Ātahu Ruby Solly
Nocturnes
Debussy
Mahler
Requiem
Victoria Kelly
1. The Prayer
Simon O’Neill, tenor
2. Requiem
Simon O’Neill, tenor
3. Where Sea Meets Sky
Jayne Tankersley, soprano
4. Bright Death
Jayne Tankersley, soprano
5. High Country Weather
Jayne Tankersley, soprano
Tenor
Simon O’Neill onzm
Soprano
Jayne Tankersley
Choirmaster
David Squire
Conductor
Vincent Hardaker
Orchestra
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Choirs
Luminata Voices Women’s Chamber Choir
Lux Singers
Taonga Puoro
Maianginui
1hr 30mins inc interval
World Premiere: 11 March 2023, Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall, Tāmaki Makaurau
Presented by Auckland Arts Festival & Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
IMAGE CREDIT (front cover): Garth Badger
SUPPORTED BY
WITH SUPPORT FROM Platinum Patrons – Andrew & Jenny Smith, Sir Roderick & Gillian, Lady Deane, Kent Gardner & Ngaere Duff, Christine & Richard Didsbury
‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’
AUCKLAND
PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
Music Director
Giordano Bellincampi
Principal Guest Conductor
Shiyeon Sung
NZ Assistant Conductor-in-Residence
Nathaniel Griffiths
Concertmaster
Andrew Beer
Associate Concertmaster
Liu-Yi Retallick
Assistant Concertmaster
Miranda Adams
First Violins
Lauren Bennett
Charmian Keay
Xin (James) Jin +
Ainsley Murray
Alexander Shapkin
Lucy Qi Zhang
Jessica Alloway
Jiwon Lee
Hanny Lee g
Gill Ripley g
Second Violins
Minglun Liu gβ
William Hanfling #
Jocelyn Healy
Rachel Moody
Joella Pinto-Roberts
Milena Parobczy
Ewa Sadag
Katherine Walshe
Alexander Pilchen
Naomi Lee g
Lydia Sewell g
Violas
Robert Ashworth β
Julie Park +
Christine Bowie
Helen Lee
Gregory McGarity
Sue Wedde
Benjamin Harrison
Emma Dann g
Martha Evans g
Wen-Chuan Lin g
Cellos
David Garner +
Chen Cao #
Liliya Arefyeva
Katherine Hebley
Callum Hall
Catherine Kwak g
Oliver Russell g
Miriam Hartmann g
Basses
Gordon Hill β
John Mietus +
Evgueny Lanchtchikov
Matthias Erdrich
Lachlan Radford
Michael Steer
Flutes
Chien-Chun Hung gβ
Isabella Hübener g+
Luca Manghi g
Piccolo
Jennifer Seddon-Mori *
Oboes
Bede Hanley β
Camille Wells +
Cor Anglais
Martin Lee *
Clarinets
Jonathan Cohen β
Bridget Miles (Bass Clarinet) +
James Fry (E♭ Clarinet) +
Bassoons
Ben Hoadley gβ
Yang Rachel Guan Ebbett +
Contrabassoon
Sam Brough *
Horns
Gabrielle Pho β
Logan Bryck g*
Carl Wells #
Simon Williams #
Trumpets
Huw Dann β
Josh Rogan a+
Alfie Carslake g#
Trombones
Douglas Cross β
Ben Lovell Greene +
Bass Trombone
Timothy Sutton *
Tuba
Alexander Jeantou g*
Timpani
Steven Logan β
Percussion
Eric Renick β
Jennifer Raven #
Dominic Jacquemard #
Harp
Ingrid Bauer *
Rebecca Harris g
Keyboard
Sarah Watkins g
David Kelly g
β Section Principal
+ Associate Principal
* Principal
# Sub Principal Principal Emeritus
a Acting
g Guest
Requiem is a work that I’ve been contemplating for 30 years. I think it exists because I’ve never been able to find words for the events that inspired it — the death of my parents; the loss of friends; the experiencing, witnessing and sharing of grief; the advent of love; the birth of children; the beauty and hostility of the world; the wonder of the universe…
Fortunately other artists have found extraordinary ways of articulating these things, and their work has helped me to find my own language. I think art relieves us of a great burden. When we see the essence of ourselves reflected back to us in the work of others, we feel less alone.
With Requiem I have set out to create a transient space where time is suspended. In Māori mythology, a veil (te ārai) separates the living from the dead. Sometimes the veil is permeable. One of the pathways through the veil is mist, another is music.
