2025 Whakatipu Music Festival

Introducing our Young Artists: Violinists Esther Oh and Sarah Lee

In the lead up to our 2025 Whakatipu Music Festival we will be introducing you to each of our selected young and emerging artists who will take the stage alongside five internationally renowned classical musicians this Easter.

About Esther:

20-year-old Esther Oh was born in New Zealand and is in their second year studying violin and conducting at the University of Auckland. Picking up the violin at age five after declaring the piano “too difficult”, Esther worked up to a LTCL diploma with Distinction at age 16. Esther credits Mark Bennett, Stephen Larsen and Andrew Beer as influential violin teachers and for conducting, Michael Joel and Rupert D’Cruze who are both associated with the University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music.

Esther was recently invited to participate in Orchestras Central’s Advanced Conductor’s Workshop, hosted at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. This culminated in directing the professional OCT ensemble in Stravinsky’s Octet for Wind Instruments. Esther has also conducted the Auckland University Student Chamber Orchestra, and directed orchestra rehearsals at Diocesan School for Girls.

In June 2024, Esther was sent as the New Zealand student representative to the Pacific Alliance of Music Schools Summit, hosted by Mahidol College of Music in Thailand. This week-long exchange with conservatories around the Pacific Rim sparked an interest in the status of music education and youth development. As part of the programme, Esther performed with the Thailand Philharmonic as guest first violin, and hosted a masterclass for children from impoverished neighbourhoods in Bangkok.

Esther was concertmaster of the 2024 NZSO National Youth Orchestra. Masterclass highlights in the past 12 months include Augustin Hadelich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Maxim Vengerov – all made possible thanks to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

See Esther perform at Opening Night, Next Gen 2, Musical Smorgasbord and Rejoice!

About Sarah:

Sarah Lee is currently in the third year of her Bachelor of Music degree at The University of Auckland, studying under the guidance of Stephen Larsen. 

Her passion for music has led to various achievements, such as receiving second place at the National String Competition 2024 and PACANZ National Competition 2022, the Chiron Lewis Eady Foundation Scholarship in 2022, and a Gold award at the NZCT Chamber Music Competition in 2021. She has also performed as a first violinist in the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in 2022, and was selected as the Emerging Artist for the At the World’s Edge music festival 2024 in Central Otago. This year, she has been selected as a recipient for the 2025 ROSL Pettman Scholarship.

Sarah has performed in masterclasses for internationally renowned artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Augustin Hadelich, and Ning Feng. She plays on a violin generously on loan to her through the Hill Family Foundation’s Instrument Bank.

See Sarah perform at Urbane and Musical Smorgasbord.

Introducing Opening Night:

Our first concert of the festival is Opening Night! To view the rest of our programme and find tickets for our other concerts, visit the Whakatipu Music Festival programme page.

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.

Esther Oh shares what they are most excited for:

“Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 1 brims with finesse in an electrifying fusion of Bach’s genius, and the violin’s virtuosic capacity. Its intensity and intricate counterpoint make the first movement a heart-racing challenge to play on-stage. To complement this firebreathing work are Beethoven’s bold Kreutzer Sonata and Tchaikovsky’s lyrical Méditation. I can’t wait to bring these works to life on opening night!” – Esther.

–

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

–

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

Buy Tickets to Opening Night here.