Tuesday 14 April | 5:30 – 7:30pm | Te Atamira

Open Piano Class with Stephen De Pledge and Bernadette Harvey – An intimate and informal setting for piano students and their teachers. 

Stephen and Bernadette are not only internationally-renowned soloists and collaborating pianists, they are also sought-after piano teachers and on faculty at the University of Auckland and the Sydney Conservatorium.   

Register here.

Wednesday 15 April | 5:30 – 7:00pm | Te Atamira

Legendary choral educators Karen and Elise will work with singers in an informal setting to develop blending, voicing, articulation and other necessities for singing in a choir.    

Dr Karen Grylls is Artistic Director of Choirs Aotearoa and led the NZ Youth Choir to win the ‘Choir of the World’ in 1992.  Elise Bradley, returned to New Zealand from an illustrious 14 ½ year as the Artistic Director of the Toronto Youth Choir and is the co-founder, along with Karen, of New Zealand’s Choral Academy. 

Register here.

Thursday 16 April | 5:30 – 7:00pm | Te Atamira 

Open String Class with Ioana Cristina Goicea and Julian Smiles – An intimate and informal setting for string students and their teachers. 

After winning the 2017 Michael Hill Int’l Violin Competition, Ioana Cristina has made her home in Vienna where she is a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts as well as maintains a busy solo career.  Cellist Julian Smiles has occupied man of the most prestigious chamber music and orchestral leadership positions in Australian including Head of Strings at the Sydney Conservatorium.

Register here. 

Highlighting the finest of emerging New Zealand talent, the 2025 Festival opens with a focus on performances by Austin Haynes (countertenor), Esther Oh (violin), and Felicity Tompkins (soprano). The programme ranges from popular arias by Vivaldi and Mozart, movements from Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 9 and the great violinist and composer Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe, and the beautiful ‘Mediation’ from Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher. The concert concludes with a performance by a trio of acclaimed Festival artists Ioana Cristina Goicea (violin and winner of the 2027 Michael Hill International Violin Competition), Julian Smiles (cello), Bernadette Harvey (piano) of the Piano Trio No 1 Op 8 by Brahms, written when the composer himself was just 20 years old, foretelling his great talent to come.

Esther has already performed in the Manukau Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra, and with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra as the soloist and she has played in masterclasses for Anne-Sophie Mutter, Ilya Gringolts, Sergey Malov, and New Zealander Ben Morrison, now in the Vienna Philharmonic.

Soprano Felicity Tomkins was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Lexus Song Quest in 2024 and has been described as having “a voice like manuka honey”. Among other prizes in her career to date, Felicity was  named the 2024 winner of the 100th Herald Sun Aria Competition in Australia and of the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship. She is currently pursuing her career in Australia and the UK.  Whakatipu Festival audiences are promised a musical treat from her appearances.

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Felicity Tomkins, Soprano and Austin Haynes, Countertenor
Ioana Cristina Goicea and Esther Oh, Violin
Julian Smiles, Cello
Marlon Sullivan, Clarinet
Stephen De Pledge and Bernadette Harvey, Harpsichord and Piano
Reuben Brown, Conductor

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Vivaldi (1678 – 1741): Veni, me sequere fida

Ysaÿe (1858 – 1931): Solo Sonata No 1 in G Minor
i Grave
ii Fugato
Beethoven (1770 – 1827): Sonata No 9 in A Major, Op 47, Adagio Sostenuto
Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893): Meditation, No 1, Op 42

Haydn (1732-1809) She never told her love
Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) O ne rydai, mai Paolo from Francesca da Rimini
Poulenc (1899-1963) – La Dame de Monte-Carlo

Mozart (1756 – 1791): Ch’io mi scordi di te?

Brahms (1833 – 1897): Piano Trio in B Major, No 1, Op 8
I. Allegro con moto
II. Scherzo: Allegro molto — Trio: Più lento
III. Adagio non troppo — Allegro
IV. Finale: Allegro molto agitato

In a rousing start, local music students showcase what they have been learning at the Turn up the Music Trust community music programme.