The music of Requiem ebbs and flows around the poetry. Tides are generated by simple melodic shapes that rise and fall. As the melodies reach for each other they create harmony. The tenor, far beyond his natural register, represents our vulnerability, our hope and fear. The soprano, with her austere purity, is something immutable and beyond us.
Requiem is full of symbolism. The Prayer is set in a fertile garden where rain has just fallen. String harmonics and bowed percussion evoke light washing through leaves. Drops of water land around the singer as he observes the world. Rain ‘collapses out of heaven’ via slow glissandi in the strings, and larvae beneath the earth suggest life and transformation. There are seeds of Schnittke, Brahms and Bach throughout.
‘Requiem’ is set in the night sky. The singer is completely alone and ascending an infinite spiral staircase into the stars. The piano resonates each time his foot falls. As he progresses light cycles slowly around him, and as he nears his destination stars begin to appear – resonant blocks of sound that hint at the music of the spheres. Finally, the singer is subsumed.
‘Where Sea Meets Sky’ is set in a blue void between the sea and the sky (inspired by John Rimmer’s work of the same name). Orchestral cloud formations appear and disappear around the singer who is calling to her loved ones across the void. They call back to her (woodwinds). In the centre is silence. On the other side, the singer and her loved ones are reunited in a warm embrace and the thematic material intertwines.
‘Bright Death’ is set in a field at dusk. The singer sits in a suspended state of disbelief as the choir quietly intones the reality of a loss, and all its impending sorrow. Also surrounding her is the love of the person she has lost. As the light falls, moths emerge – and their tense fluttering heralds her grief.
‘High Country Weather’ is set in a mountainous landscape at sunset. In Māori mythology, mountains are sometimes personified as ancestors, and in this case the mountains are my mother as she lay dying. The singer is entreating her to surrender. The choir forms clouds of sound which coalesce into exclamations of wonder. Beneath them, the mountains rise and fall for the last time and their breath evaporates into the sky.
Requiem is for my parents – Dennis and Dene Kelly – and dedicated to friends and loved ones who have all experienced different forms of loss; Pete, Judy and Danny Cox; Malcolm and Julia Black; Kaye Glamuzina; Helen Medlyn; Mahinārangi Tocker; and my sister and brother, Phillipa and Peter Kelly.
Victoria Kelly, ComposerVictoria Kelly is a creative professional with a rich and varied background in the music industry – a composer, performer and producer of music – and formerly the Director of NZ Member Services at APRA AMCOS.
Kelly composes, arranges and produces music across a spectrum of genres… contemporary classical music, popular music, music for film, television and theatre. She’s worked as a musical director and composer for large scale events and television programs – as well as being an advisor and assessor for local and national arts organisations. She’s worked as a live broadcaster, presenting and announcing programmes about music on National Radio. She has also written and presented pre-concert talks for audiences attending chamber music and orchestral concerts, and occasionally presents guest lectures at schools and universities around the country.
In her role at APRA, Kelly worked to support the membership of 11,500 composers, songwriters and music publishers, as well as to build awareness and advocate for the enormous potential of New Zealand music at home and abroad.
Kelly has worked with a wide range of New Zealand musicians and artists. Her classical work has been commissioned, performed and/or recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the New Zealand String Quartet, NZTrio, Stroma, Michael Houstoun and Stephen de Pledge. In the popular music world, she’s collaborated with artists including Neil Finn, Tami Neilson, Finn Andrews / The Veils, Don McGlashan, Anika Moa, SJD and Shapeshifter. As a film composer she’s worked with Peter Jackson, Jonathan King and Robert Sarkies, among others.
Ātahu is a tribute to the first known pūrākau of the whare tapere; the house of entertainments, and the atua wāhine who used their oro and talents to seek revenge on Kae.
The story begins with Hineteiwaiwa who has just given birth. Her husband Tinirau seeks the help of the tohunga Kae to assist with the ceremonies around the birth and naming their new son. After the ceremonies, Kae is allowed to ride Tutunui, the sacred whale of Tinirau, home. However, Kae beaches Tutunui and then instructs his men to kill and cook the sacred whale, calling it a gift from Tinirau. The smell of the cooking whale flesh travels back to Tinirau who knows he has been betrayed.
It is the women who seek revenge.
Hineteiwaiwa, Hine Raukatauri (atua of music), Raukatamea (atua of entertainment) and Rekareka travel to the home of Kae where they plan to beguile and kidnap the traitor. But how will they recognise him?
Tinirau tels them: “From his crooked tooth; he niho tāpiki.”
