Concert to celebrate musical club's 100th year

Ashburton Musical Club chair Janice Allen (foreground), committee member Carolie Andrew, treasurer David Fisher (left) and vice president Ted Woo. Photo: Supplied

The Ashburton Musical Club will celebrate 100 years of staging performances with a concert on Sunday.

President Janice Allen said the club is still going strong, with about 110 members.

She and vice president Ted Wood are among the longest-serving members, having belonged to the club for more than 30 years.

The former music teacher said the club has cultivated many talented people over the years by providing a platform for them to perform and awarding scholarships.

"Musical club has been a safe platform for many musicians over the years," she said.

Ted said what audiences enjoy today is the same as what they enjoyed a century ago.

"We provide music at our concerts that nobody else would provide in Ashburton," Ted said.

While mostly classical music is played, there is also jazz and other genres. The vocalists will often sing popular numbers from modern musical theatre productions.

"I like the humanity of it, you are going to get a performance on the spot, not a perfect performance on TV. You get the human element in the concert."

Many scholarship winners have taken their music to higher levels, including Olivia Pike, who has completed her first year studying opera at the Boston Conservatory; Joy Sun, who played the harp with the Shenyun Symphony Orchestra in New York; and Tainui Kuru, who was based in Canada and involved with musical theatre.

The 100-Year Celebration Concert on Sunday will be the sixth concert this year.

It will feature many previous scholarship winners, including Paula Green (viola), Harvey Wood (trumpet), Caitlin Young and Emma Dyer (singing in a family group), Jan-Maree Baughan (vocalist), Sam Kuipers (piano), Katie Gluyas (piano), Eunseong Kim (trombone) and Deborah Sloper (piano accompanying a vocalist).

Janice said in the club’s early years, members not only enjoyed listening to and playing music but also studying the lives and works of the composers.

All of the club's concerts are held in the evening, with formal wear mandatory. This means long dresses and gloves for ladies and evening suits and bow ties for gentlemen.

A group of piano teachers established the club to provide a performance platform for their pupils. Enthusiasm from many different musicians meant the club was extended to include other instrumentalists and vocalists.