Laurence Matheson (piano), Wilma Smith (violin), Matthias Balzat (cello)

A New Zealander of Scottish, Maori and Chinese descent, Lorelle McNaughton studied in New Zealand and Australia before her passion for Spanish music took her to Barcelona where she was awarded the prize for best performance of Spanish Music at the International Barcelona Piano Academy. Resident in Spain for several years, she has performed extensively across the globe and was recently invited to perform at the ‘Oceania’ Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, playing Michael Parekowhai’s carved grand piano. Lorelle has been particularly commended for her inspired interpretation of the music of the great Spanish composers and has been invited to give presentations at some of Australia’s leading music conservatoriums. 

She is one of a small number of pianists worldwide to have performed Isaac Albéniz’s complete Iberia suite, one of the most complex and challenging works of the piano literature. After almost ten years living abroad, Lorelle has recently returned to New Zealand where she is teaching music and continuing a successful career as a solo and collaborative pianist.

We will be hearing a selection from Iberia in her concert, as well as some well-loved works by Debussy and Ravel, and closing with the charming suite of Four Spanish Pieces by Manuel de Falla.

This concert is presented in association with Chamber Music New Zealand. The CMNZ Regional Series is supported by the Deane Endowment Trust Artist Development Fund.

 Charmian Keay, Edith Salzmann, Miranda Adams, Robert Ashworth.

The Jade String Quartet, formed in 2003, are committed to the performance of great music whether it be old masterpieces or new works. They have a CD of New Zealand works on the Rattle label, they have toured for Chamber Music New Zealand and they have their own concert series, “Jade at the Pah”. They have won a special place in NZ’s music scene as a group that can cater for both young and old, traditional and modern tastes alike.

Based in Auckland,two of the quartet’s members hold principal positions in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. German cellist Edith Salzmann, in high demand internationally as a teacher, soloist, and chamber musician, is a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Auckland. 

Second Violinist William Hanfling has withdrawn from this tour due to family health concerns and will be replaced by Charmian Keay, a freelance violinist currently on contract with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. She also plays for Orchestra Wellington and is a casual violinist for the NZ Symphony Orchestra.

Their programme opens with selections from Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, one of the composer’s most profound works, commissioned in 1786 for the Good Friday service in Cádiz, Spain. The second half of the programme features a truly iconic work for string quartet, Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” which has been described as “one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire”. It is named after the composer’s own song which has lent its theme to the second movement.

This concert is presented in association with Chamber Music New Zealand. The CMNZ Regional Series is supported by the Deane Endowment Trust Artist Development Fund.

We are thrilled to welcome German pianist Michael Endres back to our stage. He played for us previously in 2011 and 2013 and his return visit is well overdue. A superb pianist with a distinguished international career as soloist and chamber music partner, he gained a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York and studied with Peter Feuchtwanger in London. He has won prizes such as the Concours Geza Anda (Zurich) and First & Special Prizes at the International Schubert Competition (Germany). His extensive discography of 29 CDs includes the prestigious Diapason d’or (3 times) and the Choc du Musique (twice). Michael has taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin, the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and Barrat Due Institute in Oslo, Norway. He currently resides in New Zealand.

The concert opens with one of Mozart’s greatest piano sonatas, setting the stage for Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy – widely considered to be Schubert’s most technically demanding piano work. The second part of the concert is devoted to Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes – a set of highly virtuosic variations. Michael Endres promises to include the five additional variations that Schumann omitted but which were later restored by Brahms.