Auckland Arts Festival Announces Four Further Shows

MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 5 October, 2012

Auckland Arts Festival Announces Four Further Shows

Benjamin Britten’s monumental War Requiem, a new New Zealand work paying tribute to Carmen Rupe, Songs and Dances of Desire, the world renowned Kronos Quartet and Wu Man playing A Chinese Home and Ghost Opera, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Made to Move are all coming to the Auckland Arts Festival 2013, Artistic Director Carla van Zon has revealed.

Of these significant works making the Auckland Arts Festival line up, Carla says, “Auckland Arts Festival is a hub that brings some of New Zealand and the world’s most creative minds together, and forges partnerships with world class performing arts companies, artists and cultural institutions.

“The Festival also celebrates people and culture, and the programme reflects the cultural diversity of New Zealand’s largest city and its many communities. We are delighted to bring to the people of Auckland and our visitors these significant shows – two new New Zealand works and two global masterpieces – in March 2013.”

War Requiem
Soprano: Orla Boylan | Tenor: Timothy Robinson | Baritone: Ivan Ludlow | Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir | New Zealand Youth Choir
Presented in association with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Saturday 23 March at 8pm. Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall

One hundred years since the birth of its composer, Benjamin Britten, the magnum opus War Requiem is coming to life at Auckland Arts Festival 2013. Conducted by Eckehard Stier, the full Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra is joined by fêted Irish soprano Orla Boylan and tenor Timothy Robinson, baritone Ivan Ludlow, Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, New Zealand Youth Choir and a combined children’s choir.

This is a rare event that brings the spirit, genius and force of Britten’s masterpiece – one of the finest choral and orchestral works of the 20th century – to the Auckland Town Hall for one tremendous evening.

Songs and Dances of Desire
Guitar: Norio Sato | Counter tenor: Xiao Ma | Mezzo soprano: Anna Pierard
Presented in association with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Friday 8 March, 8pm. Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall

APO Composer-in-Residence Jack Body’s tribute to Carmen Rupe celebrates the colourful life and fearless personality of one of this country’s most original icons. Part concert, part performance work, and all taking place in the Town Hall transformed into a Tea Room, this will be a stunning evocation of lives lived theatrically and defiantly – a performance as flamboyant as Carmen herself.

A Chinese Home and Ghost Opera
Kronos Quartet and Wu Man
Presented in association with Chamber Music New Zealand. By arrangement with Arts Projects Australia
Saturday 9 March at 8pm – The Civic.

Auckland Arts Festival 2013 welcomes five of the world’s most intrepid musicians to the stage – the world-renowned Kronos Quartet and the extraordinary Chinese pipa virtuoso, Wu Man. For one night only at the Auckland’s Civic Theatre, the classic string quartet will journey into new territory with two thrilling and boundary stretching works, A Chinese Home and Ghost Opera.
A Chinese Home is a mesmerising soundscape and visual journey for string quartet and pipa, conceived by Wu Man, Kronos’ David Harrington and leading theatre director Chen Shi-Zheng, and inspired by the deconstruction and rebuilding in the USA of a late Qing dynasty dwelling.

Written by Academy Award Winning Composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Ghost Opera is a reflection on spirituality and ritual through water, metal, stone, paper, incorporating Chinese, American, Tibetan, and English cultures. Bach and Shakespeare are fused with Chinese shadow puppetry and ancient folklore.

This unique, one-off performance with Wu Man is exclusive to Auckland Arts Festival, however the Kronos Quartet are also touring to Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch as part of Chamber Music New Zealand’s Kaleidoscopes 2013 season.

Made to Move: Three brand new works that celebrate the joy of dance
Javier du Frutos, Ethan Stiefel and Andrew Simmons
Presented in association with the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Fri 8 at 7.30pm; Sat 9 at 1.30pm and 7.30pm and Sun 10 March at 6.30pm – Aotea Centre
Wed 13 and Thur 14 March at 7.30pm – Bruce Mason Centre

Venezuelan choreographer Javier de Frutos, whose work continues to challenge the boundaries between ballet, contemporary dance and music, creates a new piece inspired by the Pacific. De Frutos’ 2007 West End production of Cabaret received an Olivier Award and his recent collaboration with Pet Shop Boys, The Most Incredible Thing, enjoyed two sell-out seasons at London’s Sadler’s Wells.

RNZB Artistic Director Ethan Stiefel creates his first original work for the company – a spirited comedy set in a Bavarian beer hall. Expect laughter, Lederhosen and virtuoso technique, as the full company take up their steins and whirl away to the waltzes and polkas of Johann Strauss II.

Former RNZB dancer Andrew Simmons, creates the eagerly-awaited follow-up to 2010’s haunting A Song in the Dark, a hit with audiences around New Zealand and with dance lovers in the UK and France on the company’s 2011 tour.

The full Auckland Arts Festival 2013 programme will be announced on Wednesday 31 October.

www.aucklandfestival.co.nz

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