Flute and guitar recital to welcome series start in Whanganui

Flute and guitar duo Steve Cowan and Hannah Darroch will perform at the Whanganui War Memorial concert chamber next month. Photo / Supplied

A New Zealand-born musician with impressive international credentials and a renowned Canadian classical guitarist will perform in Whanganui next month.

After an uncertain start to the year, Chamber Music Whanganui, in partnership with Chamber Music NZ, has announced that the Celebrity Subscription Series for this year will get under way at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre on May 1.

This concert titled Music of the Americas, given by Hannah Darroch (flute) with Canadian guitarist Steve Cowan, will take the audience on a journey through the diverse cultures and landscapes of the American continent.

Their tour programmes include selections from Robert Beaser's soulful American folk songs that earned him a Grammy nomination in 1986, paired with evocative music by two of this century's leading women composers - Joan Tower and Katherine Hoover.

The duo will also present a segment of music by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, pairing short solo works with selections from his memorable Histoire du Tango. The concerts open with an exciting work by another Argentinian composer, Osvaldo Golijov.

The programme will also introduce New Zealand audiences to the music of composers that the duo collaborated with in Montreal: the new-generation composer Jason Noble who was born in 1980 and one of the pillars of Canadian contemporary composition, Brian Cherney. Both composers have arranged very melodic and meaningful works, especially for the duo for this New Zealand tour.

Darroch returned to New Zealand in 2020 to take up the position as principal flute of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and performance tutor at the University of Canterbury. Darroch completed a doctorate music degree at McGill University in Montreal and taught flute, chamber music, and orchestral excerpts to undergraduate and graduate woodwind students at McGill.

Her varied career has included orchestral and small ensemble playing in a range of genres. Hannah received her Master of Music from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2012, where she was a teaching assistant to Christina Jennings.

She was a member of their resident graduate woodwind quintet, who had success at the MNTA and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions. Before that, she completed a Bachelor of Music with First-Class Honours at the New Zealand School of Music, winning both the NZSM Woodwind Player of the Year Award and the NZSM Orchestral Excerpt Competition.

Darroch met Canadian guitarist Steve Cowan when they were completing doctoral studies at McGill University in 2016. They formed the Darroch/Cowan Duo in 2017, performing and recording in a number of Canadian locations before being booked by the Chamber Music New Zealand In Partnership Series for this tour.

Cowan has performed as a soloist and in ensembles throughout Canada, the USA and Europe. His 2016 debut album of Canadian music, Pour Guitare, helped to establish him as one of Canada's top contemporary classical guitarists.

He has won awards at 10 national and international competitions, eight of which are first prizes. Most recently, he won first prize at the Tallinn Guitar Competition in Estonia, making him a EuroStrings touring artist for the 2021 season.

Chamber Music Whanganui acknowledges the sponsorship of this concert by Rob O'Keeffe Joinery.

Flute and Guitar Recital: Concert Chamber of the Whanganui War Memorial Centre, 4pm, Sunday, May 1. Tickets available in advance from the Royal Whanganui Opera House box office or at the door (cash only, no eftpos). Adults $35, seniors $32, CMW subscribers $20, students $5.