Instrument Bank – recipient profile: Mana Waiariki (Violin)

"Resonant, loud, heartfelt, and a bit of a drama queen!" This is how Wellington violinist Mana Waiariki describes her much-loved instrument, currently on loan to her thanks to the Hill Family Foundation of Arts and Music Instrument Bank initiative. But it wasn’t actually love at first sight/sound for this gifted young creative. Mana was halfway through the second year of her performance degree at Wellington’s New Zealand School of Music when she received the call inviting her to…

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Community Outreach
Community Engagement featuring Young Artists & local school groups

Community Outreach

By reaching out to local schools, Whakatipu Music Festival hopes to inspire youngsters to step into music. Festival artists visited Remarkables Primary, Shotover Primary, Liger Leadership Academy, and Whakatipu High School to aid the flourishing of the arts in our community. See shots below!

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Practising and Preaching
Artists practise together

Practising and Preaching

So, we know that Whakatipu Music Festival musicians are in town. The festival kicks off on Friday. What must the artists be doing for those few days in between? Rehearsals and Community Outreach!   Thomas Brown Gallery played host to a teacher training talk followed by an open class led by professional artists. Community invitations to music teachers and students seeking to up their game and learn from the best gathered together a joyful crowd. Collaborative participation from all…

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Welcome to the Wonderful World of WMF!
Sir Michael Hill holds court

Welcome to the Wonderful World of WMF!

Last night, our Artists, Host Families, and Training Ground team arrived at Sir Michael Hill's Residence for a lovely welcome reception. With opulent art on display all around, artistic souls and musical spirits felt at home together in celebration of all the festival goodness still to come. Mixing and mingling as the excitement grew, beautiful platters of salmon and salads went down a treat with our hungry musicians! A wonderful introduction by Festival Director, Anne Rodda, gave way…

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Hear that sound? Musicians are in town!
Will King, baritone, Sheena Haywood, photographer, and Liam Wooding, piano

Hear that sound? Musicians are in town!

'Twas the first day of winter, when high above Queenstown A large jumbo jet brought a rumbling sound Of musicians aplenty, their instruments aboard; Snowy mountains grew closer, further they came towards.   The graceful runaway below, a fly-away stave; No more beautiful sight their vision ever gave, For the Whakatipu Music Festival, these artists arrive; An inaugural event filled with Kiwi classical music pride.   Whakatipu Music Festival's artists touched down at Queenstown Airport this afternoon. Met…

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Grand Final – 2019

The three finalists played violin concertos of their choice with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi. Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis (Latvia) - Shostakovich: Concerto in A minor Op 99 (video currently unavailable) Do Gyung (Anna) Im (South Korea) - Sibelius: Concerto in D minor Eric Tsai (USA) - Shostakovich: Concerto in A minor Op 99 Followed by announcement of the winner of the 2109 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Live broadcast and live video from the Town Hall, Auckland (RNZ)

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The Michael Hill International Violin Competition Finalists have been announced

On Saturday 8th June three sizzling-hot young violinists will play a concerto of their choice with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. Join us for the live broadcast from 7:30pm on air and streaming on our Facebook page and website. The three finalists for 2019 are... Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis  The 23-year-old Latvian violinist has chosen Shostakovich's Concerto in A minor Op 99. Jevgēnijs is also a talented violist. During the quarter-final rounds Jevgēnijs he showed his versatility performing the hypnotic Nigun from Baal Shem on viola.…

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Semi-final Round III – Wednesday 5th June & Thursday 6th June – Melancholic Mozart and Rare Violins

The Michael Hill Competition entourage has hit the ground running in Auckland. There have been visits to schools and masterclasses with members of the adjudication panel including Grammy Award-winning James Ehnes, Professor Mauricio Fuks and child prodigy turned elegant super-star, Clara-Jumi Kang. With more than twenty thousand followers on Instagram, Clara-Jumi is very popular with young violinists, some of whom were thrilled to get her autograph during the quarter-finals. My hotel room is right next door to Clara-Jumi’s…

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