New Zealand city. Known colloquially as the Choral City, Christchurch developed a strong choral tradition from its settlement by the English in 1851. The pioneering Canterbury Vocal Union became the nucleus of the Royal Christchurch Musical Society, founded in 1860. In 1927 Victor Peters started the Christchurch Harmonic Society. With two large choirs competing for a similar audience, amalgamation into the 160-strong Christchurch City Choir in 1991 under the conductor Brian Law became inevitable. Its landmark was the Australasian premiθre of Szymanowski's Symphony no.3 in 1997. The most prominent of the many chamber choirs is the Jubilate Singers, founded in 1977 by Martin Setchell, who directed the country's first authentic performance of Monteverdi's Vespers. In 1988 its new director, John Pattinson, extended its repertory to all eras.
The nucleus of Christchurch's professional music activity is the Christchurch SO (founded 1973), with its key support role for local opera, ballet and choirs. The amateur 75-piece Christchurch Youth Orchestra performs much local music, 20th-century repertory such as Stravinsky, Kodαly and Shostakovich, and standard symphonic works. The professionally funded Canterbury Opera, founded in 1985, had produced 30 works by 1999.
The University of Canterbury (founded 1873), which started its music faculty in 1891 with one part-time lecturer, now has a permanent staff of 11 offering courses in performance and composition to MMus level and musicology and music education to PhD level. The main provider of teacher training in school music is the Christchurch College of Education. The National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art, initiated in 1992 by Luisa Shannahan, trains singers and actors towards a stage career in a three-year Bachelor of Performing Arts degree. In 1991 Christchurch Polytechnic started the Christchurch Jazz School offering a three-year diploma course under its founder and director Neil Pickard. Christchurch School of Instrumental Music, which opened in 1955 under Robert Perks to provide affordable group tuition for primary school children after hours, is now the Christchurch School of Music and has expanded to all levels of performance, from pre-school to adults. Its annual enrolment of 1500 students taught by over 90 part-time staff makes it the country's largest after-hours conservatory.
Christchurch Civic Music Council, founded in 1941, coordinates the city's musical activity. As a strong pressure group it has organized fundraising for the two Steinways, the concert harpsichord and the outstanding new Austrian-built Rieger pipe organ, all housed in the new Town Hall complex built in 1972. It also organizes various musical activities, including the country's first National Concerto Competition in 1967. Christchurch's other main competitions are the biennial Adam International Cello Competition and Festival (founded 1995) and the biennial International Chamber Music Festival and Competition (founded 1996), both initiated by the cellist Alexander Ivashkin. Other biennial events include the three-week Arts Festival (1995). Contemporary resident composers include John Ritchie, Philip Norman, Tony Ryan, Patrick Shepherd, Chloe Moon and Eric Biddington. John Cousins and Chris Cree-Brown compose electro-acoustic music and performance installations.
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J.M. Jennings: Let the Children Play: the First Twenty-Five Years of the Christchurch School of Instrumental Music, 19551980 (Christchurch, 1989)
P.D. Barton: Music in the City: a History of the ChristchurchCivic Music Council 19411991 (Christchurch, 1991)
J.M. Jennings: A Centennial History of the School of Music University of Canterbury 18911991 (Christchurch, 1991)
J.M. Jennings: A Double Century: Music Teaching in Christchurch, Music in New Zealand, no.13 (1991), 357
J.M. Thomson: The Oxford History of New Zealand Music (Oxford, 1991)
P. Norman: The Christchurch School of Music, IRMT Journal, no.42 (1995), 3941
IAN DANDO