The entertainments include poi, the shooting of flaming darts, tītī tōrea and taonga puoro. But none of these amusements make Kae smile. Then they begin a poteketeke that show him the prowess and power that women have to give and remove life from this world. Spellbound, Kae reveals he niho tāpiki.
Ātahu begins in the whare tapere. Wāhine taonga puoro quartet Maianginui invoke these atua wāhine and their powers, taking the audience through the pursuits undertaken by the original performing troupe. The audience themselves then become Kae and his men. We hope to see your crooked smile, too.
Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha), Composer
Ruby Solly is a musician, taonga puoro practitioner, music therapist and writer living in Wellington. She has played with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Whirimako Black, Trinity Roots and The New Zealand String Quartet, as both a cellist and a player of traditional Māori instruments (ngā taonga puoro). She has also worked as a session musician and recording artist with groups such as So Laid Back Country China, Jhan Lindsay, Strowlini Orchestra and many other artists around Wellington. In 2019 she completed a Masters thesis in the therapeutic potential of taonga puoro in mental health based music therapy, while working in schools, hospitals, prisons and with private clients from iwi around the motu. She also has experience as a composer with pieces commissioned by the New Zealand School of Music in association with SOUNZ, as well as in film work in association with Someday Stories, and the Goethe Institute with Wellington Film Society.
Solly is a poet and has been published in journals associated with many of New Zealand’s universities such as Landfall, Sport, Turbine and Mayhem. She has also exhibited poetry in Antarctica and New Zealand, and was a runner up for the 2019 Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize. Additionally, she is a script writer and has found success with her film Super Special which shares knowledge about Māori views of menstruation through narrative. The film aired on Māori TV and screened at the LA Women in Film Festival. In 2020, Solly released her debut album, Pōneke
SIMON O’NEILL
Tenor
Simon O’Neill, ONZM, is one of the finest helden-tenors on the international stage. He has frequently performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin, Hamburg Vienna and Bayerische Staatsopern, Teatro alla Scala and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh and BBC Proms Festivals, appearing with a number of illustrious conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis, Edo de Waart, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Simone Young, Andris Nelsons, Pietari Inkinen, Esa Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel.
In 2022 O’Neill made his debut at Opera National de Paris and returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper as the title role in Parsifal with Young, Siegmund in Die Walküre for Oper Leipzig, the title role in Tristan und Isolde at Santa Fe Opera and Gaffigan, Florestan in Fidelio with the Sydney Symphony with Young, Boris in Katya Kabanova with the London Symphony Orchestra and Siegfried in concert with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk both with Rattle and then with Sinfonieorchester Basel and Elder.
Notable engagements have included opening La Scala’s season as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Barenboim and with the Wiener Staatsoper with Welser-Möst. He returned as Siegmund in the celebrated Keith Warner Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Ring Cycle where he also performed; Lohengrin, Fidelio, Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role of Parsifal. He made his debut with the Hallé Orchestra in the title role of Wagner’s Siegfried in concert with Sir Mark Elder at the Edinburgh Festival and with Jaap van Zweden with the Hong Kong Philharmonic – both these performances have been released on CD. He made his debut as Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin Staatsoper with Simone Young and as the Tambourmajor in Wozzeck with Levine at the Metropolitan Opera.
O’Neill became an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, he is an alumnus and holds a Doctor of Music (Honoris Causa) from Victoria University of Wellington and is an alumnus of the University of Otago, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard Opera Center. He is a Fulbright Scholar, was awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand and was a grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions returning as guest artist in 2007. He also appears on the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
JAYNE TANKERSLEY
Soprano
Jayne Tankersley is one of New Zealand’s most experienced singers of Baroque, Renaissance and Medieval music. After studies in Early Music Vocal Performance from Longy Conservatory, Boston, she appeared as soloist, recorded and toured with leading international ensembles including the Boston Early Music Festival Opera, the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Baroque. She has performed stage roles with NZ Opera, BEMF Opera, Revels and Apollo’s Fire. New Zealand performances include Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Opus Orchestra, Bach Musica, NZ Barok, Chamber Music New Zealand, Auckland Arts Festival and Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Tankersley was a founding member of award-winning New Zealand group, Affetto, and collaborated with the New Zealand Dance Company to present OrphEus – A Dance Opera
DAVID SQUIRE Choirmaster
David Squire is one of New Zealand’s most prominent conductors, and Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir. Chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, he is also a national conducting advisor and tutor, and a governance board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation.
