CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WITH THE APO

Lion Foundation Celebrate Christmas
Friday 12 December 7.30pm & Sunday 14 December 3pm
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland

Stunning New Zealand soprano Madeleine Pierard heads home to New Zealand to feature in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's annual Lion Foundation Celebrate Christmas concerts.

The London-based singer, who won the Lexus Song Quest in 2005, joins the APO and The Graduate Choir in a concert featuring classical masterpieces and traditional carols presented in the acoustically splendid Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell on Friday 12 December and Sunday 14 December.

The Child Cancer Foundation has been invited to collect at both Celebrate Christmas events, giving concert goers the opportunity to donate and get behind the Foundation’s support programmes for Kiwi kids with cancer.

The concert opens with Tavener’s calm and quietly ecstatic Song of the Angel, featuring Dimitri Atassanov as solo violinist, and highlights include excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Vaughan Williams’ The First Nowell and Schubert’s gorgeous Ave Maria, then ends with the audience lighting their candles and joining the choir in singing Silent Night.

The orchestra will be conducted by Hamish McKeich for this glorious celebration of the festive season.

"The Lion Foundation Celebrate Christmas has become an Auckland tradition. It is a special chance for Aucklanders to hear the orchestra perform beautiful classical and traditional repertoire inspired by the festive season," says APO Chief Executive, Barbara Glaser.

Look out for our Child Cancer Foundation collectors at the Lion Foundation Celebrate Christmas concerts, taking place at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell on Friday 12 December at 7.30pm and Sunday 14 December at 3pm. Tickets ($25 to $55) are available by phoning 09 623 1052 or tickets online at www.apo.co.nz.