Welcome Message from the Tour Donors Robert Catto www.catto.co.nz All rights reserved Thank you for joining us for this performance by Kiwi soprano Madeleine Pierard, her sister Anna Pierard and pianist Terence Dennis. Madeleine and Terence will also be giving duo recitals in other centres, and we would love to welcome you to the audience for those concerts as well, either in person or on RadioNZ Concert. Since winning the 2005 Lexus Song Quest we have kept a close eye and ear on Madeleine s career as she emerges onto the world stage. It will be a real treat for us to hear her in recital performing a gorgeous range of songs and arias. We are very grateful for the ongoing partnership with Deane Endowment Trust that dates back to 2007. They take an active interest in supporting our emerging musicians, including singers such as Jonathan Lemalu and Anna Leese. Many of you will recall with pleasure their recital tours for Chamber Music New Zealand, which were also supported by the Deane Endowment Trust. We hope you will enjoy this concert. Euan Murdoch Chief Executive, Chamber Music New Zealand We are pleased to support this national tour by the wonderfully talented soprano Madeleine Pierard performing with her equally talented sister Anna and accompanied by Terence Dennis. Our partnerships with Chamber Music New Zealand have previously supported Latitude37, NZTrio, singers Jonathan Lemalu and Anna Leese with pianists Terence Dennis and Malcolm Martineau, and the innovative multi-media production of Haydn s Seven Last Words. This demonstrates the extraordinary wealth of creative talent that New Zealand has to offer. Deane Endowment Trust Sir Roderick Deane was awarded a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit this year for his contribution to business, policymaking and for supporting the arts and disability sector for more than 30 years. Trustees Gillian and Roderick Deane were honoured in 2008 for the substantial and sustained generosity they have provided to the arts in New Zealand. They received the annual Arts Foundation of New Zealand Award for Patronage, presented by Perpetual Trust.
Programme Schumann Three Spanish songs Page 4 Brahms Two songs from Opus 43 Page 4 Berg Sieben frühe Lieder Page 5 INTERVAL Ross Harris Songs for Beatrice (première) Page 6 Mozart Prenderò quel brunettino from Così fan tutte Ah, perdona al primo affetto from La clemenza di Tito Parto, parto from La clemenza di Tito Non mi dir from Don Giovanni Page 8 Rossini Non più mesta from La Cenerentola Page 9 Bellini Ah, non credea mirarti from La Sonnambula Mira, o Norma from Norma Page 11 AUCKLAND 23 AUGUST NEW PLYMOUTH 9 AUGUST NAPIER 4 AUGUST PALMERSTON NORTH 7 AUGUST The Auckland concert is being recorded for broadcast by Radio NZ Concert Please respect the music, the musicians, and your fellow audience members, by switching off all cellphones, pagers and watches. Taking photographs, or sound or video recordings during the concert is strictly prohibited unless with the prior approval of Chamber Music New Zealand. Madeleine Pierard, Anna Pierard and Terence Dennis 1.
Madeleine Pierard soprano Anna Pierard mezzo Terence Dennis piano Kaleidoscopes 2012 2. Madeleine Pierard grew up in Napier, playing the piano and singing in the New Zealand Youth Choir. While studying music and composition at Victoria University, she sang with the Tudor Consort and Voices New Zealand. In 2005 she won the Lexus Song Quest, and then undertook further studies at the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music in London with Lilian Watson. She has won many other competitions including the Great Elm Award at the Wigmore Hall (2007), Les Azuriales Ozone Opera Competition in France (2008), the Lies Askonas Prize, and the Singer s Award at the Royal Overseas League Competition (2009). Madeleine Pierard received an New Generation Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand in 2008. She is now a Jette Parker Young Artist with The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and has performed numerous roles with the company. Other engagements include oratorio performances, orchestral concerts, and recitals, including at the Wigmore Hall and Westminster Abbey in London. Madeleine Pierard has appeared in concert with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand and China. In 2006 she joined the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra to give the première of Symphony No 2 by Ross Harris, written for her, and she has recorded a CD of works by Lyell Cresswell with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Tauranga-born Anna Pierard studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and then undertook a two year study course at De Nieuwe Opera Academie in Amsterdam. A former finalist in the Mobil Song Quest, she has performed throughout New Zealand in recital and in oratorio, and has taken part in opera performances in concert and on stage with New Zealand Opera, the Auckland
Philharmonia and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In Europe she has been a soloist with the KammerOper in Vienna, and at Teatro Castelló and the Palau de la Musica in Valencia. She has also taken solo roles in the première of an opera by Benoît Mernier, with performances in Brussels and Strasbourg. Anna Pierard has now returned to live in New Zealand. Terence Dennis was born in Christchurch and graduated from Otago University and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Cologne. He is currently Professor and Head of Performance Studies at the University of Otago Department of Music. He was appointed to the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004, and is a Fellow of both the NZ Academy of Humanities and of the Royal Society of New Zealand. As one of New Zealand s leading pianists, he regularly partners leading musicians from overseas and in New Zealand both in recital and recording. His collaboration with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has recently seen him perform at a royal recital in Windsor, UK, and in acclaimed recitals throughout Australia and Hawaii. Since 1991 he has been the pianist for the Lexus (formerly Mobil) Song Quest finals, and has been official pianist for seven international string competitions. He has been a guest adjudicator of the regional finals of the USA Metropolitan Opera Auditions Competition and in 2009-10 was on the staff of the Solti-Te Kanawa Accademia di Bel Canto Summer School in Italy. His CD of piano works by Liszt and Wagner was issued in 2007 by Ode Records. Madeleine Pierard, Anna Pierard and Terence Dennis 3.
