The Amici Ensemble have played for us every year since 2000 and occasionally even before then.  Each time Donald Armstrong’s group delights us by being different – different ensemble combinations, different musicians, interesting and innovative programmes and popular returns of the great chamber music classics.  In 2026 they add a saxophone to their group to perform an enterprising mix of previously unheard repertoire.

Since Adolf Sax invented the saxophone in the1840s, many composers, including Debussy and Ravel, have been enchanted by the beauty of its tone, blending it with other instruments and influencing more recent composers such as Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Russell Peterson.

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.  Her expressive quintet explores the sonorities available when saxophone and strings combine, while Russell Peterson’s colourful, imaginative work seamlessly blends jazz and classical elements.

Two string quartets provide contrast: Max Richter’s peaceful, minimalist “On the Nature of Daylight” and Mozart’s glorious final string quartet.  The evocative sounds of Piazzolla’s Argentina will close this fascinating and entertaining programme.

After thirty years with the New Zealand String Quartet, violinist Helene Pohl and cellist Rolf Gjelsten are excited to be making music with world-renowned German/New Zealand pianist Michael Endres.  Their new piano trio takes its name from the korimako (bellbird) and the group draws inspiration from the beauty and purity of that bird’s unique song.

Their widely-contrasted programme opens with one of Haydn’s last and finest piano trios.  It was written in London in 1797 where Haydn found fresh inspiration from a young virtuoso pianist and from the more powerful Broadwood pianos available in England. American composer Aaron Copland’s dark and dramatic 1919 study on a Jewish folk-tune is followed by Schubert’s much-loved single movement “Notturno”.

After the interval the programme is devoted to the romantic genius of Johannes Brahms.  His second piano trio is a substantial masterwork, filled with glorious melody, dancing rhythms, contemplative serenity and driving energy.   Described by Clara Schumann as “a splendid work” and “a great musical treat” it is a generously proportioned work of four movements.