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Having endured a year in which one of our favourite cities
kept wobbling, and things kept tipping off a boat in the Bay of
Plenty, here is some of the music that has been shaken out of
our local composers, and is coming to you through this year:
The New Zealand
International Arts Festival
in Wellington has again
presented some very
special experiences. Top
of my list would be Jenny
McLeod’s opera Hōhepa,
which tells the story of the
Māori chief Hōhepa Te
Umuroa, presented by a
cast of outstanding local
opera singers and the Vector
Wellington Orchestra.
Jack Body
Also in the Festival, the NZ String Quartet presented Ross
Harris’ Variation 25, and together with Jonathan Lemalu they
premiered the newest work from Christchurch-based composer
Gao Ping: Three Poems by Mu Xin. The NZTrio worked with
percussionists Lenny Sakofsky and Jeremy Fitzsimons to
present works by American composers George Crumb and
Morton Feldman (rarely heard here) alongside favourites by
local composers Victoria Kelly and John Psathas, and a new
work by Jack Body.
The International Festival’s travelling component, ‘Art on the
Move’ included events by the Topp Twins and the extraordinary
songs of Maisey Rika, who also performed with four other
songstresses – local and international – as part of the Barefoot
Divas, with their ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ show.
The NZ Symphony Orchestra has woven NZ music through
their year of programmes, the first being Ross Harris’ The
Floating Bride, which again brought the Wellington composer’s
talents together with those of soprano Jenny Wollerman and
poet Vincent O’Sullivan. In March, the orchestra’s national
tour included a new work by Kenneth Young, the orchestra’s
April concerts will include the classic Symphony No. 3 by
Douglas Lilburn, and in September their North Island tour will
NEW MUSIC
FROM THE
SHAKY ISLES
By Glenda Keam, President of the Composers’ Association
of New Zealand (CANZ)
Hōhepa Te Umuroa
include Anthony Ritchie’s Diary of a Madman: Dedication to
Shostakovich.
The orchestra’s NZ Music Month special concert, which happily
will again be presented in both Auckland and Wellington,
is titled “Wonderland”, and features Chris Cree Brown’s
and (artist) Julia Morrison’s Celestial Bodies for orchestra,
electroacoustic sounds and visual images. Lyell Cresswell’s
Concerto for String Quartet will bring together the NZSO and
the NZ String Quartet, and the orchestra will perform with
Helen Medlyn to present Gillian Whitehead’s monodrama Alice,
an award-winning work written for the Auckland Philharmonia
in 2002.
This year’s Auckland Philharmonia programme offers two
locally-based works in NZ Music Month, with Ross Harris’s new
Cello Concerto (written for, and performed by Li Wei Qin) on
May 3rd, and their ‘Remix the Orchestra’ collaboration with Hip
hop artists on May 31st. Their June programme includes a new
work by Jack Body.
The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra is offering an interesting
programme this year, an impressive achievement after
the challenges of the past year in finding an appropriate
performing space in their city. Their March concert included
Anthony Ritchie’s French Overture, in June Gareth Farr’s From
the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs will sit alongside other
works that relate to the sea, and in August they will premiere
a new work by Gao Ping. The end of NZ Music Month will be
marked by the CSO collaboration with The Adults, a trio of
lead singers from Shihad, Dimmer and Fur Patrol.
Our music will also be travelling to Los Angeles in April, where
a 10-day programme of NZ music will be presented, including
works by Chris Cree Brown, James Gardner, Ross Harris,
Samuel Holloway, Leonie Holmes, Michael Norris, John Psathas
and Gillian Whitehead. Most of the music will be performed by
American performers from CalArts (California Institute for the
Arts), together with a handful of NZ-based performers including
Richard Nunns, who will be on his return from performances in
London with the NZ String Quartet.
18 Random Notes Musical Instrument Specialists since 1888