The focus then shifts to a programme by multi-talented cellist Damon Herlihy-O’Brien and pianist William Sun. Damon is one of New Zealand’s most exciting young performers whose musical ability covers classical through to contemporary music and cello to drums. The first movement of Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata is the perfect vehicle for Damon to demonstrate the sonorous beauty and versatility of the cello, while two movements from Bach’s Cello Suite will showcase unexpected attributes of both the cello and Damon’s artistic maturity: jazz cellist Mark Summers’ stylish twist of a traditional carol in a contemporary style, and local composer Martin Lodge’s Epitaph in Memoriam Douglas Lilburn that shows the cello’s ethereal qualities.

Charismatic viola player Tal Amoore takes the stage, accompanied by Otis Prescott-Mason to perform seven movements of Prokofiev’s popular ‘Romeo and Juliet” orchestral suite arranged for viola and piano. As these short pieces explore the doomed love story through a series of musical vignettes, they will perfectly show off Tal’s virtuosity in a lively performance.

The concert concludes with a luscious Quartet for piano, clarity, violin and cello from Viennese composer Walter Rabl at the twilight of the romantic era performed Festival artists Ioana Cristina Goicea, Julian Smiles, Stephen De Pledge, and emerging artist Marlon Sullivan weaving the instruments together in an uplifting end to sparkling concert.

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Ioana Cristina Goicea, Violin  
Tal Amoore, Viola  
Damon Herlihy-O’Brien, Cello  
Julian Smiles, Cello 
Marlon Sullivan, Clarinet 
William Sun, Otis Prescott-Mason and Stephen De Pledge, Piano
Students from Turn Up The Music  

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Prokofiev (1891 – 1953): Cello Sonata in C Major, Op 119
Andante Grave
Bach (1685 – 1750): Cello Suite No 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010
iii Courante
iv Sarabande
Mark Summer (b. 1958): Cello-Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
Martin Lodge (1954 – 2024) Epitaph, in memoriam Douglas Lilburn

Prokofiev (1891-1953): Romeo and Juliet, Op 64
1. Introduction
2. The Street Comes Alive
3. Juliet as a Young Girl
4. Dance of the Knights (Montagues and Capulets)
5. Balcony Scene
6. Death of Mercutio
7. Death of Juliet

Rabl (1873-1940): Quartet for Piano, Violin, Clarinet and Cello, Op 1
III. Andantino, un poco mosso
I. Allegro Moderato

The opening work in this concert is Brahms’s lyrical Violin Sonata No 2 in A, performed by outstanding young violinist Sarah Lee. It may be the shortest of Brahms’ violin sonatas, yet you will appreciate Sarah’s skill as she performs the most virtuosic of Brahms’ three violin sonatas. In contrast to Brahm’s work (written when the composer was 53 and at the height of his power), the beautifully simple works by Lili Boulanger was written when the composer was barely in her twenties. Boulanger, was a meteoric star of French music, died less than four years after these two works were composed.

Countertenor Austin Haynes, accompanied by Stephen De Pledge, presents an eclectic solo program, drawing on various traditions from Baroque arias to Māori waiata as a mihi/acknowledgement to the kōrero tīpuna (ancestral histories) of the Whakatipu basin. Alongside pieces by Handel and Schubert, highlights will include I runga o ngā Puke, a wartime love song, composed in 1915 by Paraire Tōmoana as a farewell to the Second Māori Contingent. Austin will also perform Apirana Ngata’s translation of Home Sweet Home, popularised by pioneering Māori opera singer and composer, Princess Te Rangi Pai in the early 1900s in her concert tours of England.

Three Festival Young artists, violist Yuxin Chen, clarinettist Marlon Sullivan and pianist Otis Prescott-Mason,  perform Mozart’s melodic Trio in E-flat major written in 1786 – the first work ever written for this combination of instruments, when the clarinet was still a relatively new instrument. With its harmonious interplay of the three instruments, it is as enchanting to listen to today as it was nearly 250 years ago.

