Hammers & Horsehair in Three's Company
Music for Fortepiano, Violin & Cello from the Classical period.
Hammers & Horsehair duo Douglas Mews (fortepiano) and Robert Ibell (cello) join with violinist HyeWon Kim in a programme of lively music from the Classical period, presented in an intimate, relaxed, candlelit setting.
In their 2016 and 2018 national tours, Hammers & Horsehair brought their lively music making and informal style to twenty towns and cities around New Zealand, from Cromwell to the Hokianga.
In 2020, Hammers & Horsehair brings you Three's Company, a vibrant and varied programme of music from the late Classical period. In between two wonderful piano trios by Mozart and Beethoven are a much loved Rondo for piano by Mozart, a set of lively variations by Beethoven for piano and cello on a theme from Handel's Judas Maccabeus, and a beautiful Sonatina for violin and piano by Schubert.
Douglas Mews – Fortepiano
HyeWon Kim – Violin
Robert Ibell – Cello
Douglas Mews studied organ and harpsichord with the late Anthony Jennings at Auckland University (New Zealand) followed by harpsichord studies with Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague.
He is now a freelance musician, teaching at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington and directing the music at St Teresa's Catholic Church. In 2010 he recorded a CD on the Wellington Town Hall 1906 Norman and Beard organ for Priory Records’ ‘Great Australasian Organs’. His most recent CD (released in 2012) is 'The Lost Chord', also recorded at the Wellington Town Hall.
In these concerts Douglas will perform on a fortepiano made by Derek Adam (UK) in 1991. The piano is a copy of an Anton Walter instrument from 1798.
HyeWon Kim began her violin studies in Seoul, continued her studies at the University of Auckland (David Nalden) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama London (David Takeno)
HyeWon worked with BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Halle, Scottish Chamber, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Mozart players, Southbank Sinfonia, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Japan, Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y León , Orquesta de Cadaqués, Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Pacific music festival, Opera festival Sanxay orchestras.
HyeWon enjoys being a freelancer covering a variety of repertoire with New Zealand and overseas ensembles.
Robert Ibell was born in Dannevirke and brought up in Palmerston North. While training there as a school teacher he learned cello from Judith Hyatt in Wellington.
From 1986 to 1992 Robert lived in London, studying cello with Tania Hunt, Derek Simpson and Christopher Bunting. He played at music schools and in masterclasses (where his teachers included Alexander Baillie, Steve Doane, Anner Bylsma and Steven Isserlis), taught, gave recitals and played in professional and amateur orchestras.
Since 1993 Robert has been a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He is also an experienced chamber musician, touring regularly for Chamber Music New Zealand. Formerly the cellist of the Nevine Quartet, Robert has been a member of the Aroha Quartet since 2009. He also plays in contemporary music group Stroma New Music Ensemble and is a Recording Artist for Radio NZ Concert.
Robert plays an 18th Century cello by an unknown Italian or German maker, gifted to him by Judith Hyatt.
Programme
Mozart - Piano Trio in C K548 (23')
Mozart - Rondo in A minor K511 (10')
Beethoven - Twelve Variations for Piano & Cello on 'See the conqu’ring hero comes' WoO45 (12')
Interval
Schubert - Sonatina No 3 in G minor for Violin & Piano D408 (16')
Beethoven - Piano Trio in G Op 1 No 2 (30')
We will speak about the works and the instruments during the concert.
