Kiwi musos to stage second show at fest
The 20th Winter Music Festival opens in Nelson this weekend, but for organisers it was almost the festival that did not happen.
The festival is run by the Nelson School of Music. The school’s famed auditorium closed at Christmas due to earthquake risk.
The festival will hold its concerts this year at Old St John on Hardy St and the Theatre Royal.
Jeu Play, an interactive digital art and music installation based in a shipping container, will play in Albion Square from 6 to 9pm as part of Light Nelson.
Festival director and Nelson School of Music general manager Frances McElhinney says she has had a few restless nights worrying that the festival would all come together. Running the festival at outside venues meant handing over some of the control of the festival to others.
Frances says ticket sales are up on last year, perhaps due to a more positive economic climate, with a concert by New Zealand music veterans Dave Dobbyn and Don McGlashan selling out.
The pair have agreed to put on a second concert at 2pm next Saturday.
Old St John’s has become the festival headquarters and the hall at the church will be used for the bar, and extra porta-loos will be brought to the site.
Frances says the school is fortunate that Eelco and Ali Boswijk took a leap and bought the old church, which she says has magnificent acoustics. ‘‘It’s a beautiful space.’’ However, staging events outside the school of music’s auditorium has meant extra logistics and this week lighting and trusses for lights went up to cater for the concerts.
The sound system was being installed on Friday.
‘‘It’s challenging not having our own venue, but this is a chance to be a bit creative in what we do.’’
Saturday’s gala performance features singer Tim Beveridge and friends, including up and coming young singer Shaan Antunovich. The concert will feature well-known Broadway hits and other popular tunes from Andrew Lloyd Webber, George Gerswhin and Cole Porter.
Other programme highlights include Made in the NSOM, Pecha Kucha, Poetry Slam, Brendon Dugan and Tony Wellington in a Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison tribute, the City of Nelson Highland Pipe Band, the edgy life of Anita O’Day in Jezebel of Jazz and the circus show . . .With a Stranger. . . at the Theatre Royal.
Frances says the school is working on plans for strengthening the auditorium and refurbishing the building.
The school is now based in Rainey House, behind its auditorium on Collingwood St. One of her challenges has been on how to keep the school going without having a performance venue that it hired out.
It has been able to accommodate some of the lessons it provides from Rainey House, and has stored the music of the Nelson Civic Choir, but had not been able to cater for the five orchestras that were based at the school.
Frances says the School of Music is more than its buildings and has been an important part of the social and cultural fabric of Nelson since it opened more than 100 years ago.
The Nelson City Council is committed to supporting the school’s strengthening and refurbishment project. It has deferred $1.4 million in funding to 2015-16 while the school works on its redevelopment.
For more information on the winter festival which opens on Saturday visit nsom.ac.nz.