Kaleidoscopes 2012 4. Robert Schumann Born Zwickau, Saxony, 8 June 1810 Died Endenich, near Bonn, 29 July 1856 Erste Begegnung Opus 74 No 1 Liebesgram Opus 74 No 3 Bedeckt mich mit Blumen Opus 138 No 4 Robert Schumann grew up in a literary family and was largely self-taught as a pianist and composer. He was sent to Leipzig to study law, but instead immersed himself in the noble ideals of Romantic literature and music. In 1840, after opposition from her father, Schumann married Clara Wieck, a leading pianist of the day and the inspiration for many of his compositions. His marriage seems to have inspired him to concentrate on writing songs during 1840, and most of his song cycles were produced at that time. Schumann had a wide interest in literature from other countries. Nearly ten years after his first foray into song-writing, he was inspired by a collection of Spanish love poems and he set two sets of ten as the Spanisches Liederspiel Opus 74 and Spanisches Liebeslieder Opus 138. Erste Begegnung [First encounter] is sung by a girl who likens herself to a rose, then notes a young man choosing a flower: with a smile he picked the most beautiful. The third song of Opus 74, Liebesgram [Love-sadness] consoles a broken heart, saying one day you will be at peace what you have not found in life will be yours. Bedeckt mich mit Blumen [Cover me with flowers] likens the scent of flowers to the breath of love: cover me with flowers, I die of love. Johannes Brahms Born Hamburg, 7 May 1833 Died Vienna, 3 April 1897 Von ewiger Liebe Opus 43 No 1 Die Mainacht Opus 43 No 2 Brahms was born into a poor family, but his exceptional musical talent was recognised early in his life. He studied piano and composition with Eduard Marxsen, the leading teacher in Hamburg at that time, and soon became his star pupil. Marxsen gave his pupils a strong grounding in counterpoint, and the results can be seen throughout Brahms s output. Brahms gave his first solo concert at the age of 15, and earned his living as a pianist and teacher until the fees and royalties from his compositions grew sufficiently. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Brahms favoured simple and regular structures in his song-writing, and texts that were straightforward and sentimental rather than deeply poetic. His interest in writing Lieder spanned his entire life, with his earliest written before he was 20, and his last the Four Serious Songs written just before he died. The four songs that were published in 1868 as Opus 43 were not written as a set, but collected together as complementary works. Von ewiger Liebe [Of eternal love] portrays a young couple who profess their love: Iron and steel can be recast by the smith, but who could transform our love?. In Die Mainacht [The May night] the singer walks tearfully through the woods, listening to the nightingale: I guess you re happy, fluting nightingale, because your wife lives in a nest with you.