“Hammers and Horsehair” (joined with birdsong) enchant an Aro St audience in Wellington
By Peter Mechen, 25/10/2018. Published at middle-c.org
HAMMERS AND HORSEHAIR – Romantic Music from Bohemia, Austria and Germany
JAN KALIVODA – Three Songs for voice, ‘cello and piano
Der Schöne Stern (The Beautiful Star)
Die Abendglocken (The Evening Bells)
Der Wanderer (The Wanderer)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – Sonata in A Major for ‘Cello and Piano Op.69
ROBERT SCHUMANN – Kinderscenen (Scenes from Childhood) for solo piano Op.15
FRANZ SCHUBERT – Two Songs for voice and piano
Suleika 1
Im Haine (In the Wood)
Song for voice, ‘cello and piano (originally for voice, clarinet and piano)
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock)
Rowena Simpson (soprano)
Robert Ibell (‘cello)
Douglas Mews (square piano)
Aro Valley Community Centre Hall, Aro St., Wellington
Thursday, 25th October 2018
We sat amid soft lighting on comfortable, homely furniture, talking softly with our fellow audience-members while listening to pianist Douglas Mews “tuning up” his square piano and then “playing us in” with music that I for one didn’t know – it actually sounded, appropriately enough, like a kind of improvisation, perfect for warming up player, instrument and our increasingly attentive ears, until all was ready. ‘Cellist Robert Ibell having by then “tuned up” his own instrument, it was time for soprano Rowena Simpson to welcome us to the concert on behalf of all three musicians.
I had previously heard singer and pianist performing together (also in the Aro Valley, as it happened!) as long ago as 2013 in a most entertaining soiree-like presentation entitled “Lines from the Nile”, an evocative, if fanciful slice of local music performance history, cleverly devised and written by Jacqueline Coats. If there were fewer opportunities this time round for Rowena Simpson to demonstrate histrionic as well as vocal and musical abilities, the repertoire itself plus the singer’s glorious song-bird-like tones made up for any possible lessening of overall effect upon the concert’s audience.
More recently, I’d encountered the “Hammers and Horsehair” combination of Douglas Mews and ‘cellist Robert Ibell, in a splendid 2016 concert at St.Mark’s Church, Woburn, playing repertoire from a similar period to this evening’s, though with no actual repetition of repertoire. I commented then on the “rightness” of their use of period instruments for this music, and was delighted all over again this evening at the musicians’ continued ability to make their beautiful instruments speak with what sounded to my ears like voices “belonging” to this music. Modern instruments can, of course, “do it” as well, if the interpreter is sensitive and visionary enough, but here we had performers and their instruments sounding so integrated as to take themselves right into the various worlds of the pieces played – an extraordinary fusion of sensibilities.
The musicians presented occasional readings which linked the music performed to either its era, or to its mood, or sometimes to the contributions made to New Zealand’s musical life by various German speaking musicians. However, we began the concert with three songs by Czech-born composer Jan Kalivoda (sometimes spelt as “Kalliwoda”) who lived from 1801 to 1866 – the German texts of the songs were translated and the words reproduced in the concert’s written programme, enabling us to savour all the more the pure, bell-like tones and exquisitely-floated phrases brought to the music by Rowena Simpson’s lovely soprano voice.
The beautifully-tailored accompaniments gently brought out the flowing triplet rhythms of the first song “Der Schöne Stern” (The Beautiful Star), making the perfect “sound-cushion” for the voice’s solicitous expressions of hope and comfort to a fearful, despairing heart. The following “Die Abendglocken” began with a beautifully-voiced ‘cello solo, the arco phrasings demurely turning to pizzicato when accompanying the voice, both ‘cellist and pianist complementing the soprano’s rapt exploration of the song’s varieties, in places hushed and atmospheric, in others radiant and full-throated. Finally, a brisk ¾ rhythm brought in “Der Wanderer”, the music enthusiastic and urgent as the singer waxed lyrical about “strange lands where unfamiliar stars shine in the heavens”, Robert Ibell’s cello-playing giving weight and colour to the surge of rollicking energy at the music’s end.
Beethoven’s ‘Cello Sonatas were the first written for that instrument which gave it proper “soloist” status. Rowena Simpson told us that the manuscript of this particular work was headed “Amid tears and sorrow” (Inter Lacrimas et Luctum), though the impression given by the work itself doesn’t really accord with such sentiments, possibly prompted by the composer’s thwarted interest in one Therese Malfatti, who eventually married one of the composer’s aristocratic patrons, Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, an amateur ‘cellist and the dedicatee of this sonata.
