NZSM 4 CHCH concert

NZSM 4 CHCH concert

Four Christchurch musicians were guests of honour in the capital late last week when Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music presented a concert in support of their southern colleagues.

The concert, called NZSM 4 CHCH, was the first in the NZSM’s Friday at 5 series and it consisted entirely of music by Christchurch composers, both jazz and 'classical'. “We wanted to express our support and solidarity for our colleagues in Christchurch,” says NZSM Events Coordinator Stephen Gibbs, “and we felt that a concert of music by Cantabrians, for Cantabrians and involving Cantabrians, was a really appropriate way of doing that.”

The performers included NZSM Head of Strings, Martin Riseley (violin), who was born and raised in Christchurch and Prof Donald Maurice (viola) who has long associations with the city. They were joined Helene Pohl (violin) and Rolf Gjelsten (cello) from the NZ String Quartet in a performance of John Ritchie's String Quartet. “Professor Ritchie, who turns 90 this year, is the elder statesman of both New Zealand composition and music education in this country,” Gibbs continues, “and we were delighted to be able to fly him up for the event. Following the performance of his very personal and poignant string quartet he was very warmly applauded by the audience, many of whom have been influenced by his musical leadership over the years.”

Christchurch clarinetist and CSO Artistic Manager Gretchen Dunsmore was also a guest of NZSM in a performance of Chris Cree Brown’s Inner Bellow for solo clarinet and electronic sounds. This performance gave ample evidence of why the work was awarded the prestigious SOUNZ Contemporary Award in 2010. The innovative piece utilises the clarinet in unusual ways including playing on a partly disassembled instrument, and Dunsmore gave a superb exposition, full of subtlety, technical dexterity and dynamic energy.

There are many close connections between jazz musicians in the two cities and CPIT Jazz pianist Darren Pickering and drummer Ted Meager were eager to play on ‘real’ instruments again – there own instruments are still inaccessible in the ruined building. The two Christchurch jazz men joined NZSM jazz staff Paul Dyne, Colin Hemmingsen and Nick Tipping in performing a set of their own works.

“The audience were warmly appreciative of the range and artistry of all the musicians,” Gibbs says, “and while our Friday at 5 concerts are usually free, we encouraged a koha . As a result we will be able to contribute a little over $1200 to a fund being administered by Music Education Canterbury in support of musicians badly affected by the earthquakes.”

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