New Zealand conductor Holly Mathieson. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand conductor Holly Mathieson. Photo / Supplied
Audiences at a New Zealand Symphony Orchestra matinee concert in Hamilton this week can choose which music the orchestra plays during the performance.
Pick-a-Path in Hamilton on Sunday, May 23 is inspired by the popular 'pick a path' story books, where young readers choose between several paths towhere the story ends.
For Pick-a-Path, the NZSO is joined by film, television and theatre actor Kevin Keys, who narrates a riveting musical adventure, where the audience chooses between different pieces of music for the orchestra to play as the story heads towards a thrilling finale.
The orchestra will also play works by composers Glinka, Khachaturian, Liadov, Debussy and Neil Thomas Smith.
Award-winning conductor Holly Mathieson loves curating a family programme which unleashes the audience's creative juices.
"Everyone is active in the concert, not just those of us on stage," she says.
"There's nothing better than seeing little ones using music to fire up their imaginations and inspire their own storytelling, so this concert will be full of laughs and beauty, epic journeys to the dairy, a few spooky characters and – best of all – the chance for our young audiences to create their own story with the help of Kevin and the NZSO."
Complementing Pick-a-Path, the NZSO presents a series of free family-friendly daytime events at Hamilton's Claudelands Arena on Saturday, May 22.
Proudly supported by the NZSO Foundation, NZSO Open Doors runs from 10.30am to 5.30pm with fun experiences for all ages.
An Instrument Petting Zoo from 10.30am is a chance to get up close with the variety of instruments used by the orchestra. NZSO Storytime Live, where orchestra players accompany readings of favourite Kiwi children's books.
Pick-a-Path and Open Doors are part of the NZSO's Immerse 2021 Festival in Hamilton over three days this week.
The festival opens on Friday, May 21 with Fantastique in association with Ryman Healthcare, featuring Hector Berlioz's groundbreaking psychedelic masterpiece Symphonie Fantastique.
Northland's Alien Weaponry (from left) Turanga Morgan-Edmonds, Lewis Raharuhi de Jong and Henry Te Reiwhati de Jong, has been hailed as the future of heavy metal. Photo / NZHerald
Tū Tapatahi – Stronger Together is a collaboration with acclaimed teo reo metal band Alien Weaponry in Hamilton on Saturday, May 22.
"Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is a psychedelic retelling of an opium-laced dream," says Mathieson, who also conducts Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu's Dreamtime (Yume no toki) and New Zealander Dorothy Ker's The Third Dream.
"Dreams and the dream-state have always been really fertile material for artists. All three of the beautiful works in this concert have dreams woven through them, but in really different ways," she says.
"Toru Takemitsu's Dreamtime references the indigenous Australian concept of Dreamtime in its title; but at an even more fundamental level, his music mirrors the altered sense of time and logic that we have in a dream.
"Dorothy Ker has often drawn from ideas about memory and dreams in her pieces. Her epic The Third Dream imagines the dreams of the Earth itself, recalling its own history starting from the first primordial heartbeat and shifting through an array of intense colours and energies."
On working with Alien Weaponry, Mathieson says: "As a Kiwi who left Aotearoa over a decade ago, every time I come back, I find myself even more inspired by the independent direction of Kiwi artists and creators, and especially by the resurgence of te reo in the cultural landscape."
"I've always loved the idea of incorporating orchestral music with contemporary music, and when I heard that the NZSO wanted to collaborate with us I was really excited," says Alien Weaponry's lead vocalist and guitarist Lewis de Jong (Ngāti Pikiāo and Ngāti Raukawa).
"I think there is going to be a very interesting mix of people who come to the show, mixing the metalheads with the classical music fans.
"One thing for sure, the mosh pits will be insane."
The NZSO First Violins. Zealand Symphony Orchestra will be playing an exciting range of music over three days in Hamilton this week. Photo / NZHerald
The Details What: Zealand Symphony Orchestra | Te Tira Pūoro o Aotearoa, conducted by Holly Mathieson When: May 21, 22, 23 Where: Claudelands Arena, Hamilton Tickets: ticketek.co.nz.
Programme
Fantastique • Friday, May 21, 7.30pm Toru Takemitsu: Dreamtime (Yume no toki) Dorothy Ker: The Third Dream Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Tū Tapatahi – Stronger Together • Saturday, May 22, 7.30pm Alien Weaponry
Pick-a-Path • Sunday, May 23, 2pm Kevin Keys, narrator Glinka: Russian and Lydumila Overture Khachaturian: Masquerade Suite I. Waltz Liadov: Excerpt from Baba Yaga, Op. 56 Neil Thomas Smith: Cyched Debussy: La Cathedrale Engloutie
