Pete, Bill, Charle and Jo Rainey will all feature in the Chroma Chamber Choir’s concert on Sunday. Photo: Charles Anderson.

Rainey family joined in song

0
2197

One hundred and ninety-six years of Raineys will perform the work of a 268-year-old composer on the stage of the Nelson School of Music this Sunday.

Pete, who has been conducting the choir for the past year, was on the look out for some extra male members.

“So, I asked the bros. But it’s been a bit of a double-edged sword. No, actually it’s been great.”

Pete’s 13-year-old son Charle is also part of the choir and brings the collective experience of the family to 196 years.

“But Charle doesn’t add much to that,” joked Jo.

It’s the first time that the brothers have been on stage together in many years.

The last time Bill was conducted by Pete was when the Nelson Male Voice Choir went to Wales with their father in 2000.

The choir is presenting a programme of Renaissance and Baroque choral music to celebrate the Advent season, leading up to Christmas. The featured composer will be the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in 1750.

The performance will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra with local soloists Angela Wratt, Zoe Bennett and Jane Quinton, Erica Sim, Ewen Griffiths, and Graham O’Brien all taking part.

Pete says, if anything, the involvement of his brothers shows that more men need to stand up and be part of local choirs.

“We need them to get involved. It’s a great experience and there are lots of opportunities.”

Charle says he enjoys singing with this family – a far cry from the terror that all the Raineys say they once felt as young children walking out on the auditorium stage.

Jo says it’s not often that you get choirs singing Bach, but it’s very approachable.

Bach Magnificat by the Chroma Chamber Choir is in the Nelson School of Music Auditorium, at 2pm on Sunday 18 November. Tickets are $27 plus booking fee from NCMA or ticketdirect.co.nz