NZSM Classical Voice students are gaining a well-earned reputation for excellence, with alumni AND current students succeeding at every level: from our high-achieving graduates like Simon O'Neill and Madeleine Pierard, through Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artists such as Kieran Rayner and Bianca Andrew, to Australian Singing Competition semifinalists and finalists like Bryony Williams and Tom Atkins, and Lexus Competition semifinalists and finalists – this year including Isabella Moore, Bryony and Bianca.

Tom and Isabella are just two of the NZSM 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students who will be presenting scenes from seven different operas (and an operetta) in A Night at the Opera(s). These include arias and ensembles from:
Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, The Impresario, and Le nozze di Figaro (the Act II Finale),
Barber's: A Hand of Bridge,
Donizetti's Anna Bolena,
Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida,
Puccini's La Boheme (the Act I Finale) and
Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

NZSM alternates performances of Opera scenes with full-scale operas every other year, ensuring that our students gain broad experience of the operatic repertoire during their studies. A Night at the Opera(s) is staged, costumed and lit, directed by Jacqueline Coats and accompanied by Mark Dorrell. This will be an enjoyable, inspiring and fulfilling evening for any opera lovers ... don't leave it too late as space is limited by the venue.

There are just two performances:

Friday 28 and Saturday 29 September: 7:30pm
Adam Concert Room, NZSM Kelburn Campus, Wellington
Online bookings through Eventfinder:
Adults $19; Seniors/Students $10; NZSM staff and students: free
Remaining tickets at the door:
Adults $25; Seniors/Students $15; NZSM staff and students: free

Roberto Fabbriciani is regarded by many as the finest exponent of contemporary classical music for the flute. His CV is a 'Who's Who' of the major composers of our time: Berio; Cage; Ferneyhough; Kurtá; Ligeti; Messiaen; Nono; Scelsi; Sciarrino; Stockhausen and Takemitsu –  many of whom have dedicated numerous and important works to him.

With the support of the Italian Embassy, Roberto will spend a week with NZSM students and staff taking part in workshops and masterclasses (both in flute and with composers) and giving two recitals. The first of these, playing works for solo flute (some with 'tape' accompaniment) will be hosted by NZSM at the Hunter Council Chamber. The recital is free and includes premieres of works by NZSM composition faculty Michael Norris and Stephan Prock.

[He will also perform in Luminous Horizon, a concert with contemporary ensemble Stroma on Thursday 11 October in the Ilott Theatre.]

Thursday 4 October: 7:30pm
Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University of Wellington
Supported by the Italian Embassy
Free Admission

To put it quite simply, DON'T MISS THIS ONE.

Listen to 'Forecast' – the first track of These Rough Notes.

Associate Professor Norman Meehan and graduate Hannah Griffin have taken the words of Professor Bill Manhire and the images of Professor Anne Noble and created a poignant and beautiful tribute to Antarctica, acknowledging all those that have lived – and died – on The Ice. Especially meaningful in the centenary year of the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott expedition, the song cycle takes its title from the last entry in the British explorer's journal:

'Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale . . .’
     – Scott’s journal, 29 March 1912

Norman and Hannah's song cycle, accompanied by Colin Hemmingsen, Martin Riseley, Victoria Jones and others, goes a long way towards '...telling the tale ...' Wellington audiences have four opportunities to hear the song cycle live, accompanied by poems and projected images, on the weekend of 6,7 October.

“I hope," says Norman, "that through these concert performances the audience will participate in this extraordinary power of art to transmute personal experience into shared perspectives that take us beyond physical realities into the realm of human spirit and endeavour.”

Soundings Theatre, Level 1, Te Papa, Wellington
Saturday 6 October: 4:00pm and 7:00pm,
Sunday 7 October: 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Booking online through Eventfinder:
Adults: $19, Seniors/Students $10; NZSM Staff and students free
Remaining tickets at the door:
Adults: $25, Seniors/Students $12; NZSM Staff and students free

No-one could accuse the NZSM Orchestra of having too narrow a focus! In their last concert for 2012 they will play five works ranging from the emotionally towering Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss, through the energetic delicacy of a saxophone concerto by Jacques Ibert to the immediate excitement of a world premiere by NZSM postgraduate student Rion Hakiwai.

Concertino de Camera for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra by Jacques Ibert will feature first year Classical performance student Sam Jones - winner of the 2012 NZSM Concerto Competition. Back in May, Sam 'wowed' the audience with his mature and accomplished performance. At the time, adjudicator Euan Murdoch commented: "I chose the winner as the one that I would have no hesitation in going to hear again, if I saw the performance advertised as a concert. The Ibert concerto was an excellent choice allowing [Sam] to be in control, technically and musically, and consequently able to engage with the audience and take us on a musical journey." Now we will have that opportunity as Sam performs the Ibert Concertino de Camera with its full orchestral accompaniment.

