One might have considered this an unorthodox programme, starting with a well-known Mozart symphony, ending with Prokofiev’s delightful Lieutenent Kije Suite and in between, songs by Mussorgsky and two jazz standards. The Mozart symphony is known as the 'Little G minor' Symphony to distinguish it from the big one, No 40. But it became easier to distinguish after its arresting opening was used as the introduction to the fictitious, misleading... read more

Founded in 2015 by the late and lamented Ian Lyons with colleague Liz Pritchett, Camerata is a group of musicians dedicated to the idea of making "high quality, joyful chamber music, accessible to aficionados and newcomers to classical music". Led by Anne Loeser, a violinist with the NZSO, the group consists of an amalgam of NZSO,Orchestra Wellington and Wellington Chamber Orchestra members, including in this evening's concert a number... read more

One of the pleasures of reviewing for me is fronting up to performances of music which I simply don’t know, and subsequently asking myself (sometimes in tones of amazement and disbelief) why it is I’ve never encountered this or that work before, finding it so beautiful / profound / thrilling /whatever! Thus it was with this often compelling production of Handel’s oratorio Theodora, a work the composer wrote towards... read more

I’m glad that last year I broke the ice with Sydney’s Pinchgut Opera, for my delightful experience with Grétry’s L’amant jaloux made me more than ready for another. The title Theodora did rang a bell: my first reaction was that it was an oratorio, as I was fairly sure that I’d recognise the names at least of most of Handel's operas that have been much performed. Furthermore, it was in... read more

This was the first of what promised to be a delightful and rewarding "Schubertiade" of concerts featuring various solo artists and ensembles. The title "Cornucopia" possibly referred to the variety of instruments used throughout the evening; or else, to the range and scope of the composer's writing for these instrumental combinations. Whatever the case, the results suited the "abundant supply of good things" description suggested by the word... read more

This concert at the Wellington Cathedral of St.Paul all but replicated the programme of an Edinburgh Festival Concert last year, performed on the 26th August at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, and featuring the premiere of Gareth Farr's work Relict Furies. On that occasion the Scottish Ensemble was joined by well-known mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly in the performance of Farr's piece, to great critical acclaim: - "a heart-stabbing evocation of... read more

The title given to this concert by the artists rolled off the tongue colourfully and evocatively enough - however, I confess that I found myself involuntarily drawn into slightly circumspect mode over the word "fire", having over the years grown somewhat weary of being assailed by regular barrages of hype from major arts organization by way of advertising their oncoming productions.

As it turned out, I needn't have... read more

A significant, important and moving concert. Significant? - with two works by Douglas Lilburn included, the orchestra splendidly commemorated the composer's 100th birthday year. Important? - the concert included in the programme Lilburn's First Symphony, one that ought to be in our main-centre orchestras' regular concert repertoire, but is hardly ever played - see "Stop Press" below, however. Moving? - the concert was dedicated by the orchestra to the... read more

Appropriately enough from my point of view, this concert began with the very same music that enthralled me almost fifty years ago, at the beginning of my very first concert-going experience in Palmerston North's Opera House. I still recall, at the start of the "William Tell" Overture, the beauty of those two NZBC Symphony Orchestra solo 'cellos (played by Wilf Simenauer and Farquhar Wilkinson), and the thrill of the... read more

This was a mighty concert experience - here were three musicians bent upon drawing all that they could out of the music and of themselves, resulting in performances of great excitement and intensity. The thrills and spills that inevitably came with such an approach simply added to the visceral nature of the experience, so that, at the end, we all felt we'd seen and heard something alive and real In... read more