The living arts

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 26

The living arts

Return visits' * The recital by the New Zealand Symphony r Or- ' chestra in : the Town . Hall ; ■.on Saturday .night Will' have an international fla- . votir. ' ’ ■ ■ ■ v' ■ The Israeli conductor, .Uri Segal, will-be on the podium and the featured soloist will be -the-’French pianist, Pascal Roge. Both have been to New Zealand previously. -S--The programme will feature .music "by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and a contemporary Israeli comr poser, Mordecai, .Setter. Roge will • appear A >aS. " soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 26. The. Israeli composition is. “Meditation,” _ written in memory of a Trans-lyvanian-bom Jewish composer, ' Alexander Boskovitch. The work has been, choreographed and performed as a ballet in London and 4 Tel Aviv, but ’ on Saturday it .will get orchestral treatment only. ' Uri Segal’s winning of first , prize at the Mitropoulos International Con-/-ducting Competition in New York in. January, 1969, resulted in his ap- ; pointment as. assistant conductor with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for the 1969-70’ season * with Georg Szell and Leonard Bernstein. In 1971. Uri Segal settled in London and ■ began his successful relationship with all the major British orchestras. Last year he was appointed chief conductor of the. * Philharmonia Hungarica, with which he will tour Switzerland, Spain, France, Scandinavia, the United . Kingdom > and the Far East. He has • appeared With'.other . major /orchestras, including the Vienna S y m p h o n y‘,' • C o ncertgebouw,. Orchestra de Paris, Orchestre National, ■Nouvel Orchestre/ Philharmonic (Paris), Santa Cecilia Rome, and Tokyo Philharmonic. : J?. ..... ' Since his American debut in 1972, conducting ’ the 'Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Uri Segal has returned regularly, to. the United States and Canada. .He made . his- , operatic debut at the Santa Fe Festival, in 1973, conducting “The Flying Dutchman.” Pascal Roge was born in Paris in 1951 and represents the third generation in a family of musicians. His mother, ah organist, gave, him his' .first ..piano lessions when he was

four. At the age of 11 he made the first of ,his with an orchestra;'l in Paris, and was, admitted to the Paris -Conservatory, from which he graduated four years; later with the first prizes •in piano and chamber, music. He had three years of study with Julius Katcheri after he left the conservatory. He made his debut recitin Paris and London -when *he was 17, and then made .the first of his' recordings for Decca, with ■which he-has .an exclusive contract. He went on to ; win both the Georges Enescu - and . Marguerite L o n g-Jacques Thibaud international ; competitions. Roge made his American debut. in: 1974,, and; has returned every season to play in New York, Los Angeles, . Chicago; . or Washington. He has also toured South Africa," New Zealand, and Japan. . .

Play progress . The activities of Playmarket, the playwrights

agericv and script advisory service, continued" to expand last year. " .More- than2oo ■ scripts were handled', .by the advisory . service, five, workshops; of new scripts were held,••'. and a major start began; on low-cost play publication.

This was in addition to the week-long playwrights workshop, held, at Victoria University , of Wellington in May,, and attended by 100:1 participants ■ and observers. i : ■

In his annual ■ report, Playmarket’s president,-Mr Mike Nicolaidi, expressed the hopo, that theatre groups, both professional arid*, amateur,-; "would be further encouraged to perform more locally-written ’ work. . ' .. .

IThe low-cost play publication scheme will begin -. with Rachel McAlpine’s •‘The Stationary, Sixth Form Poetry ■ Trip.” This play will be given its premiere production by

Theatre Corporate in Auckland next month.-

Roger Hall’s “Prisoners of i Mother England” is also being prepared for publication. Mr Nicolaidi said Playmarket had also just published .a . booklet, “Playwriting and Playing it Right,”; which contained a set, of-guidelines drawn up by a Massey College English. lecturer,. Dr David Dowling, to assist newplaywrights in writing for the stage. The booklet also in -eludes;" information and details about writing for radio, television and film, samples of script layout for all. media, comments bn playwrighting froin five established playwrights, and, a list of publications connected with the Theatre. Weaving prize

A national weaving award, with prize money totalling $3OOO, has been

established by the Canter* bury Farmers Co-op to commemorate its centenary in 1981. The Farmers Centennial Weaving Award will be held in conjunction with the Canterbury Society of Arts. The award was. aimed at fostering and encouraging the art .of weaving in New Zealand said the manager of the Farmers (Mr R. Holland). The award will have two sections, each with a prize of $lOOO. The categories are “hand-woven wall hanging or rug of not less than 70 per cent New Zealand wool” and “offloom techniques in fibre.” This will enable weavers to conventional works or abstract pieces. A $5OO merit award will be made to a work of high achievement in either category and a $5OO “local area” award will be made to a weaver' 'living- in Canterbury. Nelson,, dr Marlborough.