The New Zealand String Quartet Photo: Adrian Harris
The New Zealand String Quartet can rightly be described as an essential musical taonga. The quartet recently had its 32nd birthday, and later on this year will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth with a much-awaited cycle of his complete quartets.
In March, they're performing in the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Joined by renowned soprano Jenny Wollerman, the programme contains music by Schoenberg, Berg and New Zealand composer Ross Harris.
In his work The Abiding Tides, Harris has set a text by Vincent O’Sullivan which deals with losses at sea – from the Titanic to the loss of life by migrants fleeing to a new home across the Mediterranean.
David Morriss talked with Jenny Wollerman and the Quartet’s first violinist Helene Pohl about the challenges and rewards of the programme they're presenting.
Secrets of Sea and Space
Schoenberg: String Quartet No 2; Berg: Lyric Suite; Ross Harris: The Abiding Tides
New Zealand String Quartet with guest soprano Jenny Wollerman
Tuesday 10 March, 6pm
St Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St, Wellington
More information on the works performed in the concert:
Wigmore Hall lecture recital on Alban Berg's Lyric Suite
Short analysis of Schoenberg's second String Quartet
