Violin Virtuoso At The Asia Pacific Festival

Violin Virtuoso At The Asia Pacific Festival

Award winning soloist Joanna Kurkowicz travels to New Zealand for one concert only with the NZSO as part of the 2007 Asia Pacific Festival.

‘Asian Voices’ the NZSO’s second concert in the 2007 Asia Pacific Festival will feature the rich sounds of virtuoso Joanna Kurkowicz’s violin intertwining with exotic Asian percussion under the baton of Chinese Maestro Li Xincao.

Described as a “very cultivated artist” by the Boston Globe, Kurkowicz is originally from Poland but now resides in the USA where she is the concertmistress of the Boston Philharminic and the Berkshire Symphony.

Kurkowics has an active and versatile career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, recording artist and concertmistress. She has performed on many of the worlds great concert stages including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Grosse Saal in Salzburg. She has travelled Europe and America as a soloist and guest artist at many festivals.

Kurkowicz will share the stage with Wellington based tabla player Sanjay Dixit. Mr. Dixit has been pursuing the art of Indian percussion since he was nine and has performed with a wide variety of musicians in India, Sweden, Russia and New Zealand. They perform Svara-Yantra by Shirish Korde (USA/Indian) which is inspired by raga performances by two masters of Indian classical music.

The ‘Asian Voices’ concert is typical of the 2007 Asia Pacific Festival.

“The Festival’s fresh approach to programming places the traditional and the contemporary next to each other, the one illuminating the other” says Artistic Director Jack Body. Twenty three countries are represented in the Festival including first-class performers from Japan, USA, Korea, China, Indonesia, Iran, The Netherlands and of course, the very best from New Zealand, such as the NZSO, Stroma, the NZ String Quartet, STRIKE, the NZ Trio, Tower NZ Youth Choir, Saxcess, Richard Nunns and Phil Dadson.

With more than 25 concerts over 9 days, the Asia Pacific Festival features two concerts with the NZSO, an international lunchtime series at St Andrews on the Terrace, two music-theatre performances at Te Whaea, a puppetry weekend at Te Papa, an evening series at Happy, which serves as the Festivals official late night venue, and various free performances

Tickets are on sale through Ticketek (www.ticketek.co.nz or phone 04 384 3840). Programmes are available to the public from outlets throughout Wellington. For more information on the Asia Pacific Festival please see www.asiapacificfestival.org.nz

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