To hear young performers is always a pleasure; here we had seven young woodwind players, along with three pianists.  The first piece used  a student pianist, and the Bach work was unaccompanied.  Hugh McMillan and Kirsten Robertson were authoritative pianists for the other items. Bridget Douglas, principal flute with the NZSO is acting Head of Winds, and she introduced the concert.  After that, the players introduced their items, and it... read more

The woodwind (more specifically, the Saxophone) department of the New Zealand School of Music has become a fairly conspicuous player in the school’s activities. It’s led by Deborah Rawson, who, as well as being a clarinetist often seen in professional orchestral ranks, plays saxophone, usually the soprano sax. While she introduced this lunchtime concert, the ensemble was directed by Simon Brew, an ‘artist teacher’ in the school. The concert began with... read more

The New Zealand School of Music helped keep the Queen's Birthday road toll down by attracting scores of secondary and tertiary students to a sort of immersion programme that would prepare secondary school competitors in the NZCT Chamber Music Contest and general tuition for chamber music groups in a communal atmosphere, and keep them off the roads. It had been a busy week for many of the participants, as I... read more

There's more "classical" music written for the saxophone than you might think exists - after all the instrument has been around since 1846, and as such is more "established " than its twentieth-century prominence in jazz might suggest. Still, there remains an "exoticism" about the instrurment's particular sound for classically-attuned ears such as mine(!), and one which I find particularly exciting whenever I hear it, be it solo, in... read more