Five Lines is a collection of writings about music in Aotearoa New Zealand by Elizabeth Kerr. It features short articles, artist profiles and reviews of concerts, operas and albums. You can subscribe - it’s free - at the bottom of any story.
Gemma New: conducting with artistry
Gemma New talked to Five Lines about an epiphany, collaborating with a super-star violinist, meeting Saariaho, conducting The Planets and taking up boxing.
Composer Lyell Cresswell: truth, lies and a brilliant Piano Concerto
Stephen De Pledge is preparing to premiere Lyell Cresswell's final work, his Piano Concerto No 3, with the NZSO in four New Zealand cities. The composer's quirky autobiography will be launched before each concert.
NZSO’s Mahler 5: brilliance and insight
The NZSO’s Mahler 5 concert showed off the orchestra under the brilliant conducting of Gemma New in a programme celebrating exciting composers and musicians of a younger generation.
Madeleine Pierard: “sumptuous singing” at home and away
After singing Strauss’s Four Last Songs for English National Ballet, soprano Madeleine Pierard is back in Aotearoa for two operatic roles and an NZSO tour. She talks about vocal fitness and the young stars of TANZOS..
NZSO Requiem: life and death across three centuries
The NZSO’s “Requiem” concert offered music about life and death from John Psathas, Richard Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Conductor Gemma New brought energetic inspiration to all three works.
Podium dynamics
Does gender on the podium matter? Is the issue merely one of equity? Are female conductors measured by a different standard?
Gemma New: the NZSO’s new Principal Conductor
Gemma New’s appointment as Principal Conductor of the NZSO has been greeted with delight in her home country. For this rising international star of the podium, it is a dream come true.
The conductor’s art
Gemma New visited New Zealand recently to conduct the NZSO and National Youth Orchestra in music by Gareth Farr, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. She brought both musical understanding and composing skill to the podium.
Stars align
Gareth Farr is enormously proud of his new work for the NZSO, Ngā Hihi o Matariki (The Rays of Matariki).
On the podium in a pandemic
Conductor Gemma New came to New Zealand to conduct the NZSO in six concerts. In these uncertain times, plans change suddenly.