Pianist Colin Decio and poet Ingrid Prosser to perform at Globe Sunday Matinee Concert

​Colin Decio and Ingrid Prosser present a concert of piano music interspersed with poetry in Palmerston North on June 26. Photo / Supplied

The next Globe Sunday Matinee Concert on Sunday, June 26 will be a first for the series, combining the talents of pianist Colin Decio and poet Ingrid Prosser.

The husband and wife have been performing together since 2003, as a duo and also in larger ensembles. They met in the UK, and came to New Zealand in 2016. They have performed since then as Piano & Poetry.

They create atmospheric and dramatic programmes of intertwined music and spoken word, sometimes on a particular theme, at other times linking groups of themes and emotions.

They are based in the wider Wellington area, and have given concerts throughout the region. In 2020, they were funded by Creative New Zealand to film three of their hour-long programmes for DVD.

Half-English, half-Ukrainian, Decio brings an innate ability for drama and subtlety into his playing, combined with his immediate composer's understanding of the music before him. He has been particularly complimented on his playing of the Russian repertoire, and the music of Haydn.

Decio studied piano and composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in England, graduating with five diplomas (including a distinction in composition). His many compositions include three symphonies and two piano concertos. His repertoire ranges widely from the Baroque to the present day, with particular attention to the Russian and French repertoire of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Prosser is a first-generation New Zealander of Danish, Welsh and English heritage, and the daughter of an actor and broadcaster. She developed early a sense of drama and storytelling, and has been a professional performer since 1994, firstly as a singer specialising in medieval music, and now as a performance poet, reading her own poetry and that of others.

In this programme titled War and Peace, Decio brings the Ukrainian part of his heritage to bear on his interpretation of the music of Russian composers Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Prosser's poetry selections include some of her own and some of Ezra Pound to draw the pieces together in a moving statement.

The Details
What: Globe Sunday Matinee Concert
When: Sunday, June 26, 2.30pm
Where: Globe Theatre
Tickets: Admission by donation, recommended from $5.