Alban Berg Born Vienna, 9 February 1885 Died Vienna, 24 December 1935 Sieben frühe Lieder Nacht Schilflied Die Nachtigall Traumgekrönt Im Zimmer Liebesode Sommertage Alban Berg s early life was an easy one. His family were comfortably off, and spent most holidays at their country estate in Carinthia. His sister Smaragda was a good pianist and his brother Charly was a singer, so it is perhaps no surprise that Alban s earliest surviving compositions, written when he was about 15, are songs. When his father died suddenly, the family experienced financial difficulties for some years and Alban was only able to continue at school because an aunt paid for him. In 1904 Arnold Schoenberg recognised Alban s musical talent and agreed to teach him even though the Berg family could not afford to pay for lessons. Anton Webern studied with Schoenberg at the same time, and these three remarkable composers formed what is now called the Second Viennese School. The Seven Early Songs (Sieben frühe Lieder) were written in the period 1905-08, and were collected and published with piano accompaniment in 1928, and in an orchestral version in 1955. It appears that Berg chose them as the best examples of his own early writing, from a time when he was immersed in a late-romantic musical world. Nacht ( Night ; text by Hauptmann) describes elements of nature - the noble world is so dreamily pure - and celebrates them - my soul, drink this solitude. In Schilflied ( Reed song ; text by Lenau) the poet uses a walk along a forest stream to sadly recall a lover - I think I hear the gentle sound of your voice wafting past. Die Nachtigall ( The nightingale ; text by Storm) refers opaquely to the effect of a nightingale s song on a woman- she carries her summer hat in her hand, enduring the heat of the sun, and does not know what to begin. Traumgekrönt ( Crowned through a dream ; text by Rilke) is another reflective poem - you came to me to take my soul. and quietly, as in a fairy tale, the night resounded. Im Zimmer ( In the room ; text by Schlaf) is a happy description of an autumn evening in front of the fire with a lover. In Liebesode ( Love poem ; text by Hartleben), scents from the garden give colour to the dreams of intertwined lovers. Sommertage ( Summer days ; text by Hohenberg) is an ecstatic and ardent song of longing - oh, heart, what can your brightest hiking song say about your deep pleasure. Madeleine Pierard, Anna Pierard and Terence Dennis 5.
Ross Harris Born Amberley, North Canterbury, 1 August 1945 Kaleidoscopes 2012 6. Songs for Beatrice Making Light of Time New Zealander Ross Harris taught music at Victoria University for over 30 years, and is now a freelance composer. His repertoire spans piano pieces, songs, chamber music, operas, orchestral works, jazz, rock and klezmer music. The première of his opera Waituhi led to Harris being awarded the QSM for Public Service in 1985, and in 2000, 2005, 2006 and 2009 he received the SOUNZ Contemporary Award. In 2005-2006 he was composer-in-residence with the Auckland Philharmonia, and in 2010 his song cycle The Floating Bride was premièred by Jenny Wollerman and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The Abiding Tides, commissioned for Jenny Wollerman and the New Zealand String Quartet, was toured by Chamber Music New Zealand in 2011. Vincent O Sullivan is a poet, biographer, fiction writer and editor and has twice received the Montana Book Award for poetry. He has held many university residencies and fellowships, and is now Emeritus Professor of English at Victoria University. The composer s task, when presented with such subtle and beautiful words, is to try to create music that captures something of the same spirit. Ross Harris Songs for Beatrice was commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand for this tour. The composer writes: These songs are to honour the astronomer Beatrice Tinsley, who was among the first to prove the universe is infinitely expanding, and not, as was generally thought, a fixed state. She was born in England, grew up in New Zealand, and was Professor of Astronomy at Yale when she died in 1981, at the age of forty. Vincent O Sullivan adds: The name Beatrice of course has marvellous resonances, while Tinsley s dealing with galaxies as a job, and the tragedy of her early death, spurred us both. It was also a way to celebrate and honour what she was and did. This is my seventh collaboration with Ross Harris, so it s surely clear by now, after opera libretti, several song cycles, an oratorio for brass, and songs as part of a symphony, that we enjoy working together. Vincent O Sullivan
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born Salzburg, 27 January 1756 Died Vienna, 5 December 1791 Prenderò quel brunettino from Così fan tutte Ah, perdona al primo affetto from La clemenza di Tito Parto, parto from La clemenza di Tito Non mi dir from Don Giovanni Kaleidoscopes 2012 8. After his early years as a travelling musician, Mozart returned to his home town of Salzburg in 1773 and settled into a busy life of mainly instrumental composition. However, in 1781 he was dismissed from his position at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and in 1982 he married Constanze Weber, in defiance of his father Leopold s objections. During the following years he made a living as a free-lance musician in Vienna, giving sold-out recitals, teaching and composing, particularly operas. He began a long association with the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte in 1986, writing the highly successful The Marriage of Figaro, followed by Don Giovanni, which was premièred in Prague the following year. The comic opera Così fan tutte [which is loosely translated as All women act like that ] had its opening season cut short by the death of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna early in 1790, and never attained the same level of public acclaim. The final opera that Mozart began writing was La clemenza di Tito [The clemency of Tito], which was commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II, King of Bohemia in 1791 and used a suitably adulatory libretto about a generous-spirited leader. In Così fan tutte, two sisters, whose fiancés have supposedly gone away to the army, choose between two new suitors (actually the fiancés in disguise): Dorabella says she will take the brown-haired one [ prenderò quel brunettino ], and Fiordiligi prefers the blonde. Ah, perdona al primo affetto is a tender farewell between the lovers Annio and Servilia: the new emperor Tito has announced that he will marry Servilia, and as a loyal subject, Annio has to applaud his decision. Ah, forgive me, my first love. you will be the last person to stay in my heart. Meanwhile, Servilia s brother Sesto has been persuaded by the woman he adores to kill Tito, but before he leaves on his mission he begs for her love in the aria Parto, parto. I go, but make peace with me again look at me and I will forget all... In Non mi dir, Donna Anna tells her suitor Don Ottavio, who is getting a little impatient to marry, that she cannot do so until the death of her father (who has been killed by Don Giovanni during an attempt to molest Anna) has been avenged. Don t say to me, my love, that I am cruel. one day, perhaps, heaven will smile on me again.
