Saturday 25th August 2012 at Trinity Church, Darfield

Schola Cantorum of Christchurch performed in Darfield under its musical director, Roger Buckton, who was thrilled to be able to bring this notable 25 voice Christchurch City choir to Darfield. As guest conductor, Jodie Phaal, a student of conducting at the University of Canterbury’s, School of Music also conducted and David O’Beirne, another senior student at the School of Music sang the solo tenor part in The record of John by Orlando Gibbons. Darfield organist, Hugh Stevenson accompanied The record of John as well as another fascinating Gibbons composition, The street cries of London.

Elegy for a fallen city is a compelling piece about Christchurch the earthquake city and received its first Darfield performance in the programme together with a performance of a spoken fugue arranged by Roger Buckton entitled 26 reasons to love Canterbury. Apart from these contemporary songs, the choir performed from its more traditional Renaissance repertoire, both sacred and secular.