Regent’s birthday kicks off in style
May 4, 1998. Who can believe it is 20 years since the curtain went up on the Regent Alive Festival, celebrating the reopening of the newly restored Regent on Broadway – a performing arts centre that is the envy of most other cities in New Zealand?
The 20th anniversary celebrations began in fine style on Saturday as Michael Houstoun brought together a group of nationally acclaimed musicians.
That Houstoun should headline this concert is entirely appropriate, as he is an active fundraiser for the theatre and the Steinway piano, which graced the building soon after its reopening. He has also acted as patron of the theatre for most of the past 20 years.
Saturday’s concert featured Houstoun himself opening the evening with a mesmerising performance of Beethoven’s Sonata in E flat, Op 31 No 3, followed by a duet with Diedre Irons. They further enchanted the audience with Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor.
The second half of the concert featured a variety of glorious vocal items performed by Jenny Wollerman and Anna Pierard, with Houstoun providing a sympathetic accompaniment. The evening concluded with a charming performance of Faure’s Quartet in C minor, Opus
15, where Houstoun was joined by Martin Riseley, on the violin, Andrew Thomson, viola, and Andrew Joyce, cello.
If I did have any concerns, they can only be minor. But, had the order of items been slightly altered, allowing the vocal items to conclude the evening, this would have been more relaxing for the audience, while providing Houstoun the opportunity to take an encore. However, as always, Houstoun is far too humble to take the acclaim for which he is most certainly due.
The 20th anniversary celebrations continue at the Regent throughout the year and feature an excellent variety of concerts.