It’s like a dream, isn’t it? Those weird, fearful days of 2020. Unless you were one of the desperately unlucky who lost someone, Covid belongs to a half-forgotten past. Some good came from it, though, including a generous recovery fund – long since spent, alas – ringfenced for the arts industry. It’s how Hannah Darroch managed to commission and film four new works for flute.
“I’d just come back from [living and playing] in Montreal,” she says. “I felt the funding was a chance to make something new, and it would give four composers a little boost at that time.”
One of the works, Home for the Winter, was by Jasmine Lovell-Smith. It’s on YouTube, performed by Darroch and pianist Andrew Crooks. That clip, shot in an empty church, is the only time Home for the Winter has been played.
That’s about to change. Darroch and the excellent pianist Liam Wooding take it and other select pieces on a three-date tour to cosy venues in Wellington (May 15), Whanganui (May 17) and Featherston (May 20).
When Darroch last appeared in this column (October 2022), she was principal flute at Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. These days, she is chief executive of Sounz, the worth-its-weight-in-gold chronicler and custodian of classical music in Aotearoa. She sees her roles as arts industry boss and performing musician as complementary.
“The beauty of being able to do both – if you can maintain them to the level you want and be wise about not taking too much on – is that I understand things from a performer’s perspective. And because I collaborate with composers, I know what’s important to them, and I’m able to advocate for what they want or deserve.”
Among the composers Darroch and Wooding have programmed is Dame Gillian Whitehead, whose mournful Taurangi is the most substantial and performed New Zealand work to be written for flute and piano. They’ll also play Dutilleux’s repertoire favourite Sonatine for Flute and Piano.
While the pieces are both standouts, Darroch is delighted to be playing Copland’s 1971 Duo for Flute and Piano for the first time.
“It’s always exciting when you’re both tackling something new, and you don’t come with baggage or ideas. You’re able to make your ideas happen together, which is always more fun in a way.”
An important work in the development of American flute, the Copland is a piece Darroch’s been keen to perform for some years, but she’s only just now had the opportunity.
“That’s the freedom of doing the gigs that you want to, when you want to, and who you want to do them with,” she says. “It’s like, okay, what have I always wanted to play? Luxury.”
Hannah Darroch and Liam Wooding in Concert: Bedlam & Squalor, Wellington, May 15; Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui, May 17, Anzac Hall, Featherston, May 20.
