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Reviews, News and Commentary

Mozart: The Great

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Mozart: The Great

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

August 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The NZSO’s recent  “Mozart: The Great” concert makes one realize that all orchestra should be having at least one Mozart concert each year to emphasise the importance of the composers work within the classical music tradition.

His compositions have had a major impact on the evolution of classical music, providing a bridge between Baroque and Romanticism as well as more contemporary composers. They were notable for their structural balance, inventive melodies, rich harmonies and complex orchestration. Mozart’s mastery of orchestration.

The concert offered two Mozart works – Piano Concerto No 21 and his Symphony No 40 conducted by the visiting German conductor Andre de Ridder.

Mozart’s works are filled with drama, humour and emotion and de Ridder ensured that these qualities were expressed through his conducting  where  his gestures displayed a physical response to the music,

He made one aware of  Mozart’s evolving contrasts and changing dynamics with a precise attention to detail. He also drew attention to Mozart’s innovative ways of using instruments and the inventive ways in which he made transitions between themes and instrumentation.

De Ridder seemed intent on using the orchestra to create a luxurious world full of narrative, landscape and structure. He achieved this with his elaborate gestures, seemingly moulding the music’s dynamic conversations in the robust drama of the third movement  and in the frenetic final movement.

He also drew attention to the music in having long, contemplative breaks between the movements as though stressing both independence of each movement as well as their connections.

The Piano Concerto was played by the Australian pianist Andre Lam who gave a sophisticated reading of the work, playing with a stylish elegance and at times appeared to be captivated by the sounds she was producing,

After the initial sprightly opening  and a series of  trembling notes her playing evolved into more detached and considered sequence. This was followed by some exquisitely beautiful passages which also revealed some darker elements. At the close of the first movement Lam performed a dramatic cadenza with an almost meditative approach before leading the orchestra to a brilliant finale.

With the second movement made  famous by the   Elvira Madigan movie she expressed the romantic nature of the piece playing with  a sinuous line as though floating above the orchestra with de Ridder ensuring the orchestra never overwhelmed the pianist’s delicate touch.

In the  third movement she displayed a brilliance and bravado as she and the orchestra competed and complemented each other in passages which were almost Beethovian. In the finale of the last movement, studiously bent over the keys she gave a rigorous performance full of drama  and wit.

The first work on the programme was Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Concerto Romanesc” written in 1951 but initially banned by the soviet authorities because of its dissonant folk sounds.

Influenced by the music of Bela Bartok and with traces of Aaron Copland the work opened with cello and woodwind providing a sense of romanticism and open spaces  .

The second movement with its folk-dance melodies morphed into more abstract bursts of sounds with hints of exotic music among the surging sounds and dramatic percussion.

De Ridder firmly controlled the various instruments and their unfamiliar sounds which ranged from the violinists playing on the bridge to Eastern  sounds  and  a gunshot.

The work highlighted the place of Romanian music at the cultural crossroads between Eastern and Western music as well as the place of folk music within that tradition.

Forthcoming NZSO concerts in Auckland

La Mer  

Nielsen Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Debussy

Auckland Town Hall, August 29

Jupiter

Copland, Cresswell and Mozart

Auckland Town Hall,  September 21

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APO’s Tristan and Isolde a magnificent musical experience

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Tristan (Simon O’Neill) and Isolde (Ricarda Merbeth) Image – Sav Schulman

Auckland Philharmonia

Richard Wagner

Tristan and Isolde

Auckland Town Hall

August 10

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Auckland Philharmonia’ s recent production of Tristan and Isolde was probably the highlight of this year’s programme. The opera, lasting over five hours is a marathon for audience, singers and orchestra and requires exceptional singers and players which this performance delivered.

With Tristan and Isolde Wagner began moving opera in a new direction  away from the traditional love story format, using opera to express ideas about the nature of love, sex. death and existence.

