New Zealand: May 2006 Report
(from left) Composers Ross Harris (NZ),
Tan Dun (China/US) and John Psathas (NZ)
discuss their 'Art and Belief' in the
New Zealand International Arts
Festival Seminar chaired by New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra CEO Peter Walls.
The 2006 New Zealand International Arts Festival has just completed a very successful season in Wellington. A feature of the music programme within the festival was the emphasis on living composers. Tan Dun (China/USA) and James MacMillan (UK) were both guests of the festival and were invited to conduct their own works. Tan conducted three performances of his opera Tea, while MacMillan conducted the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and combined choirs of the Festival and TOWER Voices New Zealand Youth Choir in Quickening.
Alongside these musicians, New Zealand composers were well represented. The New Zealand String Quartet for example, performed two programmes, each of which featured a work by the guest composer/conductor. Surrounding the works by Tan and MacMillan were Blood Red Roses by Ross Harris, Owhiro and Fracturing Frenzy by Gareth Farr, Kartsigar by John Psathas; and three quintets — Campur Sari by Jack Body (a work which also features a gamelan player/singer), And Every Sparkle Shiver by Lyell Cresswell with guest pianist Michael Houstoun, and Hine-pu-te-hue by Gillian Whitehead with Richard Nunns as guest taonga puro (traditional Maori musical instruments) artist. The concerts were uncompromising, challenging, stimulating and played with conviction and energy to an appreciative audience.
Ross Harris was also represented by two works in the concert conducted by James MacMillan. As Though There Were No God is a complex work reflecting Harris's reaction to the recent conflicts in the Middle East, while his Music for Jonny, for strings, is a more poignant response to the death of his young nephew. This latter work was toured by the NZSO to the UK, Netherlands and Japan in late 2005 and MacMillan reportedly described it as the most beautiful string work written in the last few decades. Harris will also be heard in Sweden in June. At the Edge of Silence, a chamber quintet of his, has been chosen for the IAMIC Conference Concert in Göteborg where it will be played by the Ensemble Gageego.
The New Zealand String Quartet and taonga
puoro (Maori musical instrument)
specialist Richard Nunns rehearse for
their performance of Gillian Whitehead's
Hine-pu-te-hue as part of the New Zealand
International Arts Festival.
International connections also featured in an event called Zeibekiko. This is the name of a style of Greek music and dance, and New Zealand composer John Psathas used the Zeibekiko as the basis for a series of arrangements, improvisations and original compositions inspired by 2,500 years of Greek music. He first conceived and created the work in association with the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble in a 2004 performance (and consequent CD of the same name) which included guest Greek virtuosi Manos Achalinotopoulos (clarinet) and Vangelis Karypis (percussion). These two extraordinary musicians were also guests at this International Festival, alongside the New Zealand contemporary music ensemble Stroma, conducted by Hamish McKeich.
With so much activity, nationally and internationally, New Zealand's composers and performers look forward to sharing our particular voice with participants in two international conferences in 2007. Both the Asian Composers League (February) and IAMIC (June) Conferences will be held in Wellington, New Zealand.
Stephen Gibbs
Development and Marketing Coordinator
