Kia ora koutou and welcome to the September edition of our newsletter. With a lot of uncertainty for musicians and event presenters in current times, we're determined to do what we can to support performance opportunities for our students (while following Ministry of Health guidelines of course!). Our Combo Competition, orchestra concert, Body/Harris prize, and a number of lunchtime concerts are coming up in September. While audience numbers may be limited for some of these, we're inspired by our students' energies and are thankful that music continues to provide a sense of community and belonging in this decidedly unusual year. We hope everyone is doing okay out there and we look forward to seeing some of you at our upcoming concerts. 

Events

NZSM Combo Competition

When: Sunday 30 August, 5pm
Where: Meow

The Wellington Jazz Club hosts this year's NZSM Combo Competition, featuring a range of student combos, and $2,000 in prizes sponsored by the club. Bands include Sistema, whose name is inspired by the tasty percussive qualities of a Sistema lunch box, All About That Basie, and other excellently named groups.   

Due to this taking place under Level 2 restrictions, audience numbers are very limited - if you wish to attend email Loretta.Garrow@bcito.org.nz  
More info

New Zealand School of Music Orchestra

When: Saturday 26 September, 7:30pm
Where: St Andrews on the Terrace

​Reinecke Flute Concerto      |     Micah Thompson Song    |     Brahms Symphony No. 2

The NZSM Orchestra performs its only concert for 2020 at St Andrews on the Terrace in September, and we are thrilled to announce that it will be conducted by Hamish McKeich, Principal Conductor in Residence of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The concert will feature 2020 Concerto Competition winner Isabella Gregory (flute) and a new work by NZSM Honours student Micah Thompson.

Please note that all tickets must be purchased from Eventfinda prior to the concert, there will be no door sales. Physical distancing measures will be in place and numbers may be limited due to gathering restrictions. Should the event be cancelled ticket holders will be refunded.

Tickets are $15 full price/$10 concession from Eventfinda
NZSM students have free entry, but must register for a ticket on Eventfinda

Friday Lunchtime Concerts

Student initiatives...

It's heartening to see our students driving new initiatives across genres,and presenting events in innovative ways. Keep an ear out for these taking place and support our students! 

Hot House Series

The Hot House Series is being run by a team of jazz students and graduates from NZSM. It is a five week Wednesday night series at the Rogue and Vagabond starting on the 16th of September, which "aims to be a lower pressure creative outlet for student musicians still in the beginning stages of their careers and provide them with the opportunity to gain experience and exposure, build connections within the wider music community and schools, and develop a precedent for the values we want cultivated and encouraged in the Wellington music scene"

Calls for expressions of interest are open now. They are interested in receiving submissions from any genre or background - send an email to hothouseseries@gmail.com to ask for the submission guidelines.

Sounds of Te Kōkī

Sounds of Te Kōkī is a student-run concert that aims to highlight the creativity and diversity of students at Te Kōkī. The organisers "place a particular emphasis on music, mediums, and musicians who may not fit or vibe with other performance opportunities at the school, and bridging the gap between the majors." 

For their upcoming concert on 25 September in the Adam Concert Room, they're looking for submissions "be it electronic, jazz, classical, mixed media, cross-disciplinary, or prog-nuwave-semiacoustic-bedroom-post-fusion". More details can be found here.

The Capital Band
Wellington's newest classical music ensemble

A few of our NZSM postgraduate students are involved in The Capital Band, a group made up of younger semi-professional, amateur, and non-full time musicians. All of the Band’s concerts in their 2020/2021 season will take place in the gorgeous Vogelmorn Hall in Wellington and each of the four gigs will be a little different in terms of process, seating (or lack of), and lighting. The Band’s ambition is to create a slightly different culture to classical music performance in the Capital and to provide younger musicians (from 18-40) with the opportunity to play music that is often too challenging for most amateur orchestras.

Their inaugural concert is coming up on Saturday 5 September, and you can find out more about the group here. 

Young Musicians Programme

NZSQ Lecture-Recital

When: Sunday 30 August, 2pm
Where: Adam Concert Room

Join the New Zealand String Quartet for a lecture-recital exploring the fascinating music and context of Beethoven’s String Quartets. To celebrate 250 years since the composer’s birth, the NZSQ will perform his complete quartets in a six-concert series in Wellington in September.
See here for full details about the concerts. 

From the NZSM collection

Our featured instrument this month is the zhongruan, a Chinese plucked string instrument. It has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard and 4 strings, and is usually played with a plectrum (guitar pick). The zhongruan is a tenor-ranged instrument in the family of ruan instruments.

