NEWSLETTER

IL RACCOLTO

Our first concert is from an early music ensemble from Christchurch, founded in 2002 by Canterbury University lecturers Edith Saltzmann, Jonathan Lecocq and Wolfgang Kraemer. The ensemble is the core ensemble for the Villa Musica International Chamber Music Festival - an annual event in Canterbury since 2002. For our March concert, Wellington baroque violinist Shelley Wilkinson joins them as guest artist.

The programme includes Vivaldi and Telemann but also some names that may be less familiar. However, if you attended the Scaramuccia concert of a few years ago, you will know that this style of music is so engaging that unfamiliarity with the composer doesn't matter, and you can see by the number of items that they are relatively short.

Jonathan Lecocq was born in the Channel Island of Jersey, but moved away to study philosophy and classical guitar (the latter at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London). Whilst at Guildhall, he developed a strong interest in early music and built his own seven-course lute. Study in early music continued at the University of London and Oxford, culminating in a doctorate on French lute-song at Lincoln College. In 2001 he and his family moved to Christchurch where he took up the post of senior lecturer in music at the University of Canterbury. Jonathan plays an instrument unfamiliar to most of us called a 'theorbo'. My music dictionary describes it as "a lute with extended neck to accommodate extra bass strings; used mainly for continuo." It will be interesting to see this instrument in action.

Wolfgang Kraemer (recorder) studied his instrument in Luxembourg and Germany. He has performed throughout Europe with various baroque ensembles as well as specialising in solo performances of contemporary works for recorder. An accomplished teacher, Wolfgang was director of Jugendmusikschuke Untere Saar in Merzig, Germany until 2003. Since 2004 he has been a part-time lecturer at the University of Canterbury.

Shelley Wilkinson (baroque violin) last performed for the Society with Scaramuccia, a Wellington-based early music ensemble. Shelley graduated from Auckland University with a BMus degree in performance violin, and studied for two further years at the Royal Conservatorium in the Hague, Holland, focusing on baroque violin. During this time she played with various baroque orchestras in Europe. She now lives and plays in ensembles in Wellington, tours periodically with Chamber Music New Zealand and is a regular member of the Sydney-based Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

IL RACCOLTO