Gioacchino Rossini Born Pesaro, 29 February 1792 Died Passy, 13 November 1868 Non più mesta from La Cenerentola In his early years, while studying at the Liceo Filarmonico Comunale in Bologna, Rossini earned money playing for the opera, gaining practical experience which was to serve him well in later years, and he received his first commission for a one-act comedy when he graduated. As the composer of 39 operas, he had a phenomenal level of fame and artistic influence throughout Europe, with works such as The Barber of Seville setting a new standard for the theatre. In 1829, though, after writing William Tell for the Paris Opera, Rossini retired as an opera composer, refusing all requests for new productions. He seems to have been both physically and mentally exhausted, but over the following years did write some smaller works, including his Stabat Mater. In 1855 he returned to live out his final years in Paris, where he regained some degree of health and began to participate in the musical life of the city again. His Saturday evening salon attracted leading musicians, and he began to write music in earnest, albeit in a lighter style. The most significant work from this time was the Petite Messe Solenelle, but he also wrote numerous piano pieces and songs. La Cenerentola is the classic Cinderella story, and the aria Non più mesta finishes the opera. Cinderella has been reunited with the Prince, and sings that she is no longer sad and generously forgives her step-sisters and father for their cruel treatment of her. Madeleine Pierard, Anna Pierard and Terence Dennis 9.
Want to hear more from Madeleine Pierard? Come to her partner programme! Madeleine Pierard and Terence Dennis Canteloube Messiaen Berg Ross Harris Bellini Rossini Five songs from Les Chants d Auvergne Trois Melodies Sieben Frühe Lieder Songs for Beatrice (première) Tre Ariette Tre canzonette: A regata veneziana Bel raggio lusinghier from Semiramide Hamilton 22 August Wellington 20 August Nelson 18 August Christchurch 11 August Dunedin 14 August Invercargill 16 August Or listen out for the broadcast by Radio NZ Concert NEW ZEALAND STRING QUARTET BEETHOVEN! PART THREE: THE LATE QUARTETS Where and when Palmerston North Speirs Centre 22/23 August 6.30pm Hawkes Bay Church Road Winery 25 August 7.30pm 26 August 2.30pm Dunedin First Church 29/30 August at 7.30pm Auckland St Matthew-in-the-city 1 September 6pm (by candlelight) 2 September 2.30pm 25 TH ANNIVERSARY Nelson Nelson School of Music 4 September 7.30pm Wellington St Mary of the Angels Church 7 September 6.30pm (by candlelight) 8 September 6.30pm Bookings through Ticketek or Ticket Direct More information www.nzsq.co.nz or contact the New Zealand String Quartet Trust, 04 499 8883, nzsq@nzsq.co.nz Series sponsor
Vincenzo Bellini Born Catania, 3 November 1801 Died Puteaux, near Paris, 23 September 1835 Ah, non credea mirarti from La Sonnambula Mira, o Norma from Norma Bellini was the son and grandson of organists, and as a child lived with his grandfather, who probably nurtured the youngster s musical interests. A scholarship enabled him to study in Naples, where he was exposed to the latest operas particularly those by Rossini. This probably encouraged Bellini s own writing, in which melody held the primary interest. As a result of his successful graduation opera in 1825, he was given the opportunity to write a serious opera for the San Carlo theatre, and the acclaim he received for that turned him into a professional composer overnight. During the remainder of his short life, Bellini wrote ten major operas, setting new levels for fees as a composer. Despite some contemporary criticism of his heart-onthe-sleeve style, he was enormously popular, and even 40 years later when his remains were taken from Paris back to Sicily, crowds reportedly gathered at every railway station to pay their respects. Ah, non credea mirarti is a romantic mad scene, in which a sleep-walking (la sonnambula) Amina dreams that she has been reunited with her lover Elvino, and sings to the now-dead flowers he had given her. At the end of the aria, Elvino who realises that he mistakenly accused her of spending the night with another man wakens her by placing a ring on her finger. Mira, o Norma is a duet for the druidess Norma and a young priestess Adalgisa, in which they pledge friendship. A Roman proconsul, Pollione, has in the past been Norma s lover, but has now transferred his affections to Adalgisa and wants to take her away from the temple. Norma wishes to give her own two secret children (by Pollione) to Adalgisa to bring up, but Adalgisa refuses to leave, saying she will renounce Pollione instead. Madeleine Pierard, Anna Pierard and Terence Dennis 11.