Rion Hakiwai is an NZSM postgraduate student studying towards a PGDiploma in sonic arts and composition. His work As Above, So Below is the result of winning the Jenny MacLeod Composition Award in 2011 and this performance will be a world premiere of the work.

Add to these two works the heavyweight Strauss tone poem alongside two orchestral arrangements of French piano works – Satie's Gymnopedies and Faure's Dolly Suite (orchestrated respectively by Debussy and Henri Rabaud) and you have a concert programme full of variety and interest. The orchestra will once again be conducted by maestro Kenneth Young.

Friday 12 October: 7:30pm
St Andrew's on The Terrace, Wellington
Online bookings through Eventfinder:
Adults: $20; Students/Seniors $10; NZSM Staff and Students: Free
Remaining tickets at the door:
Adults: $25; Students/Seniors $10; NZSM Staff and Students: Free

In one way, those are the four big events of the next few weeks. In other ways, they are just the 'tip of the iceberg' as our students and staff engage in many other activities, presentations and performances including: 

Thursday 27 September (tonight) from 7:30pm
Dr Erin Helyard plays the fortepiano in Mojo Invincible on Willis Street as part of the CMNZ Music at Mojo series.

Free Friday Lunchtime Concerts (12:10–1:00pm) are:
Friday 28 September: Adam Concert Room, Kelburn campus
Inbal Megiddo (cello) and Jian Liu (piano) play Beethoven's Cello Sonatas 4 and 5 (and some variations) ahead of their second CD recording of the works.
Friday 5 October: NZSM Concert Hall, Mt Cook campus
Jazz woodwind specialist Colin Hemmingsen hosts a jazz concert ahead of his trip to Frankfurt.
Friday 12 October: Adam Concert Room, Kelburn campus
Artists in residence the New Zealand String Quartet are joined by Peter Scholes (clarinet) in a performance of the epic Golijov Quintet – alongside the only Beethoven Quartet movement they didn't tour this year.
Friday 19 October: NZSM Concert Hall, Mt Cook campus
Jazz guitarist Nick Granville and colleagues, hosts a concert of his own compositions from the forthcoming CD release, 'Home'.

Music Forums scheduled (Fridays 1:30-3:30pm, Room 209, Kelburn Campus) are:
Friday 28 September:
'Pianos prepared for the New Zealand climate': Dr Kristine Moffatt: University of Waikato
Friday 5 October:
'Collaborating on These Rough Notes': Assoc Prof Norman Meehan and Prof Bill Manhire
Friday 12n October:
'Who Speaks? vs. Who Sees?: Sight, Sound, Subjectivity, and Disability in Contemporary Narrative Film': Dr David Cosper, NZSM
 

Tuesday 2 October: 7:00pm
St Andrew's on The Terrace: koha appreciated
The NZSM Classical Woodwind Department hold their annual Showcase concert promising a fascinating array of chamber and solo music for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon saxophone and piano.

Wednesday 3 October: 6:00–7:00pm
Adam Concert Room, NZSM Kelburn campus
Italian flute maestro Roberto Fabbriciani holds a masterclass with NZSM students. Free admission and observers welcome.

Monday 8 October: 5:00pm
Adam Concert Room, NZSM Kelburn campus
NZSM Brass Player of the Year competition with prizes sponsored by Music Services. Free admission.

Thursday 11 October: from 8:00pm
NZSM Big Bands play at the Bristol Hotel on Cuba Street - a great, convivial night out with great live jazz - highly recommended for the societally inclined.

And coming up in the FOLLOWING week:

Both Gamelan Padhang Moncar and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya will perform in the Indonesian Fair to be held in the Wellington Town Hall on Sunday October 14;

Guitar masterclass (17 October) and recital (18 October) from Alieksey Vianna in association with the Embassy of Brazil

A John Cage centenary tribute from SMP Ensemble (18 October)

but more about those in the next issue .....

Te Kōkī, New Zealand School of Music, is a joint venture of
Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington.

For some of New Zealand's most talented musicians, the only thing that stands in the way of their dreams is the lack of funds to make them real.

By making a lifetime donation or a gift in your will to the New Zealand School of Music, you can help young musicians to fulfil their ambitions.

For further information on how you can provide support for students at Te Kōkī, New Zealand School of Music, please contact:

Elizabeth Hudson
NZSM Director
Ph: 04 463 5860
Email: elizabeth.hudson@nzsm.ac.nz

or

Diana Meads
Development Manager -- Planned Giving
Victoria University of Wellington Foundation
Ph: 0800 VIC LEGACY (0800 842 534)
Email: diana.meads@vuw.ac.nz

www.victoria.ac.nz/foundation