THE PITT ST CHOIR

Pitt St Methodist Church Choir has a -established tradition of fine choral singing, boasting past direction from such accomplished musicians as Arthur Reid, Ron Dellow, Jill van de Geer, and Prue Bell. Although the choir has followed the general trend of most churches today by having fewer singers in the ranks, there is still a devoted group of 8-10 singers for most Sunday morning services which swells to 15+ for special occasions such as Christmas and Easter. Despite being a small group the choir regularly receives favourable comments and maintains a high standard of singing challenging and beautiful works from the traditional repertoire such as Mendelssohn’s How Lovely Are The Messengers, Stanford’s Magnificat in Bb, and Mozart’s Laudate Dominum to modern composers such as John Rutter’s For The Beauty Of The Earth, Lord Make Me An Instrument and John Joubert’s O Lorde, The Maker Of All Thinge. We are fortunate in that the choir enjoys the membership of many young people, which gives the group great energy and dynamism, and a ‘young’ sound. We have many social functions such as dinners and BBQ’ in addition to the singing commitments. The choir is always keen to welcome new singers and if you are interested in joining the choir, please contact the director, Robert Howell, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Robert Howell (BSc, BHSc, Adv.Dip.Med.Herb, Grad.DipTchg (sec)) Choirmaster. Robert was appointed choirmaster of Pitt St Church Choir in November 2002, his first such appointment. Since taking up this post, Robert has striven to stretch the choir’s capabilities as much as possible, given the small numbers and challenged the group with such works as those mentioned above. Robert is an experienced chorister having sung with many Auckland choirs such as Musica Sacra, Auckland Dorian Choir, University Singers, Auckland Youth Choir, Auckland Cathedral Choir, and currently sings with the choir of St Marks, Remuera for evensong services. As well as directing the Pitt St choir, Robert conducts a number of school choirs, his Handel Consort & Quire, and has been invited to conduct a number of community choirs such as the Pakuranga Choral Society and the Franklin Community Choir. Recently having qualified as a Natural Health Practitioner, Robert enjoys the balance between music and healing. Robert also composes and teaches singing and piano at a number of secondary schools in the Auckland region.