Radio Catherine Woulfe
The Best of the Week
SUNDAY JANUARY 15
Opera on Sunday (RNZ Concert, 6.00pm) “A seductively beautiful tale of love’s unfathomable nature,” the Met says of L’Amour de loin, the breakthrough opera for Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. First performed 17 years ago, this five-act opera premiered at the Met last month. Eric Owens plays the heartsick prince, and Susanna Phillips his rather more cautious potential lover across the sea. They’re introduced and brought together thanks to the messages of a pilgrim, played by Tamara Mumford. Saariaho’s music has been said to “vibrate in colours”.
But what you won’t see in the radio version are the dozens of ribbons of LED lights draped across the stage and down into the orchestra pit, depicting the great sea that divides the lovers. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/NZLsaariaho. For plot details, see tinyurl.com/ NZLsynopsis.
MONDAY JANUARY 16
Summer Sonic (RNZ Concert, Monday-Saturday, 1.00pm)
Over five days, Wellington ethnomusicologist Megan Collins traces the travels of five instruments – the violin, the guitar, the hammered dulcimer, the ukulele and the accordion – to illustrate the interplay between
globalisation and music.
Pedal Power (RNZ National, Monday-Friday, 10.30pm)
These stories come from Kiwi travel writer Roy Sinclair’s book Pedal Power: Great Bicycle Journeys, in which he recounts some of his greatest bike rides here and overseas. Sinclair, a former Press photographer and reporter, is fascinated by trains and bikes. His writing has a gentle, easy rhythm – at this time of night, it’s like lullabies for grown-ups.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18
Music Alive (RNZ Concert, 7.00pm) When renowned Italian conductor Claudio Abbado died in January 2014, the last orchestra he founded, Orchestra Mozart, fell silent. The orchestra had functioned for 10 years as a melting pot of established stars and young talent from around the world. Now, a crowdfunding campaign has brought the orchestra back together, and back to the stage, at Bologna’s Teatro Auditorium Manzoni. Bernard Haitink conducts and violinist Isabelle Faust is the soloist; the line-up includes Beethoven’s Egmont Overture Op 84 and Violin Concerto in D Major Op 61; and Schumann’s Symphony No 3 in
E flat Op 97.