PRESS RELEASE – New Zealand Music Month

New Zealand Composers Measure Up in Australia

New Zealand conductor, Hamish McKeich conducted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in a concert almost entirely of New Zealand music in Melbourne last Saturday. Works by John Psathas, Dorothy Ker and Lyell Cresswell were presented, together with a new work by Australian composer Adrian Mansukhani.

The Melbourne Age said that John Psathas’ Saxophone Concerto was given a “blistering performance” by soloists Lachlan Davidson (saxophone) and David Jones (drumkit). They concluded that, “This brief exposure to New Zealand music at least showed that our neighbour’s breadth of composition stands comparison with Australian composition and is just as diverse.”

On June 2 Marc Taddei, also making his debut with the Melbourne Symphony, conducts a programme including what is believed to be only the second professional performance in Australia of Douglas Lilburn’s Overture: Aotearoa.

ENDS