Congratulations and 'thank you's...
Associate Professor Norman Meehan will take on the role of Programme Leader Jazz, beginning in January, and Dr Dugal McKinnon will be Programme Leader Composition next year. We would like to take the opportunity to thank Nick Tipping and Michael Norris for all of their outstanding work as the previous Leaders in these respective Programmes. We also congratulate Margaret Medlyn who has been appointed as Head of Voice in the Classical Performance Programme.

The very last concert presented by NZSM in 2011 will be a violin and piano recital from Australian-born Sarita Kwok and NZSM Piano Lecturer Jian Liu. 

Sarita has been here this week tutoring and holding masterclasses for the students engaged in the NZSM Trimester Three Chamber Music Course. She and Jian met and developed a performance rapport while both were studying and teaching at Yale University, USA. You will be able to hear more about the duo through their Upbeat interview from 12:15 this Friday, 9 December on Radio New Zealand Concert.

Their programme promises to be an exciting and superbly musical finale to 2011: 
Beethoven: Sonata for violin and piano in G-major, Op.30, no.3
Martin Bresnick: Bird as Prophet
Olivier Messiaen: Theme and Variations
Robert Schumann: Sonata for violin and piano in d-minor, Op.121

Friday 9 December, 7:30pm
Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University of Wellington
Admission is free – all welcome

While Friday's concert will be the last NZSM event for 2011, there are still plenty of gigs, concerts and other events in which NZSM staff, students and friends are thoroughly involved. Here is a selection.... 

If the music of Benjamin Britten is YOUR thing (after our Midsummer Night's Dream this year, how could it NOT be?!) then there is a wonderful double-bill this weekend. 
[NB: Tickets are $25/$20 for each concert but a special price of $40/$35 is available for those who wish to attend BOTH concerts - available at the door on Saturday night, or online via www.tudor-consort.org.nz.]

The Tudor Consort completes its 2011 Silver Anniversary season with two well-loved choral works by Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols for upper voices and harp, and his virtuosic set of choral variations A Boy Was Born. Carolyn Mills (Principal Harpist, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) and choristers from St Mark’s School join with The Tudor Consort for this festive concert.
Saturday 10 December, 7.30pm
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Hill Street, Wellington
Tickets are $25/$20
or $40/$35 for both this and Sunday's Nota Bene concert. 

Nota Bene present a  semi-staged cantata, Saint Nicolas, on Sunday. Conducted by Michael Vinten, and featuring tenor Benjamin Fifita Makisi the work is for a mixed choir, a tenor soloist, three treble soloists, and a small chamber orchestra. The concert will also feature the Simple Symphony Op. 4 for string orchestra, and a number of other Christmas choral works written by Britten.
Sunday 11 December, 2.30pm
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Hill Street, Wellington
Tickets are $25/$20

An alternative for Sunday...The SMP Ensemble will present a benefit concert for the Refugee Family Reunification Trust this Sunday. Not only are many of the performers current and former NZSM staff and students but the works being performed include music from composers John Psathas, Karlo Margetic and Alex Ladyman, the latter coming from the NZSM's Young Musicians Programme. The programme also includes music from Anthony Ritchie, John Williams, Antonin Dvorak and György Ligeti.
Sunday 11 December, 3:00pm
St Joseph's Catholic Church
42 Ellice Street (near the Basin Reserve)
$25 full; $15 children and students
Book tickets by calling 04 805 0350

Our friends at the Embassy for Argentina are also hosting an event which both farewells 2011 and which honours the late Mercedes Sosa, one of the greatest Argentinean and Latin-American singers of all time. Mercedes performed in New Zealand in 1990 as part of the third bi-annual NZ International Arts Festival held in Wellington. She died in 2009. The evening will include folkloric dancers, video and live music from Alda Rezende and friends. The Tribute will also be an occasion to sample delicious food, and Argentinean wine and beer. The Embassy is happy to extend their invitation to this celebration to NZSM staff, students and friends. If you would like to join in, contact the Embassy by email – ambass.assistant@arg.org.nz – by Tuesday 13 December.
Friday 16 December, from 6:00pm
Massey Theatrette, Museum Building, Massey University
Entrance D off Buckle Street

Also, MMA candidate Justin Firefly Clarke is presenting a special concert on December 29 – part of a series of performances in Christchurch, Wellington, Nelson and New Plymouth. From the press release:

The Firefly Collaboration Project brings together a significant ensemble of nine local and international musicians to create a unique and memorable concert experience. The performance will be based around a new work, A Glimpse of Matariki, by renowned Wellington guitarist Justin Firefly Clarke. Including the visually compelling Japanese dance of Eri Ueda; the virtuosic sitar playing of Japanese musician Aki Ueda; the explosive hand drumming of Nigerian and Indian trained percussionist Tunji Beier from Australia and the dazzling Justin Firefly Clarke on guitar. The performance promises to be a powerful musical experience.

A Glimpse of Matariki was awarded a second equal place in this year's NZSM Composition Competition. A poster for the concert can be seen here and more information about the project here.
Thursday 29 December, 7:00pm
Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
 

Dawn Chorus readers who are NZSM students will already have received notification of the need to enrol by TOMORROW (10 December) in Limited Entry courses for 2012.  As a reminder:

Enrol online by 10 December 2011 for all Limited Entry courses. These include some 100-level and 200-level courses, all 300-level courses, non-thesis postgraduate courses (that is to say, class-taught Honours courses) and Independent Study Papers. Most 300-level courses have an entry limit of only 10-20 students. Honours courses have limited places for between 5 students (for some Composition courses) and 10 students.
Applications received after this date will be waitlisted, meaning that you may miss out on being accepted into your preferred courses.

Enrol by 10 January 2012 for all other courses.
Applications received after this date will be waitlisted, and will incur a late fee.

10 February 2012: Late enrolment application deadline.

Details of the courses involved can be found here.

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 the 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