Dvorak first choice of music contest finalists

Press, 9 February 1982, Page 19

Dvorak first choice of music contest finalists

Dvorak and Christchurch will be in the majority when the final of the Christchurch Civic Music Council’s national concerto competition is held on Saturday evening in the Town Hall. Two of the three finalists •are from Christchurch, and both of them have elected to play concert! by Dvorak — one for the violin and the other for the cello.

The competition is held alternately for the piano and orchestral instruments, and this year it is the turn of the orchestral instruments.

The third soloist. Mary Scott, of Wellington, plays the clarinet, and her choice of music for the final is a concerto by Weber. A feature of the final will be the appearance of Martin Woolley as conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Woolley arrived recently to take up his post, and this will be his first publit performance with the orchestra.

The judge will be John O’Donnell, of the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. One of the two local finalists. Ruthchen Evans, began violin lessons at the age of eight with Teresa Beaven in Christchurch. Later she participated in chamber groups and orchestras at the Christchurch School of Instrumental ' Music, while learning from Paulene Smith. In 1979 she completed a diploma of music in violin performance at Auckland University. where her teacher \\as David Nalden. She then moved to Wellington to continue her violin studies with Peter Schaffer, and to complete a B.A. in anthropology and German at Victoria University. She was a member of the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra when it toured Britain and China in- 1974, and has played in regional orchestras in Christchurch. Dunedin and Wellington, and as a casual player in the N.Z.S.O. She hopes to continue her violin studies in America later this year. In Saturday's concert she will play Dvorak s Violin Concerto in A minor, Opus 53.

Anthony Lawrence, who is 24. began cello studies at the age of nine at the Christchurch School of Instrumental Music, under the tuition of Ellen Doyle. Later he also began piano studies with Monica Hart. In 1975 he left Christchurch Boys' High School, and during the next five years he was a member of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. In 1978 he was a member of the National Youth Orchestra. In early 1981 he moved to Melbourne, where he has just completed a year of studies wit'h Phillip Green, principal cellist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He will return to Melbourne this month to continue his studies. On Saturday evening he will play Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor, Opus 104. Mary Scott, aged 20. moved' from Hamilton to Wellington to study clarinet at Victoria University in 1979 wittr Alan Gold. She completed her Mus.B. last year, and is now completing a B.Sc. in marine biology. She has been a member of the National Youth Orchestra for three years. She will play Webers Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor Opus 73. Rural drama

The final of the Theatre Federations one-act play festival will be held in a rural location. This year for the first time in its 44-year history. The Oxford Little Theatre, possibly the only rural drama group in Canterbury which has been a regular entrant in the festival, has been chosen as this years host. The final will be held in Oxford on August 13 and 14. Choral visit

An Australian youth choir which has provided from its ranks several singers who have made careers as soloists will give a concert on Sunday evening in the Christchurch Cathedral. It is the Melbourne Youth

Choir. Its members, who are touring New Zealand, will sing the anthem at Evensong in the Cathedral on Sunday, and after the service will present a recital, which will begin about 8 p.m.

A former member of the choir. Anne-Marie McDonald, was recently selected by Richard Bonyuge to be a soloist with the Australian Opera. Several other former members have formed their own vocal groups, of which one. Polyphony, is becoming one of the most popular in Australia.

The choir was founded by Faye Dumont, its first conductor. in 1974. Secondary and tertiary students and workers, aged between 14 and 21, are members. The choir is now under the musical direction of Bruce Macrae, curriculum adviser in music with the Victorian Education Department and tutor at the Victorian College of the Arts. Macrae is assisted by Alwyn Mott, the director of music at Melbourne High School.

The Melbourne Youth

Choir has received both national and international

acclaim, is well known for its performances for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. and has sung with the Melbourne SymphonyOrchestra. It has given concerts in Victorian country and city venues, and toured Tasmania in 1975. In February. 1978. the choir gave 13 concerts in Japan. England, and France. While in Paris, the choir performed the Durufle Requiem Mass in the presence of the composer. The choir will be in New Zealand for 17 days, on a music education excursion, and will appear in schools and civic centres in Auckland. Wellington. and Christchurch and several smaller cities.

Choral vacancies New members are being sought for the Celebration Singers, founded in 1973 by Guy Jansen, present conductor’ of the National Youth Choir. The choir, which is now directed by Phillip Craigie. sings music in a wide range of styles, both traditional and modern. It recently released its fourth LP. "’Singing a Song.” and plans an extensive tour of the North Island in May. A music camp and public recitals are also on its schedule for this year.