Simpson then told us briefly about Maria Dronke, a German-born Jew who came to New Zealand with her husband John and their two children in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution. Maria, who had been a well-known actress in Berlin, began teaching drama and voice production in Wellington, while John, a Judge whose legal training was not “recognised” in New Zealand, worked in menial jobs until he was able to secure a position as a double-bass player in the National Orchestra. Maria eventually became well-known as a play producer, drama and poetry recitalist and teacher, and included New Zealand poetry in her recitals – she helped lift the levels of acting and production of local theatrical ventures, as well as enlivening the cultural and social climate with her presence. According to Edith Campion, a former pupil, she was “volatile, brimful of temperament and never tepid….” She died in Lower Hutt in August 1987.
The Beethoven Sonata seemed the perfect “rejoiner” to the tale, the music’s personality as distinctive as that of the subject of Simpson’s brief anecdote. From the cello’s questioning opening phrase and the piano’s “raised eyebrows” reply, the music played with our sensibilities through minor-key agitations, and succeeding phrases whose ascents seem never-ending, everything capturing the composer’s whimsical fancies and cast-iron sense of overall direction, so that the music’s “character” sang out with all of its volatilities and overall purposes given their due. The jovial scherzo’s skipping energies were brought out with both tremendous fire and playful humour, right up to the movement’s unexpectedly throwaway ending.
I thought the brief but heartfelt slow movement demonstrated the players’ melting rapport, the phrases and colourings beautifully varied, making the most of the sequence’s interlude-like brevity, before the finale scampered in from out of nowhere, the irruptions of energy resulting in the occasional finger-slip or strained intonation, but more importantly adding to the fun and excitement of the music, the players challenging our capacities (and their own capabilities) to keep up with the rapid-fire figurations and their variants. I was astonished at the sheer transcendence of sound generated by these instruments via their own particular timbral and tonal qualities, a tribute to the skill of the players in making their instruments “speak” with such overall impact and specific focus on detail, and to their bravery in taking “risks” in aid of getting the music’s spirit across to us.
The instrument Douglas Mews was using had its own colourful history which I fancy I had heard something of at a previous concert, if it was, indeed the same instrument, one brought to New Zealand from the Shetland Islands in 1874. The next item on the programme certainly showed off the instrument’s characteristics in a way appropriate to the music, its capacity for expressing both intimate and assertive feeling, and its characteristic colourings in different registers and with contrasting dynamic levels – a “way more” volatile instrument than the average grand piano! It seemed perfectly suited to convey the worlds within worlds aspects of Robert Schumann’s exquisite pieces collectively known as “Kinderscenen”, all but two of its thirteen pieces performed by Mews for us.
A reading of Katherine Mansfield’s poem “Butterfly” set the scene for the music – sequences of deceptive simplicity containing as much reflection as movement, but just as liable to “irrupt” in forthright ways as each succeeding “picture” was brought into view. Though the most popular of the set of pieces, “Traumerei” (Dreaming) here made an unforgettable impression under Mews’s fingers, played with song-like expression, giving each note its own distinctive, but still organic, inflection. The middle section conveyed moments of urgency, with impulses momentarily creating micro-tensions that dissolved as simply as they were wrought, the whole then rounded with a lump-in-throat ascent that caught us in thrall for the briefest of moments before allowing the dream to drift away.
The “Knight of the Rocking-Horse” which immediately followed came as a bit of a shock, as the usual “At the Fireside” ( which Mews chose to omit) is a somewhat gentler “waking up”! After this tempestuous number, and the volatile “Frightening”, we were reclaimed by gentler forces and gradually becalmed, the concluding “The Poet Speaks” here properly eloquent and reassuring in Mews’ hands, and altogether part of a memorable musical journey.
Rowena Simpson then read for us a couple of extracts from a diary kept by Anna Dierks (b.1856), the daughter of a Lutheran pastor who married a missionary in Upper Moutere, later living in Waitotara and then Wooodville. She was obviously musical and when in Nelson was distressed at the lack of quality in her local church choir – an 1875 entry mentions “terrible singing”. She had obviously decided she would attempt to rectify the situation, but it wasn’t an easy task, as an entry a couple of years later (1877) indicates, re choir practice – “It is not easy to lead such a choir – but the Lord will give me strength!”.
