Christopher’s Classics Series XXIV presents “Les Bons Vivants”

The Piano, 156 Armagh St, Christchurch

Thursday 3 October 2019, 7.30pm

Les Bons Vivants – five musicians from the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra – Amandine Guerin (violin), Anthony Ferner (flute), Helen Webby (harp), Jenny Johnson (oboe) and Thomas Hurnik (cello) –  are joined by Mark Menzies, Professor – Music, Head of Performance at Canterbury University (violin and viola) in a spirited programme ranging from Bach to  a composition by 21 year old Canterbury University student and composer, Rosa Elliott.

Says Helen Webby: “The inspiration for this programme came from our long-held desire to play the sextet, Shuo Shu Ren (The Storyteller) by our friend and composer, Gao Ping, who lived in Christchurch pre-earthquake. Gao Ping celebrates the traditional Chinese art of storytelling, and his intensely vivid music takes us on a wild journey through Old China.

“To frame it, we have chosen music by J C Bach, Mel Powell, Jean Francaix, Elena Katz-Chernin, and a brand

new work by Rosa Elliott. We hope this music enhances your mood, aids your digestion, and adds to the spice of life. Bon Voyage!”

Door sales: Cash & Eftpos $45; full-time students with ID, $20;

Online tickets Eventfinda– additional fees apply

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Media contact Diana Moir, 021 126 5738  dhmoir2212@gmail.com

Biographies

Rosa Elliott (composer)

While still at Burnside High School, Rosa won the SOUNZ Big Sing Competition for her choral work, Requiem. Rosa has been a recipient of the Judith Pownall Prize for Music and the First Douglas Lilburn Composition Prize from the University of Canterbury in 2017 and 2018. She was also a winner of the NZTrio Composition Competition for her work, Voices in the Air. Most recently, Rosa was a composer and performer in Free Radicals as part of the Word Festival, and participated in the Oxford Composing for Choirs Summer School 2019.

Amandine Guerin (violin) studied music in France and graduated from the Conservatoire National de Région of Montpellier with prizes in performance, chamber music, sight-reading and solfège. Besides her teaching activities, she was concertmaster of the Ensemble Instrumental Contrepoint. From 1998 she lived in Tokyo, Japan where she taught violin and coached young chamber ensembles at the International Music School Solfran. She was also a freelance player in various orchestras and ensembles. Together with her husband, a mushroom and truffle scientist, Amandine moved to Dunedin in 2004, where she played first violin and Acting Concertmaster of the Southern Sinfonia. In 2009 she moved to Christchurch, and joined the first violin section of Christchurch Symphony. As well as performing in many groups, Amandine has introduced her friends to the fascinating world of fungi!

Mark Menzies (violin, viola) moved to Christchurch in 2016 to take up the professor of music position at the University of Canterbury in an effort to rebuild the department and performance programme. An internationally active soloist, conductor and composer, Mark was based previously in Los Angeles for 17 years.

Since he is a hyper-active musician who never takes vacations, spare time is usually taken up with running and hiking. When staying in Los Angeles, in between rehearsals with his Formalist Quartet and other performance projects, Mark spends quality time with his American cat – Dr Cornwall.

Tomas Hurnik (cello) is Associate Principal Cellist for Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and holds a Master’s degree from the Academy of Music in Prague. While there, he played and recorded as a soloist with different orchestras and as a member of chamber groups for Czech radio and concerts both in Czech Republic and abroad (Germany, Austria, Japan and France). In 1998 he was hired as the principal cellist for the Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur, and played there for four years. Returning to Europe to study Baroque cello in Frankfurt with Rainer Zipperling, he continued to perform with a variety of period instrument chamber groups including Musica Florea, Capella Regia Prague, Musica Aeterna and Solamente Naturali. In 2015 he founded the Baroque Music Community and Educational Trust of New Zealand to organize and perform concerts, workshops and masterclasses of Baroque music on period instruments. Tomas enjoys his family, good food and Czech beer.

Anthony Ferner (flute) is Principal Flute of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, lecturer in flute at the School of Music University of Canterbury and conductor. He has been a frequent soloist with the CSO and is a recitalist and chamber music player. At the university he has regular masterclasses, coaches ensembles and performs chamber music. After winning the National Concerto competition in 1972, he studied flute, piano and conducting in London at the Guildhall School of Music. He later taught and performed in Milan, and in 1992 studied conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatory. In Sydney for 17 years, he played in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. In his spare time, Tony can be found tending his micro vineyard at home, from which he has produced some excellent pinot noir.

Jenny Johnson (oboe) has been the Principal Oboist of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra since 2011. Jenny graduated from The University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours, and The University of Tasmania with a Masters of Music. She was a recipient of the prestigious Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship throughout her studies at Waikato. Jenny has performed for many orchestras in Australasia, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington, The Tasmania Discovery Orchestra, The Hobart Chamber Orchestra and Opus Chamber Orchestra. Apart from making reeds for her oboe, you will find Jenny painting landscapes and reading in her spare time in the Tiny House which she and her husband built themselves.

Helen Webby (harp) is Principal Harp with Christchurch Symphony and teaches harp at the University of Canterbury School of Music. Born in Whangarei, Helen studied at University of Auckland, the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Netherlands, and in 1996 completed Diplom Harfe from the Hochschule for Music in Hamburg. During Christchurch’s Quake year Helen commissioned nine NZ composers to write short works for harp and in 2012 released her solo harp CD Pluck (MANU), the first anthology of New Zealand harp music. Pluck was nominated for Best Classical CD in the 2013 NZ Music Awards, and was made into a DVD film Harps make Fine Companions, screened on Television New Zealand. Helen performs on a concert harp built of NZ Red Beech by her brother Kim Webby. www.harp.co.nz Helen’s favourite activity as a ‘bon vivant’ is to bake French apple tart, from apples grown in her orchard garden, and to squeeze her French accordion.

Christopher’s Classics

The Christopher’s Classics programme, founded by Christopher Marshall, has become a mainstay of the Christchurch chamber music scene, featuring some of New Zealand’s finest musicians.

Acknowledgements

Christopher’s Classics thanks The Rata Foundation, Gloria Streat, Antonio Strings, Chamber Music New Zealand and private donors, whose patronage grants and sponsorship make these concerts possible.