This concerto was inspired by one of New Zealand’s most iconic and compelling performers – the dancer Freda Stark.
Amalia Hall Photo: ©Adrian Malloch/APO
Freda Stark became infamous in the 1930s as a prosecution witness in the trials of Eric Mareo, who murdered his wife Thelma – Freda’s lover – with a glass of poisoned milk.
Later, during the Second World War, Stark found a different kind of fame as an exotic dancer in Auckland's Wintergarden cabaret nightclub, where she performed to American troops wearing nothing but gold body paint, earning her the title ‘Fever of the Fleet.’
The first movement of the Stark Concerto is called ‘Black’.
“Black is the sky.” Claire Cowan writes, “Black is the land. Black are her painted eyelashes. Black is the dark of the theatre wings. Black is the hush of the moments before entering the spotlight.”
Claire composed this concerto for one of NZ’s finest violinists Amalia Hall, who flew in especially to perform it at this concert.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Town Hall, 29 November 2018
Producer: Tim Dodd; Engineer: Adrian Hollay
