Commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for the 2009 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Gareth Farr’s Wakatipu is a virtuoso romp around the violin. Employing angular driving rhythms and unusual scales, the work was performed by the competition’s 18 semifinalists in a challenging test of their technical and expressive abilities. The work’s title refers to Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand, and the mysterious Maori legend behind it.