A'Cappella at its Best-Town Hall & the Temple

A'Cappella at its Best-Town Hall & the Temple

"A Cappella at its Best"

Yale University Whiffenpoofs Heaven Bent Gospel Choir Town Hall Concert Chamber Monday 30th June 8pm $20 Tickets from Ticketek www.ticketek.com or 307 5000

Yale University Whiffenpoofs also perform at the Temple on Tuesday 1st July Door Sales $15

Auckland's very own "Heaven Bent Gospel Choir" have been asked to join the world famous "Yale University Whiffenpoofs" in concert at the Town Hall Concert Chamber at 8pm on Monday 30th June 2003 providing a memorable night of entertainment for a capella lovers.

This is a distinct honour for the Auckland Choir and reflects their growing reputation as one of the best choirs in New Zealand.

The "Whiff's" are a high profile world class choir on a world tour that includes concerts in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Christchurch, Auckland, Australia, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kathmandu, New Delhi, Turkey, Prague, Vienna, Barcelona, Stockholm and Dublin. Their previous audiences have included such notable figures as the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, President's Bush and Clinton, and Martha Stewart.

The "Yale University Whiffenpoofs"

Every year fourteen senior Yale University men are selected to be the "Whiffenpoofs", the world's oldest and most famous a cappella group. Founded in 1909, the "Whiffs" began as a senior quintet that met for weekly concerts at Mory's Temple Bar, the renowned Yale Tavern and club. Today the group has become one of Yale's most celebrated and hallowed traditions, carrying on almost a century of musical excellence and professional showmanship at Yale University, across America, and around the world.

The group's unique sound and repertoire reflects their long traditions, drawing on over ninety years of original arrangements. Their songs come from many different styles and eras, ranging from classic jazz to English folk songs to Motown hits of the 1960's.

The groups most famous song is their namesake anthem "The Whiffenpoof Song" written by two of the founding members and popularized in recordings by Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley and others.

Heaven Bent Gospel Choir

Under the directorship of Max Maxwell, the Heaven Bent Gospel Choir has been performing for seven years and has secured a very special reputation all of its own as the "true spirit of gospel".

Heaven Bent specialise in gospel and beautiful harmonies - performing songs ranging from the deeply moving to the hand-clapping, foot stomping tunes of the Afro-American Gospel tradition.

With the ongoing support and involvement of gospel guru Tony Backhouse the choirs repertoire continues to grow and includes a number of new exciting gospel songs and featured soloists. As a result of their ever increasing popularity and reputation Heaven Bent were recently requested to perform a 21/2 hour "Gospel Spectacular" as the finale to the 2003 Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival and also asked to record a number of songs for the TV1 "Praise Be" programme.

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