Singing of an obviously different order from Simpson concluded the evening’s programme, three of Schubert’s numerous songs, the first, Suleika I, with a text written by Marianne von Willemer, a contemporary and friend of Goethe’s, whose poetry was actually published by the latter under his own name. Willemer and Goethe had had a kind of literary “relationship”, taking pseudonyms and trading poems under the names of “Suleika” and “Hatem”. It all made for a particularly potent amalgam of impulses, a “gift” for a composer to render as music!
The opening of the song recalled the composer’s earlier setting of the same poet’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade” in its agitations, adroitly modulating between major and minor as the singer poured out the music’s intensities, Simpson carrying the feeling of the words so beautifully, doing well with the stratospheric intensities of the vocal line. These highly-charged feelings subsided into a touching concluding sequence, conveying “the heart’s true message”, drawing forth tender phrasings from the singer and pulsing chords from the pianist, leaving the “infinite longing” of the setting to ceaselessly echo in the silence.
The second song was “In the Woods” (Im Haime), a song the programme notes described as “a bitter-sweet Viennese waltz-melody. I thought the performance most successful, with soaring vocal phrases supported by a beautifully-lilting accompaniment, and each verse of the song sounding like a true exultation of the forest’s capacities for inspiring feelings of well-being.
Before the final item ‘cellist Robert Ibell thanked the audience for “braving the elements” to attend the concert. Referring to the group’s recent twenty-concert tour of the country he recounted the experience of connecting here and there with certain people who had, in turn, a previous association with the instruments the musicians took on the tour. He also quoted from the writings of Julius Von Haast, geologist and explorer, who came to New Zealand from Germany in 1858 with a view to providing information regarding the country’s “suitability for German emigrants”, staying on in New Zealand and eventually becoming the first curator of the Canterbury Museum. Haast was a violinist and a singer, and his wife was also a singer, enabling them to take part in musical events in Christchurch, where they lived. Ibell quoted from Haast’s words – “geology during the day, and music in the evening” which the latter had written to a fellow-geologist, by way of imploring him to come and visit!
The final item was Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock”, his resplendent setting of words by Wilhelm Muller and Karl August Vanhargen von Ense, a work that the programme note called something of “a mini-cantata” in its range and scope, written by the composer during the final months of his life for the soprano, Anna Milde-Hauptman. She wanted a display piece with an especially brilliant conclusion. Schubert never heard it performed as he died just weeks after the work’s completion. Notable also for its inclusion of a clarinet part, the work was here performed with the ‘cello taking over the former instrument’s role.
At first, to hear the ‘cello playing the lines one normally encountered on a clarinet sounded odd; but as the work proceeded I came to enjoy the contrasting timbres and tones, in the sense of a completely different kind of relationship, more of a “real” partnership than the original singer/clarinet echo scenario. Here the soprano’s delivery was radiant in every way, following the long, sinuous ‘cello lines throughout the opening, and awakening the “echo-impulses” from the music’s textures. It was the piano’s turn to shine during the melancholic middle section, with liquid, fluid tones, underlining the loneliness of the shepherd amidst the quiet and empty vistas, illuminated most beautifully by the soprano’s stratospheric ascent and the cello’s introduction of more hopeful impulses, taken up and flung further on high by the soprano’s bell-like exultations, here an exhilarating effect of joyful release, with caution tossed to the four winds! We all loved it to pieces!
We didn’t let the musicians go until we had extracted what we could out of them, so intense was our pleasure at what we had heard. In reward for our appreciation we were given as an encore some music by Louis Spohr, a charming duet between a girl and a bird, in which (so we were told) the bird sang of spring and the sun, and the girl sang of love! Singer and ‘cello both played their parts winningly, the trio enjoying the conventional but still effective ecstasies of the music, before concluding the piece with some delicate, exquisite-sounding phrases. It was music-making that gave rise to thoughts of how fortunate we all were to have witnessed and enjoyed it all.
