Welcome to the New Zealand School of Music's July newsletter!

Ahakakoa kua tae mai a Pipiri, ko te tumanako kei te mahana koutou katoa! (Although the cold of June has arrived, we hope that you are keeping warm)

Our talented music students have just finished another trimester at the New Zealand School of Music and some of them are now on a well-deserved break before starting back again and in to a full and exciting month of events and activities in July.

 Some, but not all of our students’ are on a break because under the tutelage and mentorship of Margret Medlyn, Robert Tucker and Ken Young, and the directorship of Jon Hunter, other students are starting rehearsals for the much-anticipated Puccini operas Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi opening on July the 19th that has already been coined as a ‘Double Bill of One-Act Gems’.

Keep your eyes on our social media as we showcase some of these up and coming students alongside their mentors during rehearsals over the next few months!!

This month we are also pleased to announce the appointment of Salina Fisher our newest Composer-in-Residence 2019! In this edition Salina introduces herself to our readers. 

NEWS

A TALE OF TWO OPERAS, STUDENTS AND THEIR MENTORS SHOWCASE PUCCINI’S OPERAS ‘SUOR ANGELICA & GIANNI SCHICCHI’

Two operas will be performed by our students in 2019 – Puccini’s 'Suor Angelica' and 'Gianni Schicchi', two pocket-sized gems that will be presented as a double bill at the Hannah Playhouse from 19–21 July.

New Zealand School of Music (NZSM) voice students will be accompanied by the NZSM Orchestra for the performance, and making this year’s opera production event more special, professional opera singers Margaret Medlyn and Robert Tucker will also be joining the students on stage.

Robert Tucker, who is an NZSM Artist Teacher, will perform the character of Gianni Schicchi himself, and Margaret Medlyn, Head of Voice at NZSM, will take the stage as the ‘aunt princess‘ in Suor Angelica.

“Performing alongside the students is an opportunity to make the most of these fantastic ensemble pieces” Margaret says. “My hope is that it will be a rich learning experience for the students to be singing on a collegial level alongside Robert and I”.

The plots of both operas are motivated by things lost and unseen, she says. The operas were originally written to be performed together - Suor Angelica, a tragedy, is set in a convent, while Gianni Schicchi is a greed-fuelled comic opera that became an immediate hit after it was first performed.

Jon Hunter, the opera director, says he hopes to present a production relevant to the young singers-in-training he is working with. “The opportunity we have here is to investigate a world close to them, to identify and speak to the issues that are important to them. There will be ample opportunity in future for them to wear the lavish gowns and descend the grand staircases of full-scale operatic productions.”

Sound intriguing? Book your tickets here

JAZZ PROJECT 2019: A SHOWCASE OF YOUNG, UP AND COMING JAZZ TALENT 

We were lucky on a cold winter's morning in June to welcome young, up and coming secondary school jazz musicians from around New Zealand and their respective teachers, as they geared up to compete in the Jazz Project 2019.

The first day kicked off with the combo competitions, held at Victoria University of Wellington's Kelburn campus. During the day students competed in front of the local student crowd at the Hunter Lounge then on to workshop their competition pieces with Jazz Project adjudicators. The commitment of these students and their teachers shone through during Rangitoto's combo performance when the kick/bass drum became lose and their teacher risked 'life and limb' to hold it still for the rest of their bracket, their combo also went on to take out the Best Performance Jazz Combo prize so the sacrifice was worth it in the end. To end the day, there was an open jam session with NZSM Jazz school students and secondary students, the perfect finaile to our first day of competitions.

" Jam session was cool. Having immediate feedback after playing. Having some of Matt Harris's stature was fantastic. It was cool playing! Cool venue, too. Well set up."

Read more here

Below: Winners of the Jazz Project 2019 Best Performance Big Band and Combo Rangitoto College.

The Return of Ulysses or should we say the return of our Lecturer in Voice Wade Kernot

"I have recently returned (thankfully sooner than Ulysses!) from a production of Il ritorno D’Ulisse in Patria (the return of Ulysses) by Monteverdi for Pinchgut Opera in Sydney. Pinchgut is a fantastic company lead by Maestro Erin Helyard. They are dedicated to presenting lost or rare repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries. It is quite an exciting time to be involved with Pinchgut as they have recently won an International Opera Award for Best Discovered Work. This is fantastic international recognition for a small team."

read more here

To watch a snippet from Wade's time with the Pinchgut Opera click here

EVENTS

Music of Remembrance 

When: Tuesday the 30th of July from 7pm
Where: Adam Concert Room, New Zealand School of Music
 

American composer, Dr Laurence Sherr, will present original compositions that include two NZ premieres - one for cello and clarinet, and one for voice, clarinet, piano, cello and percussion. Sherr considers this a collaborative concert with performers from the NZSM, Jian Liu (piano), Inbal Megiddo (cello), Donald Maurice (conductor) and Margaret Medlyn (voice) and the NZSO, Lenny Sakofsky (percussion) and Patrick Barry (clarinet).

