composer, sound artist
Rattle Records have just released 11 Frames, a collection of music for violin and piano by New Zealand composers, performed by Andrew Beer and Sarah Watkins. One of the tracks is Water Sketch with Tui. Many thanks to both of them for a beautiful performance, and to the production team of Kenneth Young, Steve Garden, and John Kim for the great-sounding recording.
The album is available via Bandcamp:
Nelson Symphony Orchestra’s next concert, on 27 July, includes a performance of Ko te tātai whetū, featuring Ariana Tikao and Bob Bickerton as soloists. I’m really looking forward to another performance of this piece, and to working with Ariana and Bob to put the performance together.
The programme also includes music by Chris Adams and Douglas Lilburn.
27 July 2019, 7:30 pm
Nelson Centre of Musical Arts
Details and bookings here
I’m very happy to share the release of Lutalica, by Vancouver-based flautist Mark McGregor. This recording is part of a project featuring a series of concerts of music from around the Pacific Rim, followed by studio recordings.
It includes a spectacular performance of Harakeke, and I recommend the whole album. Mark’s put together a great programme; each piece has its own strong identity, and there’s also a really interesting network of points of contact between them. There’s a second set of recordings on the way – look out for it.
Stroma’s next concert, Tātai Whetū, is a programme of works for taonga puoro and ensemble. Featuring Ariana Tikao and Alistair Fraser, performing music by Ariana Tikao, Philip Brownlee, Dylan Lardelli, Tristan Carter, Gillian Whitehead, and Hirini Melbourne.
The programme includes a new version for chamber ensemble of Ko te tātai whetū. The smaller forces have allowed us to free it up a lot, so that the ensemble players can follow the taonga puoro in improvisation. It’s striking how a second strand of taonga puoro multiplies the richness of the palette. Rehearsals are underway, and it’s sounding great.
The concert is at the Hannah Playhouse (Wellington), Wednesday 28 June, 7:30 pm.
Further details:
Stroma’s website
This Friday, 22 April, at 7pm NZST, Radio New Zealand Concert will broadcast the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s Kaleidoscope Colours concert from June last year.
This includes the premiere of Ko te tātai whetū, the piece for taonga pūoro and orchestra composed in collaboration with Ariana Tikao. The complete concert also includes music by Peter Sculthorpe, Lissa Meridan, and Béla Bartók.
Thanks to Darryl Stack, David Houston, and Andrew Collins for the beautiful recording.
I don’t think this is the first broadcast, but this time I’ve spotted it before it happens.
A video of the premiere of Ko te tātai whetū is now online:
Performed by Ariana Tikao, with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ben Northey.
Recorded at the Airforce Museum, Wigram, Christchurch, on 13 June 2015.
Audio recorded by Radio New Zealand Concert, filmed and edited by Chris Watson for the Resound Project for SOUNZ.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in the project, and especially to Ariana for the rich collaborative relationship. I wonder what else we might make together.
I’ve been collaborating with Ariana Tikao on a concerto for taonga pūoro and orchestra. The piece was commissioned by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and we’re very grateful for their support and commitment to the project. We’ve also been working with Dr Richard Nunns, and it’s been wonderful to work with Richard again.
Ko te tātai whetū will have its premiere on Saturday 13 June, at the Air Force Museum of NZ, in Wigram.
Details of the concert are here.
It’s that time of year again. Ben Hoadley is presenting a concert of woodwind music by New Zealand composers at St Andrews on the Terrace in Wellington.
Rowena Simpson and Kamala Bain will be performing Night Countdown, and the programme also includes pieces by Douglas Lilburn, Helen Fisher, Robbie Ellis, James Gardner, and Ross Harris.
Wednesday 13 May, 12:15 pm
St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington
Free entry
There’s also a concert in Auckland on Friday 15 May, with a different programme.
My friends Rowena Simpson (soprano) and Kamala Bain (recorders) are giving two concerts in Wellington next week. The programme is titled Travelling Spirits, and features old and new music for voice and recorder.
The new music includes pieces by Nicola LeFanu, John Rodgers, Karel van Steenhoven, Lyell Cresswell, Dorothy Ker, Helen Fisher, as well as the première of my new piece, Night Countdown, commissioned by Rowena and Kamala.
The concerts are:
Wednesday 29 October, 12.15-1.00pm at St Marks Church, 58 Woburn Rd, Lower Hutt
Sunday 2 November, 2.00-3.00pm at Futuna Chapel, Friend St, Karori, Wellington
There’s a review of the New Zealand Music for Woodwind concert on the Middle C site, written by Frances Robinson.
It seems she enjoyed Stolen Time:
The piece unfolded as a delicate counterpoint between the two solo voices, opening with a spare unison melody that evoked, for me, images of Fiordland bush in the dead of night. There we can indeed steal time from our over-busy urban lives, and listen to the enquiring bird calls that cut into the matchless silence of the rainforest. The recorder floated on top with light, trilling, fluid lines, over intermittent calls from a Kiwi exploring a few notes outside its normal range, and the occasional honk of a bittern. All closed into the night time silence with another spare, fading unison line…… I was left hoping that we will hear more of Philip Brownlee’s wind writing in future.
I’m intrigued by the way she’s formed an interpretation that relates the sounds of the music to something from her own experience. From the composer’s point of view, I’d call that a success, at least for this particular listener.