Not quite beneath the stars, but there'll certainly be more than ten guitars. Photo: Supplied
Summer is the time for summer music schools, and if you're into fretted strings, Nelson is the place to go in January.
Dominique Blatti is excited to be co-directing the 2025 Classical Guitar Summer School at the city’s Centre of Musical Arts, especially as one of the school's tutors is the Australian-born virtuoso, Craig Ogden.
If you're wondering why she's so excited about Ogden, have a look at this.
Blatti and fellow director Miles Jackson have also been able to enlist the talents of English guitarist Vincent Lindsey-Clark and French-born Ingrid Riollot, while fellow New Zealander Julian Raphael will be in charge of firing up the general musical skills of participants each day.
The Nelson Centre of Musical Arts - 'Strum Central' in January. Photo: Oliver Weber
The School begins on Saturday 11 January and runs until Friday 17. There are concerts on the last three days of the event, culminating with a public performance by all of the participants on the final night.
Blatti, originally from near Geneva in the Swiss-speaking part of Switzerland, moved to New Zealand because her dairy farming parents wanted to have their own farm.
The decision to uproot three teenage daughters from Europe and bring them to Taranaki initially didn't go down well with the children.
However, Blatti decided to stay close to her parents and now lives by the sea with her New Plymouth-raised partner.
Dominique Blatti: likes to sing as well. Photo: Supplied / Dominique Blatti
It turns out Taranaki is a great place to be a classical guitarist (she initially organised summer schools in New Plymouth).
Blatti is also lead singer of a French cafe ensemble Le Mer, and performs regularly with Julian Raphael who (when not playing classical guitar) has been a passionate advocate of a capella and community singing, first in Wellington and now in New Plymouth.
