A Woman's Place: complete concert

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's special concert for 2018 featuring music and korero by women.

New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.

2018 marked the 125th anniversary of this landmark legislation.

Thanks to the pioneering spirit of the suffrage movement, New Zealand women now have the right to choose their own path and have a place in every aspect of our society, at every level.

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra celebrates those pioneers and the generations of wāhine toa (strong women) who have continued to stand up, speak out and work towards equality for all.

The orchestra is joined by special guest artists, pianist Modi Deng, violinist Amalia Hall, and singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins.

The conductor is Tianyi Lu.

And providing their thoughts on "a woman's place" in New Zealand in 2018 are: Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh; former Prime Minister Helen Clark; businesswoman and former Chair of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Dame Rosanne Meo; microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles; former Member of Parliament Georgina Beyer; and founder and CEO of GirlBoss New Zealand Alexia Hilbertidou.

The MC for the event is RNZ Concert's Clarissa Dunn.

Music programme

Ethel Smyth The Boatswain’s Mate: Overture

Often described as a feminist opera, Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate features a wily female lead who outwits her unwanted suitor. The overture quotes her famous ‘The March of the Women’ which became associated with the suffragette movement in Britain.

Clara Schumann Piano Concerto

Piano soloist: Modi Deng

Considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, Clara Schumann exerted her influence over a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital and the tastes of the listening public.

Gillian Whitehead Tūmanako: Journey through an Unknown Landscape

Piano soloist: Modi Deng

A solo piano work written by New Zealand composer Dame Gillian Whitehead. Tūmanako translates as hope.

Tiny Ruins (Hollie Fullbrook)

‘Olympic Girls’
‘Me at the Museum, You in the Winter Gardens’
‘She’ll Be Coming Round’ orch. Claire Cowan

Tiny Ruins is a band based in Auckland, New Zealand, conceived in 2009 by one of New Zealand’s foremost songwriters, Hollie Fullbrook. Traversing early influences of folk and blues, Tiny Ruins’ sound draws on ethereal and grungy soundscapes alike.

Claire Cowan Stark: Violin Concerto (first movement)

Violin soloist: Amalia Hall

New Zealand Composer Claire Cowan’s Stark concerto captures the life of one of New Zealand’s more interesting figures, the dancer Freda Stark.

Salina Fisher Rainphase

In 2016 Salina Fisher became the youngest ever winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, New Zealand's premier composition prize, for her work Rainphase written as the 2015 National Youth Orchestra Composer-in-Residence. She is currently based in New York where she is pursuing a master’s degree in composition at the Manhattan School of Music.

Jennifer Higdon City Scape: Skyline

Jennifer Higdon is one of the most performed living American composers working today. Skyline is the first movement in her piece City Scape. Higdon wanted to express the city’s profile through the steel buildings and monuments that represent her hometown of Atlanta’s signature skyline.

Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Town Hall, 29 November 2018
Producer: Tim Dodd; Engineer: Adrian Hollay