Hammers & Horsehair to tour in 2018
German & Bohemian Music for Soprano, Piano and Cello
Hammers & Horsehair presents a rich and varied programme of music from the first half of the Nineteenth Century. Three beautiful but rarely heard songs by Bohemian composer Jan Kalivoda and Schubert’s famous ‘Shepherd on the Rock’ begin and end the concert. In between are excerpts from Schumann’s evocative ‘Scenes from Childhood’, two special Lieder by Schubert and one of the best-loved sonatas for piano and cello, Beethoven’s Sontata in A major Op 69.
Rowena Simpson – Soprano
Douglas Mews – Square Piano
Robert Ibell – Cello
Rowena Simpson grew up in Wellington, Hamilton and London and began her performing career as a cellist, chorister and dancer. She studied singing with German soprano Rosemary Gordon and graduated with degrees in musicology and linguistics from Victoria University before leaving for The Netherlands in 1997, where she studied singing and historical performance practice at the Royal Conservatoire.
While based in Europe, she performed with professional chamber ensembles and was a soloist in the baroque and classical repertoires. Since returning to NZ in 2006, Rowena has developed a freelance career in chamber music and opera, performing for many organisations including Chamber Music NZ (Barocca & Tōku Ao), Stroma New Music Ensemble, NZ Barok, CBS Music Trust, Pinchgut Opera (Sydney), Days Bay Opera and as a member of the NZ Opera chorus.
Douglas Mews studied organ and harpsichord with the late Anthony Jennings at Auckland University (New Zealand) followed by harpsichord studies with Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague.
He is now a freelance musician, teaching at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington and directing the music at St Teresa's Catholic Church. In 2010 he recorded a CD on the Wellington Town Hall 1906 Norman and Beard organ for Priory Records’ ‘Great Australasian Organs’. His most recent CD (released in 2012) is 'The Lost Chord', also recorded at the Wellington Town Hall.
In these concerts Douglas will perform on a square piano made by Broadwood in 1843.
Robert Ibell was born in Dannevirke and brought up in Palmerston North. While training there as a school teacher he learned cello from Judith Hyatt in Wellington.
From 1986 to 1992 Robert lived in London, studying cello with Tania Hunt, Derek Simpson and Christopher Bunting. He played at music schools and in masterclasses (where his teachers included Alexander Baillie, Steve Doane, Anner Bylsma and Steven Isserlis), taught, gave recitals and played in professional and amateur orchestras.
Since 1993 Robert has been a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He is also an experienced chamber musician, touring regularly for Chamber Music New Zealand. Formerly the cellist of the Nevine Quartet, Robert has been a member of the Aroha Quartet since 2009. He also plays in contemporary music group Stroma New Music Ensemble and is a Recording Artist for Radio NZ Concert.
Robert plays an 18th Century cello by an unknown Italian or German maker, gifted to him by Judith Hyatt.
Programme
Kalivoda – Three Songs for Soprano, Piano & Cello Op. 91
Beethoven – Sonata in A major Op. 69 for Piano & Cello
Schumann – ‘Scenes from Childhood’ for Piano Op. 15
Schubert – ‘Suleika No 1' D720 & ‘Im Haine’ D738 for Soprano & Piano
Schubert – ‘Shepherd on the Rock’ D965 for Soprano, Cello & Piano, arr. D. Mews
The musical pieces will be linked by short readings that reflect the era or the mood of the music and the contribution of German-speaking musicians to life in
New Zealand.
