I was at the third of the three performances of this startling and brilliant staging of Mozart’s great comedy. It was at the initiative of Rhona Fraser who was both producer and the Countess, as well as owner of the property in a natural amphitheatre against the beech forest behind Day’s Bay. Her own background, as a singer of some enterprise, made this project look inevitable. Music graduate of Victoria University, studies in... read more

Can you cope with all these horns? the name of the group seems to ask.  Yes, when they are played as expertly as Ed Allen and Heather Thompson play them. The Beethoven sextet proved to be enchanting music, and being an early work, was rather unlike what we think of when we hear the composer’s name.  The playing was very expert, as one would expect from NZSO musicians.  There was... read more