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Ngā kōrero hou

Experience Jerome's collection of around 40 unique and rare Māori musical instruments, from the Ngūru (whale’s tooth nose flute) to the Pōrutu Pounamu (greenstone long flute) and from the Koauau Tōroa (albatross wing bone flute) to the unique Pūtōrino (a cocoon-shaped trumpet flute made from the mighty tōtara tree). These beautiful sounds allow for a journey into self by creating a safe and nurturing space. In a fast-paced, busy world, Oro Atua gives us an opportunity for reflection and self-healing through the vibrational power of nature’s sound.

Guest curators from the NZSO, Hamish McKeich (Principal Conductor in Residence) and Bridget Douglas (Section Principal Flute) present works by three of Aotearoa’s most exciting young composers, all graduates of the NZSM.

Multi award-winning composer, Salina Fisher, wrote ‘Rainphase’ when she was the 2015 NZSO NYO Composer in Residence. The work has had phenomenal success and has since been performed around the world.

Reuben Jelleyman has received international recognition for his works and is currently studying at the Conservatoire de Paris. ‘Vespro’ was written when he was the 2017 NZSO NYO Composer in Residence.

Tabea Squire was the youngest ever NZSO NYO Composer in Residence in 2008. ‘Ao’ was written in 2016 and performed by the NZSO at the NZ Composer Sessions in 2017.

Guest curator: Hamish McKeich & Bridget Douglas | NZSO

Chamber Music New Zealand made its first commission in 1959, a trio for violin, cello and piano from Edwin Carr. CMNZ has commissioned another 87 pieces since, from over 40 New Zealand composers, for performance by top New Zealand groups and international touring ensembles.Moving backward through this catalogue, this playlist comprises four pieces written in relationship to traditional classical forms.

Claire Cowan’s Subtle Dances was co-commissioned with NZTrio for their 2013 tour “Old World : New World”. Driven by the cello, i. subtle dances is a smoky, low-lit flamenco. In ii. elegy muted strings accompany the piano’s jazz-tinged lament. In iii. nerve lines a violin melody wails over churning chords, eventually being caught up in the energetic crescendo.

Gillian Whitehead wrote Quintet for Brisbane-based Southern Cross Soloists and their 2002 New Zealand tour. “[T]his piece explores more ‘classical’ ideas than some of my other recent pieces” writes Whitehead in the foreword, meaning the 6-note theme as well as the traditions addressed by each section. The middle of the piece is an oboe cadenza and what follows is a reversion of what preceded.

John Elmsley’s Passacaglia was written for Auckland Chamber Music Players’ 1984 tour. The hallmarks of the passacaglia form—a looped descending bass line and a triple meter—are often obscured, though never discarded, and the traditional somber tone is intact in the slower middle section.

Tectonic Echoes II opens with a dialogue between Māori and European traditions, firstly in Whitehead’s (NZ) evocative response to Horomona Horo’s taonga pūoro call, and then in the collaborative unity presented by Mayall’s (NZ) beautifully elemental work. 

Finally our attention is drawn to the battle between Russia’s aching angst and America’s swing and swagger; Schnittke in one corner and Schnyder in the other.

Guest curator: NZTrio

* NZTrio’s Tectonic series features intense examination of the fundamental forces that shape environments and communities:

We bear witness to the evolving relationship between Māori and Pakeha, and also inspect the struggle between Cold War superpowers Russia and America.

Over the last 20 years, Stroma has been a major force for musical exploration in New Zealand, bringing to life classic repertoire of the twentieth century alongside new works composed specially for us. This virtual concert is a sampler of some of the highlights of our performances over the years, lovingly recorded for posterity by RNZ Concert and SOUNZ.

The concert begins where it all started, with the music of Douglas Lilburn, specifically one of his Nine Short Pieces, played by pianist Emma Sayers. It receives an eloquent, evocative response for the ensemble composed by Salina Fisher. This is followed by an ‘opening up’ of space and time, in Jeroen Speak’s intricate and compelling work ‘Eratosthene’s Sieve’.

John Rimmer’s ‘Where Sea Meets Sky 2’, inspired by a view of the merging horizon observed during a trans-Tasman flight, is followed by Gillian Whitehead’s evocative ‘Hineraukatauri’, with Bridget Douglas (flutes) joined by Alistair Fraser (tango puoro).

The concert finishes on a high note with Jasmine Lovell-Smith’s crossover work for Stroma and jazz octet The Jac.

Guest curator: STROMA

NZTrio’s Tectonic series features intense and intimate inspection of the fundamental forces that shape environments and communities: Aotearoa’s fraught relationship with the United Kingdom, and the struggle between Cold War superpowers Russia and America. Tectonic Echoes I compares and contrasts the very English sounds of Frank Bridge and the UK’s shining star Rebecca Clarke with NZTrio’s commission from Martin Lodge (NZ), a response to the evolving Māori – Pakeha relationship, and a time-twisting earlier commission from composing patriarch, Ross Harris.

*A special concert including non-New Zealand composers released during the COVID-19 pandemic in support of New Zealand musicians.