ERUPT Taupo Festival special in Turangi

A special concert live in Turangi featuring New Zealand String Quartet, Richard Nunns and special guest Alexa Still, as part of ERUPT Taupo Festival.

Acclaimed for powerful communication, dramatic energy, and luscious velvet sound, the New Zealand String Quartet has distinguished itself worldwide.

At ERUPT Taupo Festival, the imaginative and daring ensemble, Helene Pohl and Douglas Beilman (violin) Gillian Ansellwill, MNZM, (viola) and Rolf Gjelsten (cello) will perform works by Mendelssohn, the boy wonder of classical music, and Schubert.

In a unique performance, Richard Nunns, New Zealand’s living authority on nga taonga puoro, joins the New Zealand String Quartet to perform Puhaki ki te rangi: Spouting to the skies.

The haunting celebration of whales was composed by Gillian Whitehead while she was composer-in-residence at the Lilburn House in Wellington and is the title track for a recent CD release of music by the composer featuring Nunns and the NZ String Quartet. The album has won critical praise and is currently in the Top Ten Classical album charts.

In addition, Richard Nunns will be joined by virtuoso flautist, Alexa Still, to perform Gillian Whitehead’s extraordinary Hine Raukatauri composition.

Richard Nunns diverse and award winning recordings, along with performing with a wide variety of people in many differing settings and circumstances, has won him international respect as a living treasure for his work with traditional Maori instruments.

The New Zealand String Quartet's innovative collaborations have included performances of concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony.

“The strings provided quiet patterns and static harmonies over which Nunns's largely improvised music entered, tapping out rhythms and then playing high-pitched songs that were answered by the first violin. There were playful moments and flowing melodies, but most often the music told of the minor-key loneliness of whales and albatrosses. It is a sad, hauntingly beautiful piece, played with dignity and love by both the quartet and Nunns.” Rod Biss, The New Zealand Listener, 2007

"A veritable feast of expressive, creative power and unrestrained life energy" Göttinger Tageblatt, Germany

'The blend of Maori and Pakeha, particularly in the title piece is perfection. This is an elegy for the persecuted whales, caught in a plethora of water imagery. Underneath lies the grim irony that much of the mammals' song rises from their very bones, which have been used in making the taonga puoro. Ligeti-like textures and gestures pose no problem for the New Zealand String Quartet, who dovetail seamlessly with Nunns...' William Dart review Puhake ki te rangi cd

Performing: Mendelssohn String Quartet Opus 81 Andante in E major and Scherzo in A minor; Gillian Whitehead: Hine Raukatauri; Gillian Whitehead: Puhake ki te rangi for string quartet and taonga puoro; Schubert String Quartet G major D887 Opus 161 (posthumous).

http://www.nzsq.co.nz

http://richardnunns.inza.co.nz

Presented in Turangi by

Tuwharetoa 97.2FM & Triple T 91.9 FM

Huckleberry’s Sports and Charitable Society