Dates/Venues
Sunday 22 April 2018, 4pm
Greytown
57 Wood St, Greytown
Tickets: $25 Adult | $10 Student
Door sales cash only, reservations 06 304 9497 or efjac@xtra.co.nz
Thursday 26 April 2018, 7.30pm
Kerikeri
New World Theatre Bar, Turner Centre, 43 Cobham Rd, Kerikeri
Tickets: $30 Adult | $25 Friends | Free for 18 yrs & under
Available from Turner Centre Box Office or at turnercentre.co.nz
Friday 27 April 2018, 7:30pm
South Hokianga
Old Pakanae School, 30 Waiotemarama Gorge Rd
Tickets: $20
Door sales only
Saturday 28 April 2018, 7:30pm
Auckland
Ponsonby Baptist Church Hall, 43 Jervois Rd, Auckland
Tickets: $30 Full | $20 Concession | $60 family (2 adults + 2 children) | $10 Under 18 yrs
Available from Eventfinda
Sunday 29 April 2018, 2.30pm
Te Awamutu
Methodist Church, 261 Bank St, Te Awamutu
Tickets: $15 | Students Free
Door sales only
Monday 30 April 2018, 7:30pm
Clevedon
House Concert
Tickets: $40 (including supper)
Where to buy tickets: 027 484 9874 or cowanjoyce@gmail.com
Tuesday 1 May 2018, 7:30pm
Whangamata
Whangamata Hall, 326 Port Rd, Whangamata
Includes musical performances by students from Whangamata Area School and Opoutere Primary School
Tickets: $15 Adult | $30 Families (2 adults + 2 children) | $5 Under 18 yrsTickets available at Whanga Books, Whangamata Area School, and Opoutere Primary School. Light refreshments included, bar available.
Thursday 3 May 2018, 7.30pm
Coromandel
The Club, Woollams Avenue, Coromandel
Tickets: $25 Pre-sales | $30 Door sales
Pre sale tickets available from Coro Info Centre or pay direct to Coromandel Music Society BNZ 02-0304-0310833-000 ($25.00 each, put your name as reference, pick up tickets at the door)
coromusicsociety.org.nz
Friday 4 May, 7.30pm
Whakatane
Church of St George & St John, 30 Domain Rd, Whakatane
Tickets: $30 Adult | $25 Concession | $5 Child
Available from ‘The Good Life’, The Strand, Whakatane.
Saturday 5 May, 2.30pm
Putaruru
Living Spring Christian Centre, 59 Tirau St, Putaruru
Tickets: $25 Adult | $20 South Waikato Music Society Members | Students free
Door sales cash only
Sunday 6 May 2018, 7pm
Palmerston North
Awhina Room, Caccia Birch House, 130 Te Awe Awe St, Palmerston North
Tickets: $25 Full | $20 concession | $50 for families (2 adults + 2 children) | $10 under 18 yrs
Available from Eventfinda
Monday 2 July 2018, 7.30pm
Rotorua
Memories Room, Princes Gate Hotel, 1057 Arawa St, Rotorua
Tickets: $30 Adult | $15 Student (18-25 yrs) | School-age children free, if accompanied by ticket holder.
Door sales from 7pm Or pre-sales from secretary@rotoruamusic.org.nz
rotoruamusic.org.nz
Tuesday 3 July 2018, 7:30pm
Hastings
Guild Room, St Matthew’s Anglican church, Corner King St South & Lyndon Rd West, Hastings
Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Concession | $50 for families (2 adults + 2 children) | $10 under 18 yrs
Available from Eventfinda
Tuesday 16 October 2018, 7:30pm
Dunedin
House Concert
Wednesday 17 October 2018, 7:30pm
Oamaru
St Lukes Anglican Church, Corner of Tees St and Itchen St, Oamaru
Tickets: Adult $25 | Senior $20 | Student $10
Bookings:
Bruce Albiston: info@burnsidehomestead.com or txt 022 687 6365
Annie Baxter: livingtrad@xtra.co.nz or txt 027 648 6023
All bookings reserved in front seating. Door sales on night.
