After last year’s compiled list, I’m doing the same again this year. Four major classical music organisations that operate in Auckland have released their 2014 programmes: the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Chamber Music New Zealand, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Opera (today at The Cloud).
I have gone through the programmes and picked out all the “new music” that’s in there in one easy-to-read list. Aren’t you fullas lucky?
In New Zealand Opera’s case, there is no “new music” to mention, but that’s not too surprising given there are only three productions next year. In the case of the other organisations, there’s a reasonable smattering. The APO has the most I’m looking forward to. CMNZ’s Kaleidoscope Series has some cool stuff, as will their Encompass Series (not announced yet, but pieces of mine are in there :-)). The NZSO’s brochure has this animal:
That cat on Page 4 of the season brochure is weird. Just weird. And very out of context. I’ve heard it relates to a subsequent announcement from the NZSO though.
Onto the list! All dates are for Auckland unless otherwise specified. An asterisk * indicates a world première performance.
Added 22 October: Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
Added 23 October: New Zealand Festival
New Zealand “New Music” Composers’ Music
What I most want to see: Gao Ping is a rare creature in the modern world – a composer with the chops to perform his own piano concertos. His 四不相 (Si Bu Xiang, The Four Not-Alike) looks like a concerto for piano and traditional Chinese orchestra.
*? Jack Body: Beat (among NZSQ, Forbidden City CO/Liu Shun, Gao Ping, Xiao Ma – 15 March)
Jack Body: Caravan (Nikki Chooi – 16 June)
Jack Body: Little Elegies (NZSO/Hamish McKeich – 2 May)
* Lyell Cresswell: The Clock Stops (Jonathan Lemalu, NZSO/James MacMillan – 10 May)
* Simon Eastwood/Natalie Hunt/Karlo Margetić/Tabea Squire: [new work from The Travelling Portmanteau] (NZSQ – 12 May)
Gareth Farr: Te Puna o Waiwhetu (CSO/Tom Woods – 22 February, Christchurch)
* Gareth Farr: [new piano concerto] (Tony Lee, NZSO/Pietari Inkinen – 28 March, Wellington only)
* Gao Ping: Si Bu Xiang (The Four Not-Alike) (Gao Ping, Forbidden City CO/Liu Shun – 15 March)
* Ross Harris: Aria for viola and string orchestra (Robert Ashworth, APO/Giordano Bellincampi – 5 June)
* Ross Harris: Requiem for the Fallen (Voices NZ Chamber Choir & NZSQ – 28 February, Wellington only)
Ross Harris: Te Moanapouri (CSO/Tom Woods – 17 May, Christchurch)
*? Dylan Lardelli: Secrets, Listening to the Qin (among NZSQ, Forbidden City CO/Liu Shun, Gao Ping, Xiao Ma – 15 March)
Douglas Lilburn: Aotearoa Overture (NYO/Ben Northey – 6-7 February, Wellington & Napier only)
* Michael Norris/David Downes: Wu Xing (Five Phases) (among NZSQ, Forbidden City CO/Liu Shun, Gao Ping, Xiao Ma – 15 March)
* Celeste Oram: macropsia (APO – 21 May)
John Psathas: Between Zero and One (Strike Percussion – 10 March, Wellington)
John Psathas: View from Olympus (Evelyn Glennie, Stephen De Pledge, APO/Hans Graf – 4 September)
* Anthony Ritchie: Symphony No 4 (Jenny Wollerman, CSO/Tom Woods – 22 February, Christchurch)
* Kenneth Young: [new work for brass] (Woolston Brass, CSO Brass/Kenneth Young – 20 September, Christchurch)
* Kenneth Young: [new work] (APO/Carlos Miguel Prieto – 16 October)
* [NYO Composer-in-Residence]: [new work] (NYO/Alexander Shelley – 19 July)
Living Foreign “New Music” Composers’ Music
What I most want to see: This Strayan fair dinkum muso Bretto Deano‘s concerto for trumpet…-o… yes. Only got premièred a couple of months back, and somehow I missed Håkan Hardenberger on his last visit here in 2007 (I think). Not gonna miss this one.
Harrison Birtwistle: Oockooing Bird (Joanna MacGregor – 27 March)
John Corigliano: Violin Concerto, The Red Violin (Chloë Hanslip, APO/Eckehard Stier – 20 February)
Brett Dean: Eclipse (Doric SQ – 17-31 July, Dun/Ham/Nap/Wel/Chc only)
Brett Dean: Trumpet Concerto, Dramatis Personæ (Håkan Hardenberger, NZSO/Dmitri Slobodeniouk – 18 October)
*? Gao Weijie: Three Songs of Yuan Qu (among NZSQ, Forbidden City CO/Liu Shun, Gao Ping, Xiao Ma – 15 March)
Osvaldo Golijov: Ainadamar (Kelley O’Connor, Jessica Rivera, Jesus Montoya, Leanne Keneally, James Clayton, NZSO/Miguel Harth-Bedoya – 2 March, Wellington only)
Sofia Gubaidulina: ‘The Little Tit’, from Musical Toys (Joanna MacGregor – 27 March)
Sampo Haapamäki: Signature (CSO/Tom Woods, 24 & 25 May, Christchurch)
Matthew Hindson: Homage to Metallica (NYO/Ben Northey – 6-7 February, Wellington & Napier only)
György Kurtág: Six moments musicaux (Kelemen Quartet – 19 March)
James MacMillan: The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (NZSO/James MacMillan – 10 May)
James MacMillan: Woman of the Apocalypse (NZSO/James MacMillan – 10 May)
Torsten Rasch: Lycanthropy Aria, from The Duchess of Malfi (Tobias Cole, CSO/Tom Woods – 21 May, Christchurch)
Peter Sculthorpe: Memento mori (NZSO/Hamish McKeich – 2 May)
John Williams: Bassoon Concerto, The Five Sacred Trees (Ingrid Hagan, APO/Tito Muñoz – 1 May)
*? Zou Hang: Shi Bian Wu Hua (Ten Changes and Five Variables) (among NZSQ, Forbidden City CO/Liu Shun, Gao Ping, Xiao Ma – 15 March)
Dead Foreign “New Music” Composers’ Music
What I most want to see: this was the trickiest to pick just one. Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra was a revelation when I played it in uni orchestra, Pacific 231 will be a mean-as concert opener… but ultimately it’s Leoš Janáček‘s Sinfonietta which will kick the most ass live. Part of the same trumpetlicious gig as the Brett Dean work.
