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AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL HANDBOOK


is given in December and a special recital is arranged for Christmas night.

A charge of sixpence is made for admission to the evening Recitals, but a short series of free afternoon Recitals is given during the winter months. The Organ is also used at all civic functions which take place in the large Town Hall.

Three hundred and thirty-one public recitals have been given by the City Organist up to the end of 1921, at which 600 different compositions have been played.

MUNICIPAL CHOIR.

The Municipal Choir, the first to be established in New Zealand, gave its first public performance on June 19th, 1920. The Choir consists of about 90 voices, and specialises in unaccompanied choral music. Its repertoire includes early English madrigals, motets for double chorus by Mendelssohn, and a number of works by modern British composers.

The Choir appears at eight or nine of the Saturday evening Recitals each year, and takes a part in the programmes arranged for important civic functions. The Choir is under the direction of the City Organist.

MUSIC IN THE PARKS.

Band performances are given in the various parks on Sundays during six months of the year, from November onwards. The local bands selected for this purpose receive a grant from the City Council.

J. MAUGHAN BARNETT,
City Organist.

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