While Wagner may have been influenced by Schopenhauer’s ideas about love and the links between love, sex, and death the composer was probably more interested in providing some sort of rational for his infatuation and possible  adulterous  relationship with his patron’s wife – Mathilde Wesedonck.

The opera has a simple plot line – Tristan who had previously killed Isolde’s fiancé is taking her to England to marry King Marke but they become attracted to each other (partly due to having drunk a love potion). The king is told of their relationship and seeks to kill Tristan but who dies from wounds and Isolde expired from a broken heart. They presumably become immortal just as all Wagner’s later gods and enter Valhalla.

The opera really only needs the two main characters as well as  the music but Wagner gives it a narrative structure and a few other characters who provide contrast and  tension.

Johan Reuter as Kurwenal, Simon O’Neill as Tristan, Ricarda Merbeth as Isolde and Katarina Karnéus as Brangäne. Image – Sav Schulman

The music describes the emotions and drama emanating from the two characters with the opening Prelude  and the closing  Liebestad or “love death song” sung divinely by Isolde over Tristan’s body.

The music of the  Prelude was used extensively by Lars van Trier in his film Melancholia expressing something of the same ethos as Tristan and Isolde with ideas about the nature of love, knowledge of our death and the end of civilization.

With Tristan and Isolde the two lovers embody different aspects of love  and this is expressed through their singing and their acting.

Act II which takes place over a single night presents an emotional landscape where we experience their unfolding  relationship with its deep emotional conflicts,

Their   duo “O eternal Night”, touches on a number of aspects of their love and the urgency of their singing  conveys a sense of bliss and transcendence.

O’Neill gave an impressive account of Tristan with potent stage presence enhanced by his stance and gestures. He was able to convey a sense of the nobility of love while  Merbeth’s Isolde expressed  the passion and emotion. With much of her singing her ferocious voice seemed to effortlessly express the conflicting emotions of anger and passion.

This was a semi-staged performance but Frances Moore’s clever staging  gave the performance some added drama with several of the cast making use of the various parts of the Town Hall.

Isolde made her final sensational entrance in walking up the centre aisle of the hall, Andrew Goodwin’s ship’s captain made a dramatic appearance singing from the Circle in Act I  and Katarina Karneus singing an elegant Brangane sang from the Circle, looking down on the couple in Act II.

Albert Dohmen gave a forceful performance as King Marke singing from up by the organ, towering about the orchestra and Jared Holt as Melot, Tristan’s one-time friend turned villain gave a nuanced performance with his long denunciation.

Johan Reuter gave an impressive account as Kurwenal, Tristan’s servant capturing the close ties between the two men with his sympathetic voice.

The orchestra provided the backbone for the opera and under the skilful direction of Giordano Bellincampi  provided sustained emotional and dramatic music, particularly  the opening Prelude which made for a magnificent  musical experience.

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Scenes from the Climate Era

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Amanda Tito, Dawn Cheong, Arlo Green, Nī Dekkers-Reihana     Image Andi Crown

Scenes from the Climate Era

By David Finnigan

Presented by Auckland Theatre Company and Silo Theatre

Rangatira. Q Theatre

Until August 24

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

When we first enter Silo Theatre we are  handed a little manilla envelope. There is a seed in it. Under our seats we find another little manilla envelope with a seed in it. Of course, this is a seed to plant tomorrow in our gardens to grow a plant which will help combat climate change.

But no. We are told this is not a seed but a lentil. Of course, everyone knows that lentils play a  vital role in sustainable agriculture. Adding lentils to crop rotations not only helps in providing more of this important crop, it also  improves soil health, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and stores more carbon in the soil than most other plants.

But no. We are told this is part of our becoming agents provocateurs. After the show we are to go out into the city looking for gas-guzzling SUV’s. We are to remove the cap of the tire valve, insert the lentil and put the cap back on. In less than an hour the tire will have deflated. For extra measure we can also key the side panels of the vehicle. Done frequently this activity will result in a drop in SUV ownership, another battle won in the Climate Change Wars.

