Chamber Music New Zealand’s 2015 Season Has Jubilee Fever

Chamber Music New Zealand’s 2015 Season Has Jubilee Fever

* Six concerts in Wellington
* Season opens with UK's Brodsky Quartet in March
* Special event in Wellington Our Music: A Residency gives insight into the composer's world

Chamber Music New Zealand has launched a year-long celebration season for 2015, marking a very special anniversary – the 50th Jubilee of the iconic secondary schools’ Chamber Music Contest.

The programme for Chamber Music New Zealand’s 2015 Kaleidoscopes Concert Season features six concert tours to up to 15 centres around New Zealand, bookended by two international ensembles –UK’s Brodsky Quartet and the Vienna Piano Trio. Yet it’s the NZCT Chamber Music Contest Jubilee celebrations which sit at the heart of the 2015 concert season.
CMNZ chief executive Euan Murdoch said tens of thousands of New Zealanders have participated in the contest since its inception in 1965. “I vividly remember my experiences as a cellist playing in ensembles in the Contest. Our whole programme is brimming with great music – every performance is carefully crafted to celebrate the impact on the Contest on the lives of so many of us.”

Many of New Zealand’s best known musicians have been Contest Alumni and the 2015 programme includes concerts featuring alumni including pianists Michael Houstoun and John Chen, violinists Wilma Smith and Natalie Lin, the NZTrio – Justine Cormack, Ashley Brown and Sarah Watkins, composer John Psathas, and New Zealand String Quartet violist Gillian Ansell.

The highlight of the Jubilee celebrations is the Turnovsky Jubilee Ensemble tour to 15 centres in June featuring 10 past Contest winners performing programmes featuring Lilburn, Bach, Britten, Elgar and Mendelssohn’s exuberant Octet in E flat.

Led by charismatic violinist Wilma Smith, the ensemble spans 25 years of Contest Alumni with Natalie Lin (violin), Justine Cormack and Lara Hall (both on violin/viola), violists Gillian Ansell and Bryony Gibson-Cornish, cellists Ashley Brown and Victoria Simonsen, Victoria Jones on double bass and Bridget Douglas on flute.

The Chamber Music New Zealand Kaleidoscopes 2015 Concert Season opens in March with a tour by the brilliant UK ensemble, the Brodsky Quartet, formed more than 40 years ago and making their New Zealand-wide debut. The quartet is known for their spirited and virtuosic artistry and for their New Zealand tour they perform works by Purcell and Britten, alongside a monumental Beethoven string quartet in each city. The tour also includes a special extra performance Live at 6, featuring Bartók’s fifth string quartet and other surprises as part of Auckland Arts Festival.

New Zealand’s musical heritage is celebrated on a special tour featuring NZTrio, New Zealand String Quartet and New Zealand Chamber Soloists. Presented in association with SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, Our Music: Composer Connections has three programmes curated by five New Zealand composers – Alex Taylor, Karlo Margetić, Claire Cowan, Ross Harris and John Psathas – with their favourite ensemble in mind, showcasing music that deeply influences them in their work. These unique concerts will highlight the special connection between composer and performer.

CLiK the ensemble brings together three previous Chamber Music Contest winners – pianist John Chen (2001), and violinist Natalie Lin and cellist Edward King (2005) to perform a programme showcasing solos and duos, capped by Schubert’s gorgeous first piano trio. CLiK will perform in 10 centres from August 18 to 30.

Acclaimed New Zealand pianist Michael Houstoun is another past Chamber Music Contest participant and on his 15-centre concert tour – Inspired by Bach – he uncovers the musical influence of one of the world’s best-loved composers. Piano transcriptions, homages and a brand new work by Ross Harris feature on the programme and in selected centres, keen pianists will have the chance to workshop their favourite Bach piece or a work inspired by Bach, with guidance from leading New Zealand piano expert, Rae de Lisle.

Closing the 2015 season, the Vienna Piano Trio is a polished gem steeped in the grand Central European musical tradition. Touring to 10 centres from October 10 to 23, the ensemble-in-residence at Vienna’s Konzerthouse will explore diverse flavours of Haydn, Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert and Johannes Maria Staud’s ‘Für Bálint András Varga’ (Ten Miniatures for Piano Trio).

Also featuring throughout the season are works celebrating the centenary of iconic New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn. Lilburn works feature in the Turnovsky Jubilee Ensemble, CLiK the ensemble and Inspired by Bach and his birthday will be marked at a special free concert on Monday 2 November in Wellington in collaboration with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and featuring the Zephyr Wind Quintet performing Lilburn’s Wind Quintet.

Chamber Music New Zealand’s 2015 season also includes opportunities for music lovers to be more involved through two special events – Our Music: A Residency and Our Music: Open Stage.

During New Zealand Music Month 2015, Our Music: A Residency delves deeper into what makes composers tick. Taking place in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, these day-long university-based residencies feature musicians and composers from the Composer Connections concerts as they explain the process of conception to concert performance.

In 2015, CMNZ is encouraging amateur musicians from around New Zealand to come together to play chamber music as part of Our Music: Open Stage. The sessions will take place in all 10 centres during the afternoon of each of the Our Music: Composer Connections concerts and is open to all levels.

Tickets for the Chamber Music New Zealand Kaleidoscopes 2015 Concert Season are on public sale from Monday 24 November with subscriber bookings open from Friday 10 October. For full details visit www.chambermusic.co.nz
Chamber Music New Zealand acknowledges major funding from Creative New Zealand.

ENDS

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