Auditions will be held on Friday from 7 p.m. to 9-p.m. at the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church. Dance change Dancers of Impulse Theatre will begin their work year soon with a new director. Pamela Buckman. who arrived in Wellington from Australia recently to begin a season as guest artistic director of the company. For the last five years Ms Buckman has danced and choreographed with the Australian Dance Theatre, under the directorship of Jonathan Taylor. She danced with the New Zealand Ballet Company for two years from 1968. Ms Buckman will continue the repertory system under which Impulse has worked, but says she will change the style of movement of the dancers, and will plan for a ‘‘total concept" in design of lighting and costume. The dance itself will be on a more emotional level. Dancers who will work with Ms Buckman for the season are Liz Davey, Jennie Brain. Felicity Molloy, Donald Secomb, Rob Wood, and Lance Fuller. Like Ms Buckman, Donald Secomb is joining the company after several years with Australian Dance Theatre. “We all have a lot of very hard work to do,” said Ms Buckman. “but I am looking forward to the challenge of making it work." The company will begin a national tour next month. National jazz Two national youth jazz orchestras will be formed during the August school holidays, the vice-president of the New Zealand Jazz Foundation (Mr John E. Joyce) has announced. One will be called the Yamaha National Jazz Youth Orchestra, and will have players up to 26 years old. The other will be the Yamaha National High School Jazz Orchestra, and will include musicians under 18. Auditions will be held in the main centres in April and May. and later an American jazz teacher. Jerry Coker, will be brought to New Zealand to rehearse the two groups. Kiwi expertise The New Zealand producer. David Thompson, has been asked by the charitable arts trust, the Gulbenkian Foundation, to attend a UNESCO-backed arts administration conference in Adelaide in March. The aim of the conference is to improve the professional expertise of those managing the arts in Australia.

Thompson, who has his own production company in England, told the NZPA that he was "quite delighted" at the invitation.

"I think I was originally asked- to go because of the work I've done in forcing new ideas through here," he said. "It really is quite an honour. I'm deeply involved with contemporary arts, and they knew I came from New Zealand and that I was known in that area.”

Although the conference is for Australian administrators. it will be attended by producers and directors from many countries.

“I hope that the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council will send someone along." Thompson said. “This is exactly -the kind of conference New Zealand should be represented at. particularly with its UNESCO funding background. “There is room for much more dialogue between NewZealand and other countries. New- Zealand has a vast amount of talent of a very high calibre and New’ Zealanders must stop burying their heads in the sand and thinking of themselves as second rate. They must start to realise their worth and

take their place internationally.” . Thompson will visit NewZealand after the conference but whether he-will speak to any of those working in the arts, as he did at the invitation of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council on his last visit, is not yet certain. In lights A series of master classes on lighting design will be given by a British designer, Francis Reid, in New Zealand this month. The classes and seminars have been arranged by the

Students Arts Council, with financial assistance from Selecon Reid, Ltd, Strand Electric, and Barry CineSales. and a guarantee from the Queen Elizabeth Arts Council. Reid has been associated with the British and international theatre for 30 years. His credits include nine years as lighting director of the Glyndebourne Opera and many West End productions. He has received numerous commissions in Europe and America as a freelance designer since 1969, and since 1965 has been lecturer in

lighting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is perhaps best known in NewZealand as the author of two books on stage lighting and staging, and as an editor of “TABS" magazine. He is now’ working on a book on theatre administration. In each centre he visits he will run three-day master classes for people’ working professionally in the theatre. These will cover the fundamentals of lighting and look in particular at the role of stage lighting, lighting design and management, lighting palette, colour, lighting for

plays, modern dance, ballet, opera, musicals, projection and effects, and theatre architecture. The master classes are designed for all workers in the theatre, not just those working with lighting. The cost of attendance is $6O. As well, he will run oneday courses for people with some experience in lighting design, and one-day courses on amateur theatre which will cater for people working with limited resources, or in improvised situations with minimum facilities and equipment.

There will also be evening lectures, one on lighting and architecture and the other in a discussion format, on running training courses and classes for people who want to learn more about lighting. The Christchurch classes will be held at the Arts Centre from Wednesday. February 17, until Sunday. February 21. Music workshop Members of the Canterbury Early Music Society will hold their annual weekend workshop on Saturday and Sunday, in the Elmwood School, in Aikmans Road.