Béla Bartók: Concerto for orchestra (CSO/Tom Woods – 18 October, Christchurch)
Béla Bartók: Sonata for two pianos and percussion (Diedre Irons, Michael Endres, Thomas Guldborg & Lenny Sakofsky – 1 September)
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No 4 (Kelemen Quartet – 9-18 March, Dun/Nsn/Wel/Nap/Ham only)
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No 5 (Kelemen Quartet – 19 March)
Alban Berg: Three Fragments from Wozzeck (Jenny Wollerman, APO/Eckehard Stier – 24 July)
Benjamin Britten: Noye’s Fludde (NZ Opera – during the New Zealand Festival, Wellington)
Benjamin Britten: Soirées musicales (after Rossini) (NZSO/Junichi Hirokami – 22 November)
George Gershwin: Preludes (Nikki Chooi & Stephen De Pledge – 9-24 June, NP/PNorth/Inv only)
Henryk Górecki: Symphony No 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Sara Macliver, NZSO/Hamish McKeich – 2 May)
Arthur Honegger: Pacific 231 (APO/Eckehard Stier – 27 February)
Leoš Janáček: Sinfonietta (NZSO/Dmitri Slobodeniouk – 18 October)
Erich Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing Suite (NZSO/Alexander Shelley – 25 July)
Erich Korngold: String Quartet No 2 (Doric SQ – 20 July)
Erich Korngold: Violin Concerto (Mikhail Ovrutsky, NZSO/Pietari Inkinen – 4 April)
György Ligeti: String Quartet No 1, Métamorphoses nocturnes (Kelemen Quartet – 9-18 March, Ham/Nap/Wlg/Nsn/Dun only)
Witold Lutosławski: Concerto for orchestra (APO/Tito Muñoz – 1 May)
Joseph Marx: [selected songs] (Christine Brewer, APO/Leo Hussain – 28 August)
Olivier Messiaen: L’Ascension: Quatre méditations symphoniques (CSO/Tom Woods – 23 August, Christchurch)
Olivier Messiaen: Oiseaux exotiques (Joanna MacGregor, APO/John Nelson – 27 March)
Nikolai Myaskovsky: String Quartet No 13 (Borodin Quartet – 22 October)
Francis Poulenc: Sinfonietta (APO/Paul Goodwin – 9 October)
Alfred Schnittke: Concerto for piano with string orchestra (Ragna Schirmer, APO/Eckehard Stier – 20 November)
Alfred Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No 2 for violin, cello and orchestra (Mark Menzies, Ashley Brown, CSO/Tom Woods – 14 June, Christchurch)
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No 1 (Aroha SQ – 13-25 October, Nsn/Inv/PNorth/NP/Ham only)
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No 11 (Borodin Quartet – 22 October)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No 5 (NZSO – 13 March, Wellington only)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No 12 (APO/Eckehard Stier – 20 November)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No 15 (NZSO/Alexander Lazarev – 24 May)
Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka [1947 version] (APO/Eckehard Stier – 20 February)
Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka (CSO/Tom Woods – 14 June, Christchurch)
Igor Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale Suite (APO/Eckehard Stier – 30 October)
William Walton: Henry V Suite (NZSO/Alexander Shelley – 25 July)
Anton Webern: Six Pieces for orchestra (APO/Giordano Bellincampi – 5 June)
Also:
The Adults meet the APO (Jon Toogood, Julia Deans, Shayne Carter, Steve Bremner, Ladi6, Anika Moa, APO/Hamish McKeich – 30 January)
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular (heaps of guests, choirs, NZSO – 21 & 22 February, Wellington only)
Serj Tankian’s Orca and Elect the Dead symphonies (CSO/Hamish McKeich – 29 March, Christchurch)
The Golden Age of Broadway (Tim Beveridge, Julia Booth, Juliet Reynolds-Midgley, Tainui Kuru, Christchurch Pops Choir, CSO/Luke Di Somma – 11-12 April, Christchurch & Timaru)
Traditional Chinese works (Aroha SQ – 13-25 October, Nsn/Inv/PNorth/NP/Ham only)
Settling the Score Live – an opportunity for you to nominate some “new music” (APO – 28 November)