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Austin Haynes, Countertenor  
Sarah Lee, Violin 
Yuxin Chen, Viola 
Marlon Sullivan, Clarinet 
Otis Prescott-Mason, Bernadette Harvey and Stephen de Pledge – Piano and Harpsichord 

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Brahms (1833 – 1897): Sonata No 2 in A Major, Op 100
I. Allegro amabile
II. Andante tranquillo — Vivace — Andante — Vivace di più — Andante — Vivace –
III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andante)

Schubert (1797 – 1828): Auf Dem See
Handel (1685 – 1759): Agitato da fiere Tempeste from Ricardo re d’Inghilterra
Handel (1685-1759): Vaghe Fonti from Agrippina
Caccini (1551 – 1618): Fortunata Augellino (E te manu waimarire) translated into te reo by Austin Hayes
Paraire Tōmoana (1874 – 1946): I runga o ngā puke
Schubert (1797 – 1828): Wohin?
Āpirana Ngata (1874 – 1950): Te Kāinga Tupu (translation of ‘Home Sweet Home’)
Handel (1685 – 1759): Yet I can hear that dulcet lay from The Choices of Hercules

 

Mozart (1756 – 1791): Kegelstatt Trio in E-Flat Major, K 498
I. Andante
II. Menuetto
III. Rondo

The concert opens with performances that demonstrate the accomplishments of pupils of Queenstown-based piano teacher Kinga Krupa. It’s then your chance to hear outstanding clarinettist Marlon Sullivan showcase the versatility of the clarinet before he leaves for the prestigious music school Kunstuniveritat in Austria. Demanding virtuosity from both clarinet and piano, this sonata is will delight and engage you with its Straussian influences and sparkling interplay between the instruments.

The “Wanderer Fantasy” is among the most often played yet technically and musically highly challenging of Schubert’s works. It’s testament to the skill of pianist Willian Sun that this performance will draw out all the dramatic contrasts, jaunty airs and gentle melodies with which Schubert imbued this solo piano work.

The second half of the programme, with renowned New Zealand choral composer David Hamilton’s Shine out, fair sun, also takes us back to the Baroque era with works from Scarlatti, Monteverdi and finally Bach’s stately and at times exuberant Brandenburg Concerto No 3 composed for the then-unusual combination of three violins, three violas, three cellos and basso continuo. Performed by members of the Central Otago Community Orchestra and Festival artists, these performances perfectly reflect the Festival’s ethos of weaving together community musicians alongside New Zealand’s leading artists and international luminaries.

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Felicity Tomkins, Soprano  
Austin Haynes, Countertenor  
Julian Smiles, Cello 
Marlon Sullivan, Clarinet 
William Sun and Stephen De Pledge, Piano 
Euan Safey, Reuben Brown and Esther Oh, Conductor 
Young Artist Choir 
Piano Students of Kinga Krupa 
Member of the Central Otago Community Orchestra 

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Egon Kornauth (1891 – 1959): Clarinet Sonata in F Minor Op 5
I Leidenschaftlich bewegt (Allegro con brio)
II Gemütliches Tanzzeitmaß (Molto commodo) – Trio
III Ruhig Gehend (Andante espressivo)
VI Entschlossen (Allegro energico, alla marcia)

Schubert (1797 -1828): Fantasie in C Major, Op 159, (Wanderer Fantasy)

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 – 1725): Dormi, o fulmine di Guerra

Monteverdi (1597 – 1643): Pur ti miro

Morley (1557 – 1602): April is in my mistress’ face
Arcadelt (1507-1568): Il bianco e dolce cigno

David Hamilton (b. 1955): Shine out, fair sun

Bach (1685-1750): Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
1. Allegro moderato
2. Adagio
3. Allegro

Otis Prescott-Mason performs Liszt’s single-movement piano sonata, regarded as one of the pinnacles of classical Romantic-era pianism. Its slow, gentle opening belies the drama, exuberance and delicacy  – and skill of the pianist – that emerge as the work unfolds.

At the other end of the table of delights in this concert is Rebecca Clarke’s award-winning sonata for viola and piano. Requiring prodigious talent from viola soloist Yuxin Chen, this 20^th century work starts with a vibrant fanfare from the viola, morphs through languid and lyrical melodies to lively central core, and an adagio (slow) finale that ends with a surprising dramatic flourish.

An ensemble of Festival Young Artists performs a piano quintet English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (not to be confused with the earlier English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge) who was only 18 when he composed his piano quintet in 1893- it is filled with strong rhythms, rich and lyrical melodies and virtuosic embellishments for each of the five players and is becoming a staple in the romantic era literature.

