Invercagill Concert
Hayley Westenra
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Picture from (a previous) Marlborough Concert

----- Original Message -----

From: Kerry Du Pont
To: keith.ss@ntlworld.com
Cc: webmaster@hayleywestenra.plus.com
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 3:27 AM
Subject: Hayley's Invercargill concert

Gidday,

Just came across your website, and thought I'd give you something to put up (if you wanted)... (Ed: We wanted - many thanks!)

Preparations are going well for tonight's Hayley Westenra concert. She flew into Invercargill yesterday, and last night had a very successful rehearsal with Brandon Pou, David McMeeking, and The Southern Symphonia. Tickets are all sold out, so 2200 people will be packing into Stadium Southland for her first concert down south. Hayley is a very down-to-earth person, and I had the pleasure to speak to her yesterday. Very kind, very welcoming, and definitely very teenage! Also, she looks absolutely identical to her mum... if you're seated in the back row, and you see them walking up across the stage, you need to take a second to figure out who is who!

I will update you again after the concert at some stage. Show starts at 8pm, and so far everything is going to plan. A few of our crew have had the flu, so they've been told to keep away from Hayley! Here's hoping the show is a winner.


- Kerry Du Pont
Television Director
'Hayley In Concert'
Mercury Television Ltd


1st December 2002

Email direct from the Television Director - Kerry Du Pont - Mercury Television, New Zealand

Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 6:27 AM
Subject: Re: Hayley's Invercargill concert



Gidday Keith,

Once again, I'm able to update you (and your site) on how the concert went.

Hayley's stay in Invercargill brought on some of the best weather we've had all year. Her concert on Saturday night, where she performed to a sold-out crowd of 2200 people, was a roaring success. Hayley, and guests David McMeeking and Brandon Pou, were in fine form. The backing from Dunedin's Southern Symphonia was fantastic, as was the performance from the local Panache Choir (from Verdon College).

Here, for your interest, is the song order:

First Half:

DAVID - Anthem
DAVID - Message To My Girl
DAVID - Father & Son
BRANDON - Granada
BRANDON - Maria
BRANDON - Serenade
BRANDON - Close Every Door
HAYLEY - Pokarekare Ana
HAYLEY - The Mists of Islay
HAYLEY - Ave Maria
HAYLEY - Pie Jesu
HAYLEY - I Dreamed A Dream

 

In the interval, I (in my role as TV director of the show) told Hayley that she had to clip her hair behind her ears, because from our side-on cameras all we could see was her hair, and not her face! Hopefully she didn't mind this small request from our end, and when she came back on she had (thankfully) clipped her hair back!

Second half:

PAHACHE - Aquarius
BRANDON - Lensky's Aria
BRANDON - O Sole Mio
BRANDON - When You Say Nothing At All
BRANDON & DAVID - More Than Words
DAVID - Some Enchanted Evening
DAVID - You'll Be In My Heart
DAVID - Bring Him Home
HAYLEY - Panis Angelicus
HAYLEY & DAVID - All I Ask Of You
HAYLEY - Walking In The Air
HAYLEY - Bright Eyes
HAYLEY - Silent Night
HAYLEY - You'll Never Walk Alone
HAYLEY - Time To Say Goodbye (as Encore)

 

Everybody, especially the sponsors Mercury Television and Southland Building Society (SBS), was pleased with how the concert turned out, and nobody could stop raving about Hayley's fantastic voice.

I had the pleasure of dining at breakfast with Hayley, David, Brandon and a few others on Sunday morning, before we interviewed them all for TV and recorded some pieces with Hayley for a children's show that we produce. After that, we saw Hayley & Jill off to the airport, back home to Christchurch before a concert in Hong Kong this week.

It was the first time I'd worked with Hayley, and the first time I've been able to work so closely with an international superstar! She really is a lovely young woman, and after months preparing for her show, we are more than satisfied with how it all went.

- Kerry Du Pont
Mercury TV, New Zealand


PS - The flu-ridden crew didn't recover... in fact one of the crew (who produced some spectacular video sequences that were projected onto the big screen) was coughing all the way through her concert, right beside me in fact!

PPS - I hear Hayley is coming to the UK for a concert in either March or May next year, so look out for her!


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