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Dave Dobbyn (guitarist / vocalist) / Mark Dorrell (conductor)

 Orpheus Choir, Wellington Brass Band

Pike River Mine

Pike River Mine Photo: Pikeriver.royalcommision.govt.nz

Miners and their communities the world over are honoured in tonight’s concert from Wellington’s Orpheus Choir. Of particular significance is the world première of a commission by New Zealand’s best-known singer-songwriter, Dave Dobbyn.   His song, dedicated to the men whose lives were lost in the tragedy of Pike River will be performed by Dave and his band, and will feature a choral arrangement by the Choir’s Music Director Mark Dorrell, who has collaborated with Dave in bringing this moving musical expression of New Zealand’s sorrow to our audience.

A second première is If Blood Be the Price, Wellington Brass Band’s commission by New Zealand composer Ross Harris, recalling the Waihi miners’ strike in 1912, in which one of the miners was killed during the demonstration. Poet Laureate Vincent O’Sullivan wrote the lyrics, which are a strong retelling of the miners’ struggle as they protested over their working conditions, during that very significant time in the country’s mining history. (Source: Orpheus Choir)


Recorded live in Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre by Radio New Zealand