New Wind Quintet to Debut in Kapiti

New Wind Quintet to Debut in Kapiti

June 21 2012

The Mulled Wine Concert series is proud to present a debut concert forCategory Five, a new five-person wind ensemble of top Wellington musicians.

Taking their name from the Beaufort scale, Category Five “formed over a few glasses of wine in Mt Victoria last year”. The group will present their debut concert at the Paekakariki Memorial Hall on 15 July 2012.

Following the lead of an Amsterdam-based group, Califax, these exceptional Wellington wind exponents welcome classical underdog, the saxophone, into the more traditional wind ensemble.

Category Five explore an engaging blend of musical timbres In the upper registers the saxophone, oboe, and clarinet, combine seamlessly, while marvellously supported in the lower registers by the double-reed bassoon, and single-reed bass clarinet. The quintet will play Mozart's Quintet in C minor, Debussy's “Children's Corner” and a number of shorter pieces.
All members of this quintet rank as exemplary musicians in their own right. Peter Dykes, (oboe) is a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Vivacious clarinettist Moira Hurst is the Vector Wellington Orchestra’s principal clarinet. Canadian-born, Tui Clark, (bass clarinet) is a Klezmer devotee, and a member of the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet. Simon Brew, one of the country’s premier classical saxophonists, received his master’s degree from the Netherlands’ Artez Conservatorium, and plays with Saxcess, and NZSO. Bassoonist, Penny Miles is a long-time performer with the Vector Wellington Orchestra and free-lances with the NZSO.

Mulled Wine series organiser, Mary Gow says: The inclusion of the saxophone, not a traditional orchestral instrument, gives Category Five a very distinctive character and makes them a “fresh breeze”.

She says the Mulled Wine Concert series aims to: “present the best in classical music and introduce audiences to new experiences in a beautiful Paekakariki setting with great acoustics”.

What: Category Five Wind Quintet
When: Sunday, July 15 at 2:30PM
Where: Memorial Hall, The Parade, Paekakariki
Tickets: ($20 adult, $10 student under 15) available from:marygow@gmail.com

Also from: Magpie at Paremata, 99 Mana Esplanade; Darcy’s Organic Fruit and Vege, Paekakariki; Lush Design Gallery, Raumati Beach; Moby Dickens Bookshop, Paraparaumu Beach; Kapiti Mags Coastlands; Patricia's Fashions, Waikanae.

MULLED WINE CONCERTS
NEWS

12 August : Matthew Marshall (guitar)

Mulled Wine Concerts will close the 2012 series of concerts in Paekakariki by presenting New Zealand's finest classical guitarist on one of his infrequent appearances in this country. Matthew Marshall is Professor and Dean of the School of Creative and Performing Arts at Central Queensland University Australia. He was a prize-winner in the NZ Young Musician of the Year Competition, a recipient of an AGC Young Achievers Award and the UDC/Rotary Musicians Prize. He also won prizes in the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London, Australia/New Zealand Foundation Awards and a New Zealand-France Friendship Award.

He has since performed throughout Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands, America, Australasia, and from Iceland to Easter Island! In 2005 he gave a critically acclaimed solo recital in the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall, London premiering major new works by New Zealand composers. As a recording artist, Matthew has appeared on radio & TV and also features on nine CDs for solo guitar, with chamber ensembles and with orchestra (alongside the Kronos Quartet, the NZ String Quartet, NZ Symphony and others).

This will be Matthew's second appearance in Paekakariki and will thrill the many guitarists on the Kapiti coast. His last appeararance was notable not only for the different guitars he played, but for the close attention being paid to his finger-work by members of the audience! Matthew plans to present several well-known works from the classical guitar repertoire, including Benjamin Britten's “Nocturnal” (Op.70) written for solo guitar, a set of continuous variations on the theme and accompaniment of a song, written for voice and lute, by the English renaissance lutenist/composer John Dowland. Another favourite will be the “Sonatina” by the well -known Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba. Knowing him, there will also be some surprises. We expect to hear some new works and see some unexpected techniques in action.

An additional privilege at this concert will be opportunity to appreciate a display of artworks created by Paekakariki residents Sir Jon, and Lady Jacqui Trimmer.

2:30 PM on 12 August 2012 at Paekakariki Memorial Hall
THE MUSICIANS

Peter Dykes, (Oboe)
Born in North Yorkshire, England, Peter studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 2000. During his time in Scotland, he made regular guest appearances with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. For three years he held the position of solo oboe in the Slovenia National Theatre Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and has also played with the Slovenia Radio Television Symphony Orchestra and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2003, he was appointed to the position of Principal Oboe with Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, later moving to Wellington to take up his current position as Associate Principal Oboe with the NZSO. Peter is a junior football coach, avid supporter of the Wellington Phoenix football team, real ale fan, and a keen swimmer.

Moira Hurst, (Clarinet)
Moira completed her Masters degree in Clarinet and Saxophone Performance at the Peabody Institute of Music at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, following study at Victoria University of Wellington and the Hong Kong Academy. She has played in the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She has toured with Chamber Music New Zealand as a member of Ethos, Ethos, Saxcess and Under Construction. Moira is Principal Clarinet of the Vector Wellington Orchestra.

