Noteworthy
Lots of treats lie in store for lovers of classical music.
Constructing a great classical concert programme is a special skill. Like exhibition curation, it requires knowledge, aesthetic sense and a curious, adventurous spirit able to find and reveal artistic connections. This week, lucky audiences at the Adam Chamber Music Festival’s boutique “Summer Celebration” in Nelson will enjoy seven concerts created by two programmers who have long honed their curatorial craft. Artistic directors Helene Pohl and Gillian Ansell of the NZ String Quartet (NZSQ ) combine top New Zealand musicians in cleverly designed programmes of classical favourites and newer works for ensembles ranging from two to six players.
The 30-year-old Nelson-based festival, faced with pandemic challenges, presented its first shorter “Celebration” in February 2021. Hugely successful, with sold-out concerts, delighted audiences and performances by some of New Zealand’s finest musicians, it featured both seasoned professionals and exciting younger talent. RNZ Concert is broadcasting four programmes from that celebration as well as the Grand Opening from the full-length 2019 festival.
Joining the NZSQ and NZTrio at this year’s event are pianists Jian Liu and Diedre Irons and Adam first-timers the Morton Trio (violin, horn and piano), harpist Helen Webby and soprano Michaela Cadwgan. Repertoire ranges from Bach’s Art of Fugue through Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Schnittke, with more recent works including Soviet-Australian Elena Kats-Chernin’s exhilarating horn trio Velvet Revolution and an all-Kiwi composer concert for Waitangi Day. The world premiere of Manaaki by Philip Brownlee and Ariana Tikao opens the Grand Finale concert, which closes with Tchaikovsky’s big, lush string sextet, Souvenir de Florence.
Pohl and Ansell’s programming flair also features in this year’s Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts, the pair curating a themed five-concert Chamber Music Series within the upcoming festival. Mozart’s Gran Partita for 13 winds and Enescu’s String Octet offer the glories of big ensembles in a “Chamber Music Spectacular”, and more intimate pleasures are found in “Bach by Candlelight”, “Voice of the Whale” with George Crumb’s famous amplified Vox Balaenae and “Hine-pū-tehue” featuring Manaaki again alongside music by Gillian Whitehead. In “21 x 21” soprano Jenny Wollerman and pianist Liu offer a delicious programme of new songs by female composers and poets of Aotearoa. ▮
On RNZ Concert: Four programmes from Adam Summer Celebration 2021, January 24-29; Grand Opening concert, Adam Chamber Music Festival 2019, January 30.
Live: 2022 Adam Summer Celebration, Nelson, February 3-6; Chamber Music Series in Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts 2022, February 25-March 19.