Brilliant French programme with Anne Sophie von Otter and Wellington Orchestra at Town Hall
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Felix the Quartet’s inspiring concert at Waikanae
By Rosemary Collier, July 24, 2011
The usual substantial audience defied the weather, and came to hear Felix the Quartet, made up of prominent members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. There was a change to the programme: the music for the work by Esa-Pekka Salonen is somehow lost in transit, Leppänen explained, and so John Psathas’s piece was substituted. It and the Beethoven Op 59 no.1 Quartet were played recently by the... read more
Enchanting concert by Antipodes Trio at Waikanae
By Lindis Taylor, March 13, 2011
One of the reasons for going to this concert was the patriotic impulse to hear a Wellington musician who’s making good in Europe. Nicholas Hancox took his B Mus (Hons) at Victoria University and has now completed a master’s at the University of Michigan. Learning never ends: he has moved to Munich for post-graduate work at the Hochschule (Academy) für Musik und Theater. The group’s violinist Christobel... read more
‘A-Mews-ment’ in Nelson with classical pieces
By Lindis Taylor, February 9, 2011
The remarks by both Euan Murdoch and Douglas Mews on the tuning, instrument characteristics and performance techniques in the late 18th century were very illuminating for the audience, both those with some familiarity with and knowledge of the issues, and others... read more
Whanganui hosts a sell-out opera school gala concert
By Lindis Taylor, January 13, 2011
Thursday 13 January 2011
For the first time, the gala concert to end the summer opera school was a sell-out. A brilliantly contrived TV item may have been partly responsible, with a rehearsed ‘ad hoc’ performance in a street market a couple of days before featuring the brindisi from La traviata.
In recent years a group has become established, Wanganui Opera Week, which helps popularise and... read more
Organist Richard Apperley celebrates Advent and Christmas
By Rosemary Collier, December 10, 2010
A fine organ recital from Richard Apperley consisted of mainly short seasonal pieces. All the composers were either born in the twentieth century, or did most of their composing in that century. Three New Zealand composers featured.
Andrew Baldwin was Composer in Residence at the Cathedral from 2006-2008, and wrote An Advent Prelude for Apperley in 2009; this was its first public performance. Charming chord... read more
Festival Singers delight with Rossini’s “Little, Solemn Mass”
By Peter Mechen, November 20, 2010
"Good God—behold completed this poor little Mass—is it indeed sacred music [la musique sacrée] that I have just written, or merely some damned music [la sacré musique]? You know well, I was born for comic opera. Little science, a little heart, that is all. So may you be blessed, and grant me Paradise!"
With these words Gioachino Rossini prefaced his Petite Messe Solennelle, written in 1863, and called elsewhere by... read more
New Zealand String Quartet: Schumann put in the shade by Shostakovich……
By Peter Mechen, August 28, 2010
Poor old Schumann! Of course he had no way of seeing Shostakovich coming when he wrote his quartets, and therefore didn't feel the need to overtly externalise the flamboyant, turbulent side of his nature in much of his music, especially in a medium which was generally regarded as a vehicle for expression of a reasonably circumspect provenance. True, he had Beethoven's magnificently virile example as a writer of quartets... read more
Grant Tilly at the Southcoast Gallery, Cuba St.
By admin, June 25, 2010
Cuba Street in Wellington is developing its own special character when it comes to galleries.Amongst my favourites are Cameron Drawbridge's South Coast Gallery the Fibre Art “Minerva” Gallery and the” Thistle” with its enterprising youthful exhibitions. All are worth visiting, all bring something special to the Wellington Art Scene. Is Cuba Street doing what our Wellington Gallery should be doing ?
Although very small, the Southcoast Gallery hosts a delightful... read more
Warmth amid the cold – Song Recital at Old St.Paul’s
By Peter Mechen, June 8, 2010
Despite the rain and cold doing its best to dampen people's concert-going inclinations, soprano Janey MacKenzie got a heartening and enthusiastic attendance of determined music-lovers at her lunchtime recital with pianist Robyn Jaquiery at Old St.Paul's Church.
The performers very quickly made up for the inclement weather through their communicative warmth and whole-hearted enjoyment of what they were presenting for their audience's grateful pleasure, an interchange evident from the response... read more
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