Squire completed his undergraduate study at the University of Auckland, with an emphasis on conducting and composition, later graduating with a Master of Music degree with first class honours in choral conducting. He studied singing with Isabel Cunningham, Glenese Blake and Beatrice Webster, and conducting with Karen Grylls and Juan Matteucci. He has sung with many top choirs in New Zealand, including the Auckland Dorian Choir, University of Auckland Chamber Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir. He was also a founding member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the V8 Vocal Ensemble.
Squire was appointed to the position of Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir in 2011 and is the first alumnus conductor of the choir. He has led the choir on three international tours, including the USA and Canada in 2013, which featured performances of the War Requiem by Britten in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Washington DC.
Squire has taught music in secondary schools for over 30 years, directing choirs, orchestras and bands, including many groups that have won local, national and international awards. As a freelance music educator, he teaches in several secondary schools and frequently runs workshops and professional development courses throughout the country.
In March 2017 he was guest conductor of the mixed honour choir at the AMIS festival in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and in July 2017 he directed the choir for Neil Finn’s critically acclaimed album Out of Silence. In February 2018 he was appointed chorusmaster and choral director for the International Schools Choral Music Society, having taken on this role at the annual festival held in Suzhou, China. In February 2019 he conducted the combined ISCMS choir and orchestra in the Chinese premiere of Tippet’s spirituals from A Child of Our Time in the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall. In July 2019 he served as a jury member for the Andrea O. Veneracion Choral Festival in Manila, Philippines, and also for the 1st Asia Choral Grand Prix.
In March 2011 he was awarded a New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Medal for services to music education.
VINCENT HARDAKER Conductor
From 2020 to the end of 2021, Vincent Hardaker was New Zealand’s inaugural Assistant Conductor in Residence, and following this was engaged as Auckland Philharmonia’s Resident Conductor.
Since then his symphonic work has been with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. His opera experience includes a 2020 Royal Danish Academy of Music production of Postcard from Morocco. He attended significant conducting masterclasses throughout the world with conductors such as Pietari Inkinen, Simone Young, Michael Schønwandt and Daniele Gatti.
Hardaker studied conducting in the soloist class of the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Giordano Bellincampi and Michael Schønwandt. He is a graduate of the New Zealand School of Music, having studied conducting and viola.
AUCKLAND PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) is New Zealand’s designated metropolitan orchestra, serving Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, the country’s largest and most vibrant city, with concerts and events throughout the year.
APO presents more than 60 performances annually with a comprehensive season of symphonic work showcasing many of the world’s finest classical musicians as well as exciting collaborations with some of New Zealand’s most inventive contemporary artists. The APO is renowned for its innovation, passion and versatility.
The APO is proud to support both the Royal New Zealand Ballet and New Zealand Opera in their Auckland performances. It also works in partnership with Auckland Arts Festival, the Michael Hill International Violin Competition and Auckland Live among other organisations.
Through APO Connecting (an extensive programme of education & community outreach initiatives), the APO engages with more than 20,000 young people and adults each year.
Each year the APO performs to more than 250,000 people live and over the course of the pandemic, has reached more than 4.3 million viewers globally through livestreams and other digital offerings.
Patrons
Dame Jenny Gibbs DNZM
Dame Rosanne Meo DNZM, OBE
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa DBE, ONZ
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Board
Geraint A. Martin (Chair)
Sylvia Ding
Gordon Hill
Pare Keiha
Elizabeth Kerr
Lizzie Marvelly
Oliver Sealy
Kate Vennell
Lucy Whineray
Chief Executive
Barbara Glaser
LUMINATA VOICES WOMEN’S CHAMBER CHOIR
Luminata Voices Women’s Chamber Choir is a new ensemble made up of experienced choral singers from across the Auckland region. Established in 2021, the choir is led by Musical Director Vanessa Kay. As an avenue for the light of women to shine bright, the choir aims to perform women’s choral repertoire to a high standard, and to continue commissioning new works for women’s choir. In September 2022 the choir presented a concert programme celebrating Aotearoa women composers. The choir is project-based, with flexible membership in recognition of the busy and multi-faceted lives of its members.
MAIANGINUI
Taonga Puoro
Maianginui is a wāhine Māori taonga puoro quartet featuring Ariana Tikao, Khali Materoa, Te Kahureremoa Taumata and Ruby Solly. Maianginui and Maiangiroa winds assisted the journey of Takitimu waka from Hawaiki, a waka that connects the ensemble through whakapapa. They use this name to represent the way they approach puoro; embracing the subtleties and melodies of swirling winds from Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Maianginui are privileged to be mentored by a pou of taonga puoro, Hinewirangi Kohu Morgan, and work together as a collective to tautoko (support) the kaupapa of wāhine in taonga puoro.