Thursday 18 October 2018, 7pm
Timaru
St Mary’s Church, 24 Church St, Timaru
Tickets: $25 Adult | $5 Children
Available from St Mary’s Office (03) 688 8377, 027 275 7563 or lucy.stmarys@yahoo.com.au
Friday 19 October 2018, 7.30pm
Rangiora
Chamber Gallery, Rangiora Library
Tickets: $30 Adults | $10 Students
Available from Rangiora Library (cash or cheque only)
Saturday 20 October, 3:30pm for 4pm start
Christchurch
House Concert, Corsair Bay
Tickets: $35 (including refreshments)
Available from 021 134 1797
Sunday 21 October 2018, 3pm
Picton
Picton Little Theatre, 9 Dublin St, Picton
Tickets: $25 (includes afternoon tea)
Available from Take Note (Picton) or Alyssums (Blenheim)
pictonlittletheatre.weebly.com
Thursday 25 October, 8pm
Wellington
Aro Valley Community Centre, 48 Aro St, Wellington
Tickets: $30 Full | $20 Concessions | $10 under 18 yrs | $60 Families (2 Adults + 2 Children)
Available from Eventfinda. Service fees may apply.
Hammers & Horsehair on tour in 2016
Period Pieces for
Fortepiano and Cello
Enjoy lively music-making in a candlelit performance of five virtuosic works for fortepiano and cello. Two well-known New Zealand musicians perform a programme of Classical and early Romantic pieces on period instruments, transporting the audience to another place and time.
Douglas Mews – Fortepiano
& Robert Ibell – Cello
Douglas Mews was born in Cheam, Surrey in 1956. He began playing the organ at St Patrick's Cathedral in Auckland, where his father (and first organ teacher) was choir conductor. He studied organ and harpsichord with the late Anthony Jennings at Auckland University, followed by harpsichord studies with Bob van Asperen at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague.
He is now a freelance musician, teaching at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington and directing the music at St Teresa's Catholic Church. In 2010 he recorded a CD on the Wellington Town Hall 1906 Norman and Beard organ for Priory Records’ ‘Great Australasian Organs’. His most recent CD (released in 2012) is 'The Lost Chord', also recorded at the Wellington Town Hall.
Douglas performs on a Broadwood square piano built in 1843. The piano previously belonged to the Tait family who emigrated in the 1870s from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands to live in the Aro Valley, Wellington, where the piano still resides.
Robert Ibell was born in Dannevirke in 1961 and brought up in Palmerston North. While training there as a school teacher he learned cello from Judith Hyatt in Wellington.
From 1986 to 1992 Robert lived in London, studying cello with Tania Hunt, Derek Simpson and Christopher Bunting. He played at music schools and in masterclasses (where his teachers included Alexander Baillie, Steve Doane, Anner Bylsma and Steven Isserlis), taught, gave recitals and played in professional and amateur orchestras.
Since 1993 Robert has been a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He is also an experienced chamber musician, touring regularly for Chamber Music New Zealand. Formerly the cellist of the Nevine Quartet, Robert has been a member of the Aroha Quartet since 2009. He also plays in contemporary music group Stroma and is a Recording Artist for Radio NZ Concert.
Robert plays an 18th Century cello by an unknown Italian or German maker, gifted to him by Judith Hyatt. The cello had previously been owned by Greta Ostova, a Czech who escaped the Nazi occupation to arrive in New Zealand in 1940, later becoming a founding member of the National Orchestra (later the NZSO).
Programme
Beethoven – Twelve Variations for Piano & Cello on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" Op. 66
Mozart – Piano Sonata in C K330
Bréval – Sonata for Piano & Cello in G Op. 12 No 5
Romberg – Grand Sonata in E-flat for Cello & Piano Op. 5 No 2
Beethoven – Sonata for Piano & Cello in F Op. 5 No 1
Dates/Venues
Sunday 26 June, 3:00pm
Taihape
Taihape and District Womens Club, Huia St, Taihape
Door sales only: Adults $25, Members $20, Children Free
Period (early 19th Century) costume optional.
Monday 27 June, 7:30pm
Clevedon
1 Monument Road, Clevedon
Tickets: $40 (including supper) | Bookings essential, call 09 292 9589
Wednesday 29 June, 7:30pm
Auckland
Ponsonby Baptist Church, 43 Jervois Rd, Auckland
Tickets from Eventfinda (service fees may apply) or at the door: Adults $25, Concessions $15, Children (accompanying an adult) $5, Families $50 (2 Adults + 2 Children)
Friday 1 July, 7:30pm
Omapere
Copthorne Hotel, Omapere, South Hokianga
Door sales only: $15
Drinks may be purchased from the bar. Hotel restaurant open for meals before the concert.
