Cellophonia one highlight of NZSM Summer Course

Cellophonia one highlight of NZSM Chamber Music Summer Course

A clutch of cellists? A conspiracy, chatter or collaboration of cellists?

Whatever the correct collective noun, Te Kōkī, the New Zealand School of Music will present ‘Cellophonia’ on Sunday 27 November – a concert from an ensemble of up to 20 cellos, including some of the top professional musicians in the country.

Directed by Inbal Megiddo, NZSM Lecturer in Cello Studies, the ensemble will include Rolf Gjelsten, cellist with the New Zealand String Quartet, Ashley Brown from NZTrio, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Principal Andrew Joyce and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Principal Eliah Sakakushev, as well as other members of the NZSO and Vector Wellington Orchestra.

“The concert will be one of the results of an intensive five-week NZSM Chamber Music course starting in mid-November,” explains Megiddo. “The Cello Ensemble will be formed by these course tutors playing alongside the students. For several of the pieces on the programme we will also involve other local cellists, and so we hope to have an ensemble of up to 20 players for the final concert.”

‘Cellophonia’ is just one of the concerts being presented during the NZSM Summer Chamber Music Course. “As well as our own expert faculty,” Megiddo continues, “course tutors include guest musicians from the Sydney Conservatorium and Yale University in the United States. For example Paul Rickard-Ford and Natalia Sheludiakova from Sydney will present a concert of works for two pianos on Tuesday 22 November and violinist Sarita Kwok from Yale will perform a concert with Jian Liu, NZSM Lecturer in Piano, on Friday 9 December. Jian, Martin Riseley and I will give a piano trio concert on Thursday 24 November as well.

A veritable feast of chamber music for Wellington audiences! And aside from the latter Hunter Series performance from the NZSM Trio, the concerts will be free.

By the way – the above suggestions for a collective noun for a group of cellos came from a 2010 online competition run by the New Zealand String Quartet. The winner: a spike of cellos!

If you are a cellist and you would like to join the clutch, conspiracy, chatter, collaboration or spike of cellos for ‘Cellophonia’, contact Inbal Megiddo at Inbal.megiddo@nzsm.ac.nz or call NZSM Reception on 04 463 5369 for more information.

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