Kapiti Student Musicians 2023

Sunday 21 May 2:30pm and Sunday 12 November

These concerts are designed to provide local music students with stage experience, including learning how to acknowledge applause. The standard of performance is excellent every year and these young people are among the best at their level.  The student concerts provide a delightful opportunity for our audiences to enjoy a selection of short pieces played with “heart” and commitment, by the talented students in our district.

Entry is by donation. There is no set charge.

We cannot know in advance just what each programme will contain, but there are always some very good pianists and we also expect other instrumentalists or singers and a mix of traditional and innovative musical groups.

Some of our former student musicians have gone on to greater things…

From 2017 – Robin Shen and Joni Tran – the tallest and the smallest of our current batch of talented students pose for a photo after concert 11 Nov 2017.

Michael Endres’s recital for us in May 2021 was amazing – it was probably the first time a performer received a standing ovation both at the interval and again at the end of the concert – and we just had to invite him back again straight away. He loves our Fazioli piano and it certainly responded magnificently.

He returns with more Schubert and Schumann for us to enjoy; the same composers whose music he played so brilliantly in his recent recital. Michael has won the International Schubert Competition and has been described as one of the world’s foremost Schubert interpreters so we look forward to hearing him play the three Klavierstücke.

They will be followed by Liszt’s colourful and technically demanding Rhapsodie Espagnol, a work that was apparently inspired by Liszt’s tour to Spain and Portugal in 1845.

Schumann’s wonderfully romantic Kreisleriana will follow. It is a substantial and demanding work of eight movements, in which Schumann was able to indulge the dualities of his own personality as the music swings between agitation and lyrical calm.

The concert will end with two of Schumann’s well-loved songs, one transcribed by his wife Clara Schumann and the other by Franz Liszt.

Sophia Acheson (viola), Donald Maurice (viola), Rupa Maitra (violin), Margaret Guldborg (cello), Martin Riseley (violin).

This ensemble brings together five accomplished string players to present works by some of the greatest Baroque composers. Their programme showcases the viola d’amore, an exquisitely
beautiful instrument from the baroque era. The viola d’amore has six or seven strings and an equal number of sympathetic strings which are not played directly but vibrate in sympathy, giving it a particularly sweet and warm sound.

Martin Riseley is well-known as Head of Strings at the NZ School of Music.

Donald Maurice has recorded two CDs of music for the viola d’amore and has vast experience as a teacher and performer in New Zealand and overseas.

Rupa Maitra, a first violinist in Orchestra Wellington, is a busy violin teacher as well as part-time pathologist.

Studies in Spain and the United States inspired Sophia Acheson’s interest in early music, including playing the viola d’amore and the viola da gamba. Back in New Zealand she worked as a freelance musician before being appointed principal violist of Orchestra Wellington.

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Margaret Guldborg studied and worked in Boston, Denmark and Malaysia before moving to Wellington. A busy teacher, she also plays with various ensembles including Orchestra Wellington.

Andrew Beer (violin), Sarah Watkins (piano), Lev Sivkov (cello)

The Levansa Trio was formed specially to include the brilliant Russian cellist Lev Sivkov when he visited New Zealand for an extensive tour in 2019. Now we are thrilled to be welcoming him back to once again tour in a piano trio with distinguished musicians Andrew Beer (violin) and Sarah Watkins (piano). Lev was born in Siberia and moved to Switzerland and Germany to further his studies. He has held positions as Principal Cellist with the Royal Danish Opera, and Zurich Opera, Switzerland. He is increasingly active on the international stage as recitalist and concerto soloist. Lev is a laureate of numerous competitions, most notably the prestigious Naumburg Competition in New York, which he won in 2015. In 2018, he won 3rd prize in the Isang Yun Competition in Korea.

The Trio will play Beethoven’s first piano trio, followed by two brief intriguing items: Mozart’s well-known Adagio gets a new treatment from 20th century composer Arvo Pärt and Bach’s Chorales will be “reinvented” by New Zealand composer Reuben Jelleyman. Then follows Tchaikovsky’s magnificent
piano trio, written in memory of his friend Anton Rubinstein. With its rich textures, wonderful melodies and novel form, it is possibly the most heartfelt and beautiful elegy ever composed.

Dimitry Anatassov (Violin) Katherine Austin (piano), James Tennant (cello), Lara Hall (violin)

 Programme

Mozart:              Piano Quartet No 2 in Eb Major, K493
Helen Bowater:  Fekete Folyó (Black River)
Schumann:         Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Op 47

A visit to Waikanae from the New Zealand Chamber Soloists is well overdue – they last played for us in 2010. Formed in 2006, the core group of the ensemble is a piano trio who all teach at Waikato University Conservatorium of Music as well as performing regularly throughout New Zealand and overseas. Pianist Katherine Austin and cellist James Tennant were frequent visitors to Waikanae in earlier days with various
ensembles.

For their rescheduled concert on October 30 they will be joined by violinist Dimitri Atanassov to form a piano quartet, with an entirely new programme.  Dimitri is a familiar name to New Zealand audiences: the Bulgarian-born violinist is a former Auckland Philharmonia concertmaster and, as a member of the Ogen Piano Trio, played in Waikanae some years ago with Katherine Austin and James Tennant.  After leaving the APO, Dimitri based himself in Cremona as a violin maker and restorer, but is back again performing with the New Zealand Chamber Soloists.

The new programme should be very popular: the piano quartets of Mozart and particularly the Schumann are among the best-loved in the repertoire.  Fekete Folyó by Helen Bowater is a piano trio, one of a planned set of seven compositions by New Zealand women composers being commissioned by New Zealand Chamber Soloists.

The New Zealand Chamber Soloists tour is part of Chamber Music New Zealand’s In Partnership Series and is supported by the Deane Endowment Trust and the Stout Trust.

Gabriela Glapska (piano), Tomomi Johnston (saxophone), Agnes Harmath (flute)

NB: Vaccine passes and masks are still required.

TrioNique is a unique trio – three women, three nationalities, three saxophones, two flutes and one pianist. Since its inception in 2017, TrioNique has invited audiences to explore their intriguing sound-world through eclectic and engaging concerts delivered with characteristic flair.

Including both original works and carefully crafted arrangements, the Trio’s programming demonstrates the versatility and beauty of their unusual combination of instruments. Their programme includes some charming French compositions, a magical famous Japanese piece and some lively and colourful 20th Century music from Poulenc and Bernstein.

Unfortunately the trio’s original flute player Clare Ellis has had to withdraw because of injury. We are grateful to Clare who has worked hard to organise this concert and who has arranged a very fine replacement – Hungarian-born Agnes Harmath.  

Agnes holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and has won numerous national and international awards in NZ, Italy and Australia. She has performed with many orchestras including the Auckland Philharmonia and the NZSO, and has played as guest artist at flute festivals in NZ, Australia and the United States.

Polish-born Gabriela Glapska earned a Masters’ Degree in Poland and recently has completed a doctorate at Victoria University in Wellington, twice winning the Postgraduate Scholarship for Classical Piano Performance. She now works at the NZ School of Music.

Tomomi Johnston, educated in Japan, studied classical saxophone at the University of Auckland. She performs with the Manakau Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and is President of the New Zealand Saxophone Society.