Chen for these wonderful photos.