Time for some purely vocal entertainment. Felicity Tomkins, Austin Haynes, Ivan Zhang and Mark Robb take centre stage to showcase soprano, countertenor, tenor and bass voices and perform vocal works ranging from Summertime (from Porgy and Bess), Evening Prayer (from Humperdinck’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’) through to two (of five) ‘Shakespeare Songs’ composed by Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) as incidental music for plays by Shakespeare, and Stephen Sondheim’s Agony (from ‘Into the Woods’) in an entertaining smorgasbord of musical styles and eras. Cheers!

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Felicity Tomkins, Soprano 
Austin Haynes, Countertenor  
Ivan Zhang, Tenor
Mark Bobb, Baritone
Sarah Lee and Esther Oh, Violin 
Yuxin Chen and Tal Amoore, Viola 
Damon Herlihey-O’Brien, Cello 
Otis Prescott-Mason, William Sun and Stephen De Pledge, Piano  

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Liszt (1811 – 1886): Piano Sonata in B Minor S178

Rebecca Clarke (1886 -1979): Sonata for Viola and Piano
i. Impetuoso
ii. Vivace
iii. Adagio

Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): Piano Quintet in g minor, Op 1
I. Allegro con moto
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo
IV. Allegro molto

Kander & Ebb: Willkommen from Cabaret

Sammy Fain: Secret Love from Calamity Jane
Nico Dostal: Spiel’ mir das Lied from Die Ungarische Hochzeit

Humperdink (1854 – 1921): Evening Prayer from Hansel and Gretel

Bernstein (1918 – 1990): Maria from Westside Story

Sullivan (1842 – 1900): Orpheus with his Lute and O Mistress Mine

Stephen Sondheim (1930 – 2021): Agony! from Into the Woods

Choral works come to the fore, with the Rejoice! Choir, comprised of dozens of local vocalists, joined by emerging and established choral artists in a celebration of choral music – and of Easter.

Music by local composer Leonie Holmes opens the programme with the Young Artists choir joined by clarinettist Marlon Sullivan and pianist Stephen de Pledge.

Taking a step back chronologically, our string musicians perform Grieg’s ever-popular and gently melodic neo-baroque Holberg suite with Euan Safey and Reuben Brown share conducting honours here, while another emerging conductor, Esther oh, takes the baton as Austin Haynes performs three Māori language songs, composed by Erima Maewa Kaihau (1879-1941). Best known as the composer of ‘Now is the Hour’, Kaihau was a poet, singer and a pioneer in combining European art song to Māori poetic and musical traditions. Austin will perform three of Kiahau’s songs published 1918, working from newly rediscovered orchestral arrangements, which have not been performed for decades. We rejoice that we can perform them together in our final concert.

The full force of community and experienced choral forces is on show as the concert (and Festival) draws to a close.  Revel in the irresistible beat and drama right from the start of Carl Orff’s hugely popular (and popularised by its use in many movies) O Fortuna.  Perhaps Orff learned from Handel, whose Hallelujah chorus from the Easter section of his Messiah similarly showcases the power of using using the full gamut of choral forces.

No choral concert is complete without Beethoven’s Ode to Joy which stands today, nearly two and a half centuries after it was composed, as a powerful protest anthem for some, but primarily as a celebration of music – especially choral music.

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Young Artists choir: Felicity, Austin, Ivan and Mark
Marlon Sullivan, clarinet
Stephen de Pledge, piano
Euan Safey, conductor
Austin Haynes, conductor and countertenor
Esther Oh, conductor
Members of the Queenstown community perform as a choir

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Leonie Holmes (b. 1962): Nocturne from Silvers Whispers Suite

Grieg (1843 – 1907): Holberg Suite
i. Praeludium
ii. Sarabande
iii. Gavotte-Musette-Gavotte
iv: Air
v: Riguadon

Kaihau (1855 – 1920): Akoako o Te Rangi (Whisper of Heaven)
E moe te Ra (Shadows of Evening)

Carl Orff (1895 – 1982): O Fortuna from Carmina Burana

Handel (1685 – 1759): The Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah

Mascagni (1863 – 1945): Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

Beethoven (1770 – 1827): Ode to Joy, from Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125, movement 4