Martinborough Music Festival returns in September with an amazing lineup of talented musicians from New Zealand and overseas to bring this year’s four-concert Festival to life.
Co-Artistic Directors Wilma Smith and Donald Armstrong have invited back familiar friends of the Festival – violinists Gillian Ansell and Harry Bennetts – along with some new faces.
“I’m particularly looking forward to welcoming four new guests to Martinborough this year, all extraordinary musicians and great fun too,” says Wilma.
“Two are Finnish and now living in Sydney and Melbourne. Cellist Tipi Valve and pianist Paavali Jumppanen are very excited to be involved and I’m sure our audiences will be blown away by them.
“The other two are clarinet and cello sensations – David Griffiths and Svetlana Bogosavljevic – who have toured previously for Chamber Music New Zealand and can’t wait to come to Martinborough.”
The four concerts include audience favourites such as Beethoven’s ‘Appassionato’ sonata, Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B minor and Mozart’s Trio for clarinet, viola and piano. The Finnish connection brings works by Sibelius and Kuusisto—and is also the inspiration for this year’s Festival logo and colours, with the swirling brilliance of blue, green and purple of the Northern Lights.
Festival dates are 27-29 September, with all four concerts once again taking place in Martinborough Town Hall.
There are two new faces on the Martinborough Music Festival Trust board that organises and runs the annual event. Trust members Scilla Askew, Rosemary Brown, Andrew Morrison and Marion Townend have been joined by Mike Armour (as Treasurer), while Sharon Cuzens, who has been on the Trust for five years, has taken on the role of Festival Director.
As well as the Festival itself, the Trust is hard at work planning the education and outreach programme. It’s going to be an exciting year—visiting Wairarapa schools and working with the Wairarapa Youth Orchestra.
Tickets will go on sale to our Earlybird subscribers on 1 June, so email info@martinboroughmusicfestival.co.nz to make sure of your seats. Public sales start from 1 July.
