Harbour Voices: Haydn's Nelson Mass

• Date: 03/05/2026 14:30 - 16:30
• Location: St George's Presbyterian Church, 2 The Terrace, Takapuna, Auckland
• Tickets: $30

Following on from last year’s wonderful series of concerts under our 2025 Musical Director, Jacob Moore, Harbour Voices is pleased to welcome Blake Scanlen to lead us for our first season of 2026. Blake, a graduate of the University of Auckland, is an experienced musician who works as a baritone singer, conductor, composer/arranger, and teacher.

The main work in our May concert is Joseph Haydn’s Nelson Mass. This contains six movements, based on the text of the Catholic Mass, sung in Latin. The choir will be accompanied on the organ by Soomin Kim and joined by a quartet of outstanding soloists: Soprano Alanah Jones, Mezzo/Alto Hannah Morgan, Tenor Hamish Regan, and Bass Thomas Roeshol.

Haydn wrote this work in 1798 and its original title was Missa in Angustiis, meaning Mass for Troubled Times, reflecting the fear that Austria was about to be invaded by the French army under Napoleon. But around the date of the first performance came the good news that the French navy been defeated by a British fleet under Rear- Admiral Horatio Nelson. The work therefore acquired the nickname of Nelson Mass. It is also known as the Third Mass.

The programme will also include beautiful choral pieces by Henry Purcell, Joseph Haydn, and John Rutter.
We warmly invite you to join us for afternoon tea after the concert.