This zhongruan was gifted to us recently by the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington. It was part of a new shipment of Chinese instruments purchased for the collection housed in the Asia-Pacific Music Studio at NZSM (see news story below). Those of you who came to last year's China Crossing concert may remember the zhongruan being played by visiting musician Jia Zhenzhen - check out her playing the zhongruan below.

News

NZSM Te Kōkī student performance marks arrival of new Chinese musical instruments

Five music students and a musician friend delighted staff and guests of the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī and the Confucius Institute at a lunchtime performance on 31 July. The group, led by NZSM PhD student Bo Yang, performed two pieces by famous Chinese composers Gu Guanren and Chenglong Zhou on traditional Chinese musical instruments. This rare chance to hear and see such an ensemble was a fitting way to welcome a new shipment of beautiful Chinese instruments purchased by the Confucius Institute for the collection housed in the Asia-Pacific Music Studio at the NZSM. More...

Peter and the Wolf across the miles

Holly McPhee was one of six second-year music therapy students at NZSM who provided free online musical interaction for families struggling to entertain young children during lockdown. Read about her work with 3 year old Lachlan on the IHC website here. 

NZSM jazz graduate Lou’ana Whitney up for three nominations at the Pacific Music Awards

Singer songwriter Lou'ana is up for Best Pacific Female Artist, Best Pacific Soul/R&B Artist and Best Pacific Music Video at the Pacific Music Awards on 30 September. Lou'ana, a second generation Samoan-New Zealander, studied jazz at the Albany campus of the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, graduating in 2015. 

NZCT Chamber Music Contest

Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī (NZSM) partnered with Chamber Music New Zealand (CMNZ) this year to sponsor the New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) Chamber Music contest. Wellington group Ravelation were announced as the winners (pictured here with Sally Jane Norman (Director, NZSM) and Jennifer Windsor (PVC, FHSS and FoE).Violinists Enshean Lin and Peter Gjelsten, violist Shanita Sungsuwan and cellist Jack Moyer performed Ravel's string quartet in F major for the contest. Check out videos of all the performances here https://chambermusic.co.nz/live 

Sound art residency call for applications

The New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī and Toi Pōneke Arts Centre are pleased to announce the 5th annual Sound Art Residency, with a call for submissions. Past recipients of the residency have included: Thomas Voyce, who is now a Lecturer in Composition and Sonic Arts at NZSM; Flo Wilson and Olivia Webb, who jointly held the residency in 2017; drummer and producer Cory Champion; and Amy Jean Barnett, who collaborated with the Leigh Marine Laboratory during her residency last year.

Submissions are open until 13 September - find out more here. 

Opera project on film

Our Classical Voice students are currently filming this year's Opera Scenes at Miramar Creative Centre, directed by Jon Hunter and filmed by Sarah Hunter from Transmit Limited. Students from the Master of Fine Arts (Creative Practice) have been interns on the project and are working on everything from audio recordings, set design and filming. We can't wait to see and hear some of the footage!

2020 NZ Junior Piano Competition

Some of our Young Musicians Programme students and alumni have made the semi-finals of the 2020 NZ Junior Piano Competition: William Berry, Zhe Ning Chin, and Otis Prescott-Mason. All the best to them!

Scholarship Profile

Our profile this month is of Sarang Roberts and Dominic Jacquemard, the winners of this year's Ensemble Award. This prize was established by a private donor, via the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation, in 2016, to recognise excellence in ensemble playing and to cultivate a love of classical chamber music by undergraduate students at the New Zealand School of Music.

What do you love about your instrument/field?

Dominic: I love the huge variety of instruments and sounds I get to play as a percussionist, in many different ensembles.
Sarang: The violin is lucky to have so much repertoire, playing as a soloist and in orchestras are my favourite.

Who is your favourite performer/composer?

Dominic: My favourite composer is definitely either Olivier Messiaen or Jean Sibelius, I love their music and timpani/percussion writing. Percussionist Colin Currie is one performer I admire, it was fantastic seeing him perform a few times with the NZSO.
Sarang: My favourite composer changes all the time. Right now it is Prokofiev but I also love Tchaikovsky and Bartok. Augustin Hadelich is my favourite violinist, and it was awesome having a masterclass with him a couple of years ago.

What does winning this scholarship mean to you?

It's really great to have won the Ensemble award. We really enjoyed playing together in a percussion-violin duo, especially learning some great pieces by Salina Fisher, Ross Harris and Piazolla. It reflects our hard work and we definitely learnt a lot about each other’s instruments. This scholarship will help us both pursue our musical careers.

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: