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The Auckland Philharmonia’s choice for their opera in concert this year, The Rake’s Progress is a curious beast indeed. Loosely based on a series of paintings by William Hogarth, the libretto was penned by the great Anglo-American poet W.H.

This was the first of three community performances of Noye’s Fludde to be put on by New Zealand Opera this month to celebrate this year’s Britten centenary. Britten wrote this work to be performed predominantly by a cast of amateurs with professional singers filling the roles of Noah, his wife and as the voice of God.

Auckland choir Viva Voce’s final offering for the year was a semi-staged performance of Handel’s late oratorio Solomon. An attempt to stage Solomon must deal with two important issues: firstly, not a lot dramatic happens to actually stage, and secondly, the three acts bear little dramatic relation to each other.