Dr. Sherr is a composer of Holocaust memorial music, producer of remembrance events, and lecturer on music and the Holocaust. He is the son of a survivor. His memorial composition Flame Language, based on poetry by survivor and Nobel laureate Nelly Sachs, was a top prizewinner in the USA 2010 Classical Lounge national competition. A Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music, at Kennesaw State University since 1996, Dr Sherr's works have been performed internationally and have received numerous awards and honors.

Concerto Competition Finals 

When: Thursday the 25th of July at 7pm
Where: Adam Concert Room
Free entry

Come along and support our concerto finalist students as they vie for a solo with the New Zealand School of Music orchestra. 
 

FRIDAY LUNCHTIME CONCERTS

Big Band at Rouge and Vagabond

The second in a series of public performances by the NZSM Big Band, Fusion Ensemble, Latin Ensemble and Jazz Vocal ensemble throughout 2019 at the Rogue & Vagabond venue in Wellington. View event here

Baby Boomer Composer Interviews

MUSIC FORUM

Music Forum is a seminar series hosted by the NZSM Music Studies Programme. Staff, graduate students, and distinguished visiting speakers present recently completed research, or discuss work in progress. Music Forum is open to anyone to attend. 

Where: MS209

When: 4.15pm

July the 10th, Dr Michael Weiss

Phrase Structure and Formal Function in Galant Schemata: The ‘Heartz’ in Nineteenth-Century Themes

 July the 24th,​ Dr Irene Karongo Hundleby

The Weave Within: North Malaitan arts, music and culture in the twenty-first century

 August the 7th,​ Dr Kirsten Zemke

Queerness and hip hop

RECITALS

PhD Recital

Gabriela Glapska, Piano performs her Fith PhD recital 

(with Monique Lapins, violin and Ken Ichinose, cello) 

When: 23 July 2019, 7pm

Where: Adam Concert Room

Program:

André Tchaikowsky - Trio Notturno, Op. 6

Andrzej Panufnik - Piano Trio, Op. 1

Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 

Michael Hill - International Violin Competition 2020 applications opening soon!

The “Michael Hill” is recognized as one of the most sought-after international violin prizes and the careers of future musical legends are launched here in New Zealand where they go head to head for a prize package valued at over $100,000.

Criteria for 2020; do they match you? Get ready, applications open on the 15th of August

•  born after 5 June 1991 and before 5 June 2001; and
•  is not a previous 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prize winner of any previous Michael Hill International Violin Competition; and
•  has not been a quarter-finalist in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition more than once.

Get ready, applications open on the 15th of August

Learn more here

Photo: 2017 winner Ioana Cristina Goicea (Romania). Photo Credit: Sheena Haywood

The Body/Harris Prize for an Outstanding Performance of a Composition by a New Zealand Composer 2019

Eligibility

Applications are invited from all NZSM performers and ensembles, including Jazz and Sonic Arts, for the performance of any work written by (a) New Zealand composer(s). Every performer must be a student enrolled in an NZSM course during the calendar year, at any level and in any programme (not necessarily Performance). In the special case of a solo work with accompanist, a professional accompanist may be engaged to perform, but they will not be eligible for any prizes. In this instance, the student is also responsible for ensuring the availability of the accompanist for the competition concert. For the purposes of this competition, a ‘New Zealand composer’ is defined as any composer or sonic artist, including students, who is/was a New Zealand citizen, or (has) lived and worked in New Zealand for a substantial period of their life.

Get ready, applications close: Friday 6th July (finalists announced within 7 days)

Application available on Blackboard or via victoria.ac.nz/nzsm

Finals: Friday 27th July

The Prize will be valued at $500 if the winner is a single performer, and $1,000, divided equally, if a duo or ensemble wins the Prize, subject to funds available.

Introducing Salina Fisher our new Composer-In-Residence 2019

Award-winning composer and violinist Salina Fisher will be the Composer-in-Residence for 2019 at Victoria University of Wellington’s NZ School of Music – Te Kōkī.

Salina graduated from NZSM in 2015 with a Postgraduate Diploma in Music with Distinction. She was awarded the Fulbright NZ General Graduate Award to study her Master of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music, New York. She graduated in May this year, winning the Carl Kanter Award in Orchestral Composition for her thesis work Murmuring Light.

“I am extremely thrilled and grateful to have this opportunity to return to Wellington and focus on creating new works. Wellington has inspired several of my pieces so far, and I am beyond excited to feel its energy again and reconnect with its creative community through the NZSM,” Salina says.

In 2016, Salina became the youngest winner of the Contemporary Award for composition, which she won again the following year. NZSM Composition Programme Director Associate Professor Michael Norris says Salina’s music combines a deep understanding of the conventional chamber and orchestral repertoire with a uniquely Asian-Pacific perspective. 

“In addition to being an internationally performed composer, she is also an extremely accomplished violinist, having played with the NZ Symphony Orchestra in a number of concerts. She brings that intimate knowledge of the physicality of instrumental performance to her works,” he says.

Salina will move back to Wellington to start her 12-month residency in July. She plans to work on a number of new pieces including one for shakuhachi, koto, viola and cello, a new piano trio, and an orchestral work featuring pūtōrino.

SUPPORT THE MUSICIANS, COMPOSERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE FUTURE

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