CBS Music Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Choir & Orchestra  
CBS in NZ Recordings Willcocks CBS Choir Director Players Cathedral Awards Contacts
CBS Overseas Ordinations Concerts Junior Choir Organs People Music Lists CBS News Links

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Music in New Zealand
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Choir consists of about 40 men and women who rehearse weekly in preparation for Cathedral liturgical music, concerts, tours, and recordings.
Using a well-stocked library of choral music, the choir prepares for every Sunday of the year at the 10:30 am Cathedral Solemn Mass, together with feast days and special occasions. Typically four concerts are given each year, together with the Bach St John Passion on Good Friday. A wide repertoire has been developed.
Regular tours are undertaken by the group. Sometimes these involve three or four day trips to other parts of this country, such as the West Coast, the Blenheim-Nelson area, South Canterbury, or Otago and Southland. Invitations have taken the group to perform in prestigious music festivals, such as Mozart 91 in Dunedin in 1991, the International Festival of the Arts in Wellington, and the Christchurch Arts Festival. They performed in Palmerston North and Wellington the Bach B Minor Mass with Sacred Heart Cathedral Choir in September 2002.
As time permits, recordings are made for radio and television. 24 hours of television filming in 1988 led to a series of TVNZ Praise Be programmes. Another 12 hours in 1995 led to a further series, followed in 1997 and 2002 by a special hour-long programme, and regular direct broadcasts have been made. Several cassette and video recordings have been issued in recent years.

Bach B Minor Mass - Palmerston North Cathedral of the Holy Spirit September 2002

Christchurch & Wellington Cathedral Choirs

"..an improbable perfection"Evening Standard

2005 Tour - Oamaru St Patrick's Basilica 2005 Tour - Dunedin St Patrick's Basilica with Cantores Choir 2005 Tour - Dunedin St Joseph's Cathedral - Grant Bartley
2005 Tour - Alexandra St John the Baptist Church 2005 Tour - Who needs sunglasses? 2005 Tour - Queenstown - St Joseph's Church

Festival Brings Choral Treat A welcome visit from the Choir and Orchestra of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Christchurch, which performed early on Sunday evening in St John the Baptist church Alexandra, made an attractive addition to the musical diversions of Blossom Festival weekend. With them was the Dunedin choral group Cantores, singing three numbers notable for their precision and clarity. The well-filled church warmly responded to a Handel Organ Concerto and and early Schubert Mass in C Major for soloists and choir in a concert that opened with the lovely unaccompanied Ave Maria by Arcadelt. Cesar Franck's Panis Angelicus, Mozart, Brahms and Bruckner were also represented, all reinforcing the impression of sensitive choral singing notable for dynamic control and tonal shading under the direction of Don Whelan. Gordon Ramage - Southland Times 26 / 9 / 05