Classical Elizabeth Kerr
Melbourne-based Wilma Smith isn’t letting Covid disrupt tour plans.
Violinist Wilma Smith is one of the country’s most outstanding and beloved musicians. Describing herself as “proudly Pasifika”, Fiji-born Smith became well known to audiences here in 1987 when Chamber Music New Zealand invited her to return from overseas successes to establish the New Zealand String Quartet. She was the ensemble’s first violinist until 1993, then spent a decade as concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Since leaving in 2004 to lead the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Smith has been Australia-based. After retiring from the MSO in 2014, she increased her focus on chamber music, frequently creating ensembles with lively musical chemistry and younger players. She returns to New Zealand most years to perform, often bringing musical friends with her.
She slipped back to New Zealand at midnight recently, just before the transTasman bubble closed indefinitely. This month and next, she is touring the country with the Argyle Trio, playing violin with starry young New Zealand cellist Matthias Balzat, temporarily back from Germany. The border closure prevented young Australian pianist Laurence Matheson from joining them, but Smith’s long-time colleague Michael Houstoun has taken his place.
Balzat and Smith were scheduled to play Beethoven’s final Piano Trio, Archduke Trio, with Houstoun at his “farewell” concert in Auckland last year.
With Covid disruptions, neither that performance nor his planned retirement took place, the latter to the delight of Houstoun’s many fans. So, Archduke has been included in this tour programme, which opens with Beethoven’s very first Trio, described by Smith as “sunny and brilliant”, with the lush colours and Gallic charm of Ravel’s only Trio in between. Houstoun should be in his favourite musical element, having performed Beethoven’s piano repertoire to acclaim throughout his career.
With her old friend, bassist Victoria Jones, Smith is co-artistic director of the annual Martinborough Music Festival, a boutique chamber music event in the small Wairarapa town that always sells out. Disappointed that she and Australian colleagues were unable to attend last year, Smith is delighted that the Argyle Trio will perform in Martinborough in September alongside New Zealand colleagues in a set of splendidly varied festival programmes. l