Saturday 2 July, 4:00pm
Warkworth
Ascension Vineyard, 480 Matakana Rd, Warkworth
Door sales only: $30
Bar open before & during performance for purchase of food and drink.
Sunday 3 July, 4:00pm
Tauranga
Tauranga Park Auditorium, 383 Pyes Pah Rd
Tickets in advance from Tauranga Musica or at the door: $32, Students $10 (free if accompanied by a ticket holder), Music teachers + up to four students $25
Sunday 10 July, 4:00pm
Putaruru
Living Springs Christian Centre, 59 Tirau St
Door sales only: $25, South Waikato Music Society members/CMNZ subscribers $20, Students free
Wednesday 13 July, 7:30pm
Lower Hutt
St Mark’s Church, 58 Woburn Rd, Lower Hutt
Tickets in advance from Eventfinda or at the door: Adults $38, Chamber Music Hutt Valley members $25, Students $10, School-age Child Free
Thursday 14 July, 7:30pm
Palmerston North
Awhina Room, Caccia Birch House, 130 Te Awe Awe St, Palmerston North
Tickets in advance from Eventfinda (service fees may apply) or at the door: Adults $25, Concessions $15, Children (accompanying an adult) $5, Families $50 (2 Adults + 2 Children)
Friday 15 July, 7:30pm
Hastings
St Matthew’s Church Hall, 200 King St South, Hastings
Tickets in advance from Eventfinda (service fees may apply) or at the door: Adults $25, Concessions $15, Children (accompanying an adult) $5, Families $50 (2 Adults + 2 Children)
Saturday 16 July, 3:00pm
Taupo
Hilton Lake Taupo, 80-100 Napier Rd
Part of the Taupo Winter Festival. Admission price (TBC) includes high tea, to be served from 2:30pm.
Sunday 17 July, 2:30pm
Paekakariki
Memorial Hall, 96 The Parade, Paekakariki
Tickets in advance from Mulled Wine Concerts or at the door: $25, Students (under 14) $10
Saturday 17 September, 7:30pm
Motueka
Chanel Arts Centre, cnr High St & Fearon St, Motueka
Tickets 3 weeks in advance from Floral Affaire, High St, Motueka or at the door: Adults $25, Students $5
Sunday 18 September, 7:30pm
Christchurch
Nut Point Centre, 703 Old West Coast Rd, West Melton
Tickets in advance from Nut Point Centre : $25 (includes light supper)
Monday 19 September, 7:30pm
Ashburton
At Violinos, 629 Methven Highway, Winchmore,
Tickets: Adults $30, Senior Citizens and Students $20, Children $10, Family of four $70
To book, ring 03-307 2010
Tuesday 20 September, 7:30pm
Timaru
Bank St Chapel, 38-40 Bank Street, Timaru
Tickets: Adults $25, concession $15, Children $5, Family Pass $50
To book, ring 03-688 5597
Wednesday 21 September
Dunedin
House concert
Thursday 22 September, 7:30pm
Cromwell
St Andrew’s Anglican Church Hall, cnr Blyth & Donegal Sts, Cromwell
General Admission $40
Tickets available from Cromwell iSite, 2D The Mall, or phone 03-262 7999
Friday 23 September, 7:30pm
Arrowtown
Athenaeum Hall, 33 Buckingham St, Arrowtown
Tickets from Eventfinda (service fees may apply) or at the door: Adults $25, Children $15, Family Pass $50
Sunday 25 September, 3pm
Picton
Picton Little Theatre, 9 Dublin St
Tickets from Take Note (Picton) or Alyssum (Blenheim) Members $27 Adults $30, Children $20. Admission price includes afternoon tea. Proceeds from the concert will go towards the renovation of the Picton Little Theatre.