But that’s about it for radical action in David Finnigan’s “Scenes from the Climate Era”. What follows are several dozen short scenes which explain, examine and dissect  various aspects of the Climate Crisis – the political, scientific, social and personal aspects which the world is facing and will continue to face over the next decades.

Finnigan’s play which seems at times to be more lecture or a call to arms not only expounds on the various aspects of the Climate Condition but also reveals the emotional and philosophical responses which make the issues so important and relevant.

The climate crisis has been central to Finnigan’s work with his 2014 play “Kill Climate Deniers” looking at political inaction, Then there was “Your Safe Til 2024”, a work that tried to temper climate despair with hope and his comedy “44 Sex Acts in One Week”, a comic response to the relentless push to towards climate disaster.

Among the various scenes presented in “Scenes from the Climate Era” was a quick history of the COP summits, dealing with the end of species, the issues of climate anxiety, how climate issues should be presented by the media and  how to tell when the Climate Era is over.

The final scene of the play, set some time in the future imagines a coastal inundation  somewhere in New Zealand and a heat inundation in an Australian city both of which were presented as apocalyptic climactic moments and a time of popular uprising.

One issue which was briefly touched on was the decision to have children but this passed without really addressing the issue of population control – the great elephant in the room of Climate Future.

It’s a powerful work which is relevant for our times, making one realise that governments and their agencies are failing us and we could be losing more of our natural habitat as well as our urban living spaces and possibly the planet.

The five actors who take on  multiple roles brought a relentless energy to the work, some more so than others.

Arlo Green gave some standout performances particularly as the over enthusiastic conference leader and his Glaswegian accent was perfect.

Amanda Tito gave sophisticated performances  especially as a slinky cat while Sean Dioneda Rivera excelled as a nearly extinct frog and Nī Dekkers-Reihana was effective as a some-time narrator and linkage person.

Dawn Cheong as a would-be TV presenter  gave a great display of disbelief and anger in responding to suggestions of media compliance.

Director  Jason Te Kare ensured a seamless transition between scenes and the subtle  lighting (Jane Hakaraia) and effective soundscape (Leon Radojkovic) contributed to the overall drama of the play.

Unfortunately, it seems they weren’t all that interested in depleting the number of SUV on the road bas they asked for the little manilla  envelopes and the lentils back at the end of the performance.

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Ka Mua Ka Muri: Backwards to the Future

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Ka Mua Ka Muri Image, Andi Crown

Ka Mua Ka Muri

Choreographers: Bianca Hyslop and Eddie Elliott

Sound composition: Eden Mulholland

Set and costume design: Rona Ngahuia Osborne

Lighting design: Owen McCarthy

Projection Design: Owen McCarthy (Remain), Dan Mace (Whakamaheahea)

With Abbie Rogers, Caleb Heke, Madi Tumataroa, Matiu Hamuera, Oli Mathiesen, Tai Taranui Hemana, Toalei Roycroft,

An Atamira Dance Company production

Q Theatre, Rangitira

Until 27 July

Then Clarence Street Theatre, Hamilton 29 July.

Review by Malcolm Calder

25 July 2024

This significant work comprises two collaborative creations without an interval – Eddie Elliott’s Remain followed by Bianca Hyslop’s Whakamaheahea.  Although each could easily stand alone, they are not really a double bill.  There is no interval, simply a pause, or perhaps a lengthy segue between the two, and each reflects the other.  Hence the title which loosely translates into Before and After.

Elliott’s Remain does far more than simply relate the past and provide a context for today however.  It helps to explain that past and how the intertwining of traditions with their origins, social practice and evolution delivers a whakapapa that is as rich with meaning and significance in contemporary Aotearoa as it has been since Ranginui and Papatūānuku.

Elliott has mined the humour and playfulness of everyday life, pride in achievement and evolutionary contributions to making Aotearoa what it is today.  And, no, it is far from a sugar-coating.  There are brief flashes of anger, resentment and