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St Mary’s Church in Timaru is once again preparing to serve up a side of live music for Friday lunchtimes.
This year’s Lunchtime Concert Series will begin this Friday with a recital from talented teenage pianist Tim Kirke.
St Mary’s music director Catherine Anderson said it would be the fifth consecutive year the church had held the series since she started in the role.
“They were done previously but I think there had been a bit of a gap before I started.
“People came to me and said ‘we used to have these lunchtime concerts; you could start them again’ — as a bit of a hint.
“It was obvious that people had enjoyed them in the past, so I started getting in touch, mainly with schools to start with, but now we’ve branched out to all sorts of other things.”
She said it was great to be able to give people, especially young children, the opportunity to perform at a venue like St Mary’s.
“You see their faces as they walk in the building, especially if they’ve never been before. The look of wonder as they come in is amazing
“Obviously it’s not as big as some venues but for a lot of the kids it’s probably one of the biggest or most ornate buildings they’ve maybe been into ever.
“It’s great to be able to give them that stage and space for them to not only perform to their friends and family, but a whole load of other people who are regular attendants of the whole series.”
Mrs Anderson said performances would begin at 12.15pm and last about 45 minutes.
“It’s free to come to, but we do ask for a koha at the end of the performance just to support music making at St Mary’s.
“There will be a concert every Friday lunchtime, except for one [October 23], up until November 13.
“The series will then finish with our Last Night of the Proms concert which we hold every two years. This year it will be held on Saturday November 14.”
Also performing in the series this year are Waimataitai School, Craighead Diocesan School, Ella Thomas Vocal Studio, Dominic and Eva Perissinotto, St Mary’s Vocal Trio, Josh Anderson, Sacred Heart School and St Joseph’s School and Tamara Hogg’s vocalists from Mrs A’s Music School.