Heath Quartet: Unlocking Classical Music for Kiwi Kids

Heath Quartet: Unlocking Classical Music for Kiwi Kids

Why would a group of school students from Lower Hutt be at all interested in the music of Bach or Haydn? What would a piece of music written so long ago have anything to do with our lives? "Without music, life would be a mistake" said Nietzsche. Not the most chirpy of philosophers, but he's short and to the point. Music provides the emotional toolbox we need to endure life's journey. Our children need it, and so do you. Chamber Music New Zealand is bringing Heath Quartet to Aotearoa this June, helping you and Kiwi kids unlock that toolbox and spark a life-long love of chamber music.

Exciting, dynamic and down-to-earth, “Heath Quartet is one of the most thrilling young string quartets to come out of the UK in the past decade, " says CMNZ Chief Executive Peter Walls. There is nothing haughty or remote about this ensemble: they are hands on - heavily involved in the essential role of music outreach with Wigmore Hall in the UK.

Now kids and whanau in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin now have a terrific opportunity on the 22nd, 27th and 30th June with CMNZ's Close Encounters concerts, a chance to hear world-class Heath Quartet in a fun-filled concert bringing alive the sounds of the string quartet for the students. In Auckland, Sistema Aotearoa and CMNZ invite the community to Otara to support kids in their free and informal concert (see details below). The Wellington and Dunedin Close Encounters concert will be animateured by local entertainer, children’s book author and composer Chris Lam Sam. “We will be taking an interactive and close up look into some of the 'magical mechanics’ of a string quartet.” (To find out more about CMNZ's Close Encounters program, visit www.chambermusic.co.nz/closeencounters )

For those of us who are now past those halcyon days of school (but school kids can come along too!), Heath Quartet's upcoming national concert tour 23rd June – 2 July offers works by Bach, Haydn and Britten, and CMNZ commission Te Koanga, by brilliant Kiwi composer Gareth Farr – “this piece is a celebration of life and the happiness the return of the sun gives us.”

If there is a role for music, it is in opening channels of feeling that have become confounded by the demands of daily life, and is just as important for our school kids as it is for ordinary Kiwis. Whether it be as part of your school day, or in the concert halls, stay in Nietzsche’s good books and bring music into your life with Heath Quartet this June.

Heath Quartet tours NZ 23 June - 2 July. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit chambermusic.co.nz/heath

ENDS

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