Kapiti Student Musicians 2021

Sunday 30 May and Sunday 14 November

On Sunday 14 November at 3.30pm there will be one concert of mixed Junior and Senior Levels.

These concerts are designed to provide local music students with stage experience, including learning how to acknowledge applause. The standard of performance is excellent every year and these young people are among the best at their level.  The student concerts provide a delightful opportunity for our audiences to enjoy a selection of short pieces played with “heart” and commitment, by the talented students in our district.

Entry is by donation. There is no set charge.

We cannot know in advance just what each programme will contain, but there are always some very good pianists and we also expect other instrumentalists or singers and a mix of traditional and innovative musical groups.

Some of our former student musicians have gone on to greater things…

From 2017 – Robin Shen and Joni Tran – the tallest and the smallest of our current batch of talented students pose for a photo after concert 11 Nov 2017.

L – R:  Robert Ibell, Haihong Liu, Anne Loeser, Rachel Vernon, Zhongxian Jin

Rescheduled from 2021. Please note the unusual time and venue.

The Aroha String Quartet is always a very welcome addition to our season. 

An integral part of the country’s musical scene since 2004, this versatile quartet is known for its passionate musicality, impressive technique and multicultural innovation. Haihong Liu and Zhongxian Jin, original members of the Quartet, were joined by Robert Ibell in 2009 and Konstanze Artmann in 2018. However, Anne Loeser will be replacing Konstanze Artmann this year as second violinist.

As well as the standard quartet repertoire, they enjoy adding traditional Chinese music and New Zealand works to their programmes.

For this concert they venture further afield to South America to present a work by the 20th century Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla.  A virtuoso on the bandoneon (a type of accordian), Piazzolla created a new tango style that blended elements of jazz, tango and classical music.  We will hear one of his most famous works – Oblivion, arranged for clarinet and string quartet.   

Aroha frequently combines with other musicians to present works for larger ensembles and for this concert they welcome NZSO clarinettist Rachel Vernon to present two of the greatest clarinet quintets ever written – by Mozart and Brahms. Mozart’s Quintet is a timeless musical masterpiece, and as the first composition ever written for this combination it has inspired many composers including Brahms. Brahms was in the twilight of his career when he composed his masterwork which contains some of the most exquisitely beautiful musical lines and colours of any chamber work ever composed.

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

Well-known violinist Wilma Smith, a favourite with Waikanae audiences, enjoys nurturing young talent.  We’ve been looking forward to hearing her exciting new piano trio but unfortunately Covid has got in the way again.  Their pianist, the outstanding young Australian Laurence Matheson, is unable to join the tour because of the current border restrictions.   However, we are thrilled that Wilma has recruited none other than Michael Houstoun to fill the gap – a pretty amazing replacement!

Cellist Matthias Balzat is special to us as a recipient of our own Young Musicians’ Trust Scholarship. He entered the Performance Course of Waikato University when only 14 and the same year placed 1st equal in the National Concerto Competition. Since then: a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship, 1st Prizes in the Wallace International Cello Competition and Royal Over-Seas League Chamber Music Competition. In 2017 he won the National Concerto Competition again. He has completed his Honours degree, won scholarships to the Aspen Festival in Colorado and has embarked on his Masters studies in Germany. 

The change of pianist has also meant a change of programme.   We will now be hearing trios by Beethoven, his first and his last (the Archduke) and in between the colourful Trio in A Minor by Ravel. 

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.

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.