Two pianists in Town Hall

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33061, 31 October 1972, Page 10

Two pianists in Town Hall

Two leading South Island pianists—one still a student, and the other his teacher—are to give a recital in the Town Hall on Saturday, November 11, for the Christchurch Civic Music Council’s Keith Newson memorial piano fund.

Each pianist will perform a solo work (in Mr Till’s case, Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” and in Mr Houstoun’s, Chopin’s Sonata in B minor), and they will complete the programme with two piano duos— Mozart’s Sonata in D, and Chopin’s Rondo for Two Pianos. For these they will play the matching Steinway grand pianos in the Town Hall complex (the new instrument in the auditorium, and

the piano from the Civic Theatre, which has been renovated and is now normally housed in the James Hay Theatre). Earlier this year the two

pianists presented a similar programme at the Auckland Festival. Mr Houstoun, who is from Timaru, is studying at the University of Otago, where Mr Till is a senior executant I lecturer, and he is one of New Zealand’s most successful young pianists. Last year Mr Houstoun won the music council’s national concerto competition, and in 1970 he won the “Auckland Star” concerto competition. Besides appearing on several occasions with the Christchurch Civic Orchestra, he toured with the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra during its proms season this year. Soon he will make a solo recital tour of New Zealand for the Music Federation.

Mr Till spends much time touring as. accompanist to visiting soloists and singers. Two of his most recent tours I were with Rita Streich and Simon Estes; others with i whom he has toured in recent years have included Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Inia Te Wiata, Alfredo Campoli, and Pierre Fournier. The fund to which the proceeds from the Town Hail recital will go is a memorial to the music council’s former chairman, Mr Keith Newson, who died last May. It is to pay for the piano which has already been installed in the auditorium, and which will be played during the concert. Already a considerable amount of fund-raising has been done by the Christchurch musical organisations, and the council hopes that after the concert by Mr Till and Mr Houstoun the full cost will be covered and a sinking fund started to provide | for maintenance and — at! some distant future date—| replacement of the instrument.