Simon Brew (Saxophone)
Simon graduated from the Artez Conservatorium, the Netherlands with a Master degree in classical saxophone. Prior to this he gained his Honours degree from Massey University. He has performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Symphonieorkest, Auckland Philharmonia and the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble. His other musical interest being conducting, Simon has studied with Michael Vinten, Hennie Ramaekers and Fred Dobbelstein and has acted as an assistant with the Wellington Youth Sinfonietta. In 2004 Simon was an assistant/intern to the music staff of the NBR New Zealand Opera. He is music director for the Wellington City Concert Bands Society, and teaches in seven Wellington schools. He is an artist teacher at the New Zealand School of Music.

PROGRAMME

“Overture from the Nutcracker Suite”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), arr. Raaf Hekkema

Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet music hardly requires introduction. What is less known is that the original ballet was not initially a success, although the 20 minute orchestral suite extracted from it was an instant hit. The composer's reverence for Rococo and late 18th century music can be detected in many passages in this spritely overture.

“Serenade in C Minor” K.388
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), arr Eduard Wesly
I Allegro
II Andante
III Menuetto in canone - Trio in canone al roverscio
IV Allegro

The serenade K.388, composed in July 1782 during the composer’s first years in Vienna after leaving Salzburg, was written for an octet comprising pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns. The work has four movements, and closely parallels the symphony in structure.

The wind octet came into prominence in the 1780s, when Austrian emperor Josef II established the Kaiserlich-Kšniglich Harmonie and was swiftly emulated throughout the courts of the Hapsburg Empire. Its principle function was to provide background music for informal occasions. The emperor’s Harmonie contained distinguished players including clarinetist Anton Stadler, for whom Mozart composed his clarinet concerto and quintet.

“La Poule”
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764), arr. Raaf Hekkema

Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is considered a leading French composer for the harpsichord, alongside Couperin.

La Poule, from Rameau’s 1728 Nouvelle Suite de Pieces de Clavecin, is a programmatic and virtuosity miniature depicting a chicken. For wind players, it provides the delightful challenge of reproducing the harpsichord ornaments.

INTERVAL
Cantata BMV 147, "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben"
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), arr. Bryan Crump

“Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring” is the most common English title of the 10th movement of the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, which has become one of Bach's most enduring works.

Written during the composer's first year in Leipzig, Germany, this chorale movement was scored for voices with trumpet, oboes, strings, and continuo, Our version of this classic was arranged this year by Radio New Zealand broadcaster, Bryan Crump.

“The Browning”
William Byrd (1540 - 1623), arr. Raaf Hekkema

The Browning, also know as “The Leeves be Green”, is a set of variations on a popular melody which evidently originated as a celebration of the ripening of nuts in autumn. It was written for recorder consort by William Byrd, one of the English composers of the Renaissance. Byrd was a pupil of Thomas Tallis, the the leading composing member of the Chapel Royal Choir.

“Children’s Corner”
Claude-Achille Debussy (1862- 1918), arr Raaf Hekkema
I Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum
II Jimbo’s Lullaby
III Serenade of the Doll
IV The Snow is Dancing
V The Little Shepherd
VI Golliwogg’s Cake-Walk

Children's Corner was published in 1908 as a six-movement suite for solo piano, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer later that same year. It is dedicated to Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma (known as "Chou-Chou"), who was three at the time. The pieces are not intended to be played by children; rather they are meant to be evocative of childhood and some of the toys in Claude-Emma's collection. The title of the first movement, Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, alludes to Clementi's frequently used piano method books. Jimbo’s Lullaby describes an elephant, Jumbo, who came from the French Sudan and lived briefly in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris around the time of Debussy's birth. The jaunty Golliwogg’s Cake-Walk is a ragtime piece full of syncopations and banjo-like effects. The cakewalk was a dance or a strut and the dancer with the most elaborate steps won a cake ("took the cake").

AFTERNOON TEA and MULLED WINE
The Musicians

Penny Miles (Bassoon)
Penny began bassoon lessons as a teenager in Wellington on account of her clarinet-playing sister, and went on to study at Victoria University, completing a Bachelor of Music. Later she travelled to Chicago to study towards a Masters degree in performance at Northwestern University, while at the same time digesting weekly concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall. She works regularly with the Vector Wellington Orchestra, and has performed on many occasions with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia and the Dunedin Sinfonia.

Tui Clark, (Bass clarinet)
Canadian-born Tui trained at the University of Ottawa, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. She has also attended courses at the Banff Centre for Arts, Centre d'Arts Orford, Domaine Forget, Musikforum Viktring-Klagenfurt, and KlezKanada. She has performed with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Swansea City Opera and with many chamber and new music ensembles across the UK. Since arriving in New Zealand four years ago, she has performed with the NZSO, the Vector Wellington Orchestra, the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band, and a wide range of chamber ensembles. She is a keen teacher of clarinet and chamber music in the Wellington area.

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