CONCERT THREE – SEASONAL CELEBRATION
Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day - G.F. Handel
Magnificat - A.L. Vivaldi
Concerto Grosso in G Minor - A. Corelli
St Peter’s Anglican Church, Mount Maunganui
22nd November 2026, 2.30 p.m.
Join Scholars Baroque Aotearoa for a luminous celebration of music’s power and the spirit of the season. Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, inspired by Dryden’s vivid poetry, traces music’s journey from the creation of the cosmos to the triumphant sound of the last trumpet — a work overflowing with colour, energy, and irresistible word‑painting.
Vivaldi’s Magnificat, written for the extraordinary young musicians of Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, reveals the full breadth of his sacred imagination: stark, almost austere opening harmonies give way to fiery choral writing, tender solo movements, and moments of radiant joy. It is a work shaped by the unique sound world of the Pietà’s all‑female ensemble, whose virtuosity and expressive depth inspired Vivaldi throughout his career.
Completing the programme is Corelli’s cherished “Christmas Concerto”, composed for his Roman patron and traditionally performed on Christmas Eve. Its elegant writing for concertino and ripieno, expressive slow movements, and the famous pastoral adagio evoke the stillness and warmth of the Nativity story. Long admired for its serenity and gentle lyricism, the concerto remains one of the Baroque era’s most beloved seasonal works.
Together, these pieces offer an evening of expressive singing, glowing orchestral textures, and Baroque music at its most joyful and life‑affirming — a celebration filled with the warmth, wonder, and luminous spirit of the Christmas season.
Elizabeth Mandeno
Elizabeth Mandeno is a former Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist and Freemasons Opera Artist with New Zealand Opera. She studied with Dennis O'Neill and Nuccia Focile at the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff, where she received an MA with Distinction in Advanced Vocal Studies. She has performed as a soloist alongside Dame Felicity Lott and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, as well as with many choirs, orchestras, and opera companies around New Zealand including Auckland Choral, Bach Musica, Days Bay Opera, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Elizabeth has also performed and workshopped numerous new pieces by up and coming and established New Zealand composers at the CANZ Composers' Workshop in Nelson, the University of Auckland, the University of Waikato, Opera Factory, and New Zealand Opera. In 2019 Elizabeth won first prize in the Lockwood New Zealand Aria, sponsored by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation.
Notable opera and concert performances include Elisa: Il Re Pastore, Amina: La Sonnambula (Days Bay Opera), Brahms Requiem (Christchurch City Choir/CSO), Handel's Messiah (City Choir Dunedin/DSO, Auckland Choral, Christchurch City Choir/CSO), St Matthew Passion, Bach Magnificat, Bach B Minor Mass (Bach Musica NZ), Cleopatra: Giulio Cesare, Josabeth: Athalia (Handel Consort and Quire NZ), Haydn's Creation (NZ Choral Federation North Island Tour), Beethoven’s Fantasia in C (Auckland Choral), Jane Kendall: This Other Eden by Anthony Ritchie (Opera Otago, world premiere).
Iain Tetley
Iain developed his passion for singing in England, gaining his music degree at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Since coming to this side of the world, he has performed solo many times around New Zealand, and was a member of the specialist chamber choir Musica Sacra.
Career highlights include singing in an octet for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; as the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion with City Choir Dunedin, Bach Musica and Auckland Choral; as the Evangelist in Bach's St John Passion with City Choir Dunedin; and as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with Auckland Choral. He has also sung solo in excerpts of Handel’s Solomon alongside world-renowned countertenor Andreas Scholl.
Iain’s degree specialised in Conducting, and he has directed several choirs, including South Auckland Choral, the Franklin Community Choir, and Cantorum. He combined three choirs, full orchestra and eight soloists to conduct the Auckland premiere of Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.
In 2018 Iain moved to Whanganui, where he has conducted Schola Sacra Choir since 2019. On stage, he performed as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera in 2023, with Amdram Whanganui.
SINGERS WANTED
Tauranga’s Premier Chamber Choir are auditioning singers
The Scholars Baroque Aotearoa are a chamber choir dedicated to informed performances of period music (often baroque) with an emphasis on stylistic excellence and superior choral sound.
The Scholars have availability for ALTOS, TENORS and BASSES to join this year.
The choir seeks singers with previous choral experience. Although not a requirement, the ability to read music at sight is an asset.
The choir also offers several scholarships for all voices of $1,000 on an annual basis which are available to high school, polytechnic or university students. Scholarship recipients are expected to be pursuing some form of study in music (e.g. private tuition, secondary/tertiary study; voice or other instrument/s). This is a golden opportunity for good musicians who have fine voices, the commitment to be part of a close-knit team, and a desire to develop first class sight-reading skills.
For more information about the Scholars Baroque Aotearoa, please go to our Scholarships page.
To make further inquiries, arrange an audition, or for more information about choral scholarships, please contact the Artistic & Musical Director at scholars@scholarsbaroque.com
SCHOLARS BAROQUE AOTEAROA
“AN ASTONISHINGLY CONTEMPORARY CONFECTION OF RAPIDLY MOVING MELODIOUS BAROQUE MUSIC"