Hayley Westenra Concert
The New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra sang to a packed marquee of more than 700 people at a free concert in the grounds of the Zonnebeke Chateau on the evening of October 4. A number of other people, unable to get in, stood outside after the back of the marquee was opened.
Horomona Horo opened the concert with a haunting melody on taonga puoro, traditional Maori instrument, before Miss Westenra appeared on stage to sing her first song Pokarekara Ana. She was accompanied throughout her "Songs for Passchendaele" concert by the New Zealand violinist Fiona Pears and the English pianist Ian Tilley.
The first half of her 50-minute programme included Pokarekare Ana, The Water is Wide, Danny Boy and Amazing Grace. Fiona Pears then played Memories of Martin and Mary before Miss Westenra retured to the stage with Prayer, Lascia Ch'io Pianga, Ave Maria, Mummers' Dance and Hine e Hine.
Five buglers from the Last Post Association then blew the Last Post for a still and standing audience before returning to the Menin Gate for the nightly 8 pm Last Post Ceremony.
The Mayor of Zonnebeke, Mr Dirk Cardoen, presented Miss Westenra with a new book on Passchendaele before she sang
Sonny, accompanying herself on the keyboard. She received a long, standing ovation from an audience that was completely under her spell.
Television interviews followed, notably one by the national Flemish programme "De Rode Loper" (meaning The Red Carpet) which screened the following night. Another, by regional television, is currently streaming on the sites of several major Belgian newspapers and can be seen here. The title of the interview, which is interspersed with clips from the concert, uses an old Flemish saying which is difficult to translate but which roughly means "19-year-old charms/sings the stars from the heavens". Another local one begins with the words: "If angels existed and could sing, then we saw and heard one last night".
Earlier in the day Miss Westenra had sung Abide with Me at the ANZAC Commemoration Service at Tyne Cot Cemetery.
During her two-day visit she called at the Mesen / Messines Town Hall to meet the Mayor, Mr Sandy Evrard, and also lunched at the Irish Peace Village in the town. Led by the New Zealand historian and author Dr Chris Pugsley, she and her father then visited the battlefields of 's Graventafel and Passchendaele as well as Tyne Cot Cemetery. It was at 's Graventafel Ridge that a relative had lost his life shortly after the First Battle of Passchendaele. He is commemorated on the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing at Tyne Cot.