Sunday 22nd September at 2.30pm

A new work by Chinese/New Zealand composer Gao Ping, leads to Mozart’s beloved Fantasy and Sonata in C minor. Czech composer Janáček’s Sonata is a moving tribute to a worker accidentally killed during a 1905 uprising in Prague. Then Clara Schumann’s brief romantic Nocturne serves as an introduction to one of Robert Schumann’s greatest works, the Fantasie in C.

Tony Chen Lin came to New Zealand from China when he was six. At fourteen he won the Christchurch Junior Concerto Competition and five years later the New Zealand National Concerto Competition. He studied at the University of Canterbury and subsequently in Singapore, Germany and Hungary. He regularly performs in New Zealand and Europe, notably at the Semaine International Piano and Chamber Music festival in Switzerland (where he has also given masterclasses and conducted) and as soloist with the Stuttgart State Orchestra as part of their “Rising Stars” Festival.

As a composer, Tony has had works played by the NZSO, Auckland Philharmonia and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and has received numerous awards for his compositions.

His debut solo album ‘Digressions’ was released in 2018 on Rattle Records to enthusiastic reviews.

Sunday 18th August at 2.30pm

Lev Sivkov has won numerous awards, most notably in 2015 when he won the prestigious Naumburg International Cello Competition, described by the New York Times as “the most prestigious of them all.”

He played his debut recital in the Weill Music Room, Carnegie Hall, in 2016. Since then he has been in demand as a recitalist and soloist and has also been appointed as Principal Cellist of the Zürich Opera.

Violinist Andrew Beer has come to New Zealand from L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. His recent recital and chamber music appearances include Edinburgh Festival, Aspen Festival and Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall.

Sarah Watkins, well known as a member of NZTrio, has been described as a ‘national treasure’. She has enjoyed an impressive career as chamber musician, collaborative partner and recording artist.

Sunday 14th July at 2.30pm

Haihong Liu, Zhongxian Jin, Konstanze Artmann, Robert Ibell (Inset: Diedre Irons)

The Aroha String Quartet is firmly established as one of this country’s finest chamber ensembles. Haihong Liu and Zhongxian Jin are original members of this quartet that was founded in 2004. Robert Ibell joined in 2009 and more recently Konstanze Artmann has joined as second violinist.

Known for their musicality and multicultural innovation the quartet presents programmes ranging from classical to avant-garde to traditional Chinese music. As well as regular tours throughout New Zealand, they have travelled overseas to participate in festivals in Austria and Australia, and to China to give concerts and masterclasses. Committed educators, they run an annual week-long chamber music course in Wellington and an equivalent week-long course in China.

For this concert they will be joined by the amazing Diedre Irons, a pianist who is much loved and admired by New Zealand audiences.

The programme opens with Mozart’s ‘Hunt’ Quartet, so nick-named because of its opening theme, a jaunty 6/8 ‘horn-call’. The Mozart, cheerful and elegant, is followed by Unbound – a work by New Zealand composer Brigid Bisley.

The second part of the concert is devoted to one of the best-loved chamber music works of all time, Brahms’ F minor Piano Quintet

Sunday 16th June at 2.30pm

In 2019 the ensemble is probably as large as it has ever been, with nine musicians, all prominent players from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

In the first half of the concert we will hear the flute, clarinet, bassoon and horn enjoying the infectious high spirits of a Rossini quartet, then the violin and bass bring a touch of South American rhythm in some delightful little tangos by Piazzolla. In the Mozart quartet we will have a chance to enjoy Robert Orr’s splendid oboe playing.

The major work on the programme is Louis Spohr’s wonderful Grand Nonet, a work that is less well known than it deserves, probably because the gathering together of nine musicians is no easy task. It was composed as the result of a request from a wealthy music lover who asked Spohr for “a nonet, made up of four strings plus flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, to be written in such a way that each instrument would appear in its true character “. Written in 1813, it is an utterly charming work – a feast of classical and romantic magic