Board Chair, Peter Diessl, Paul Baines, Michelle van Gaalen, Roger King, Helen Philpott, Gretchen La Roche, Lloyd Williams. Kaleidoscopes 2012 12. Staff Chief Executive, Euan Murdoch Audience Development Manager, Victoria Dadd Marketing & Communications Assistant, Candice de Villiers Ticketing & Database Co-ordinator, Laurel Bruce Design & Print, Chris McDonald Publicist, Sally Woodfield Business Manager, Jenni Hall Operations Co-ordinator, Jessica Lightfoot Business Support Administrator, Jude Lambie Office Administrator/Programme Co-ordinator (Contest), Sue Jane Artist Development Manager, Charlotte Wilson Programme Writer, Jane Dawson Branches Auckland: Chair, Victoria Silwood; Concert Manager, Ros Giffney Hamilton: Chair, Murray Hunt; Concert Manager, Gaye Duffill New Plymouth: Chair, Joan Gaines; Concert Manager, Susan Case Hawkes Bay: Chair, June Clifford; Concert Manager, Liffy Roberts Manawatu: Chair, Graham Parsons; Concert Manager, Karen Carter Wellington: Concert Manager, Jessica Lightfoot; Nelson: Chair, Henrietta Hannah; Concert Manager, Clare Monti Christchurch: Chair, Colin McLachlan; Concert Manager, Jody Keehan Dunedin: Chair, Terence Dennis; Concert Manager, Richard Dingwall Southland: Chair, Shona Thomson; Concert Manager, Jennifer Sinclair Regional Presenters Blenheim, Cromwell, Gisborne, Gore, Hutt Valley, Kaitaia, Morrinsville, Motueka, Rotorua, Taihape, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Tokoroa, Upper Hutt, Waikanae, Waimakariri, Waipukurau, Wanaka, Wanganui, Warkworth, Wellington, Whakatane and Whangarei. Regional Concerts & Other Events Nikau Trio (flute-oboe-cello) Morrinsville, 15 August Leonari Trio (piano-violin-cello) Warkworth, 18 August Tauranga, 19 August Rotorua, 20 August Gisborne, 23 August Whanganui, 26 August Lower Hutt, 28 August Motueka, 30 August Gore, 1 September Cromwell, 2 September Pepe Becker & Helen Webby (voice-harp) Blenheim, 31 August Wanaka, 2 September Lower Hutt, 5 September Taihape, 6 September Rotorua, 7 September Tauranga, 8 September Putaruru, 9 September Te Awamutu, 10 September Whakatane, 12 September Gisborne, 14 September Level 4, 75 Ghuznee Street PO Box 6238, Wellington Tel (04) 384 6133 Fax (04) 384 3773 info@chambermusic.co.nz www.chambermusic.co.nz /ChamberMusicNZ For all Concerts Managers phone 0800 CONCERT (266 2378)
A Special Thank You to all our Supporters Education: FARINA THOMPSON CHARITABLE TRUST Chamber Music New Zealand acknowledges all donations and support at branch level: Auckland: THE EDGE New Plymouth: TSB Community Trust Hawkes Bay: Eastern & Central Community Trust Manawatu: Eastern & Central Community Trust Wellington: Positively Wellington Venues Dunedin: Dunedin City Council Southland: Community Trust of Southland; Invercargill Licensing Trust Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Auckland, InterContinental Wellington Coffee supplier: Karajoz Coffee Company Chocolatier: de Spa Chocolatier Floral Supplier: Global Living Chamber Music New Zealand 2012 No part of this programme may be reproduced without the prior permission of Chamber Music New Zealand.
0800 CONCERT (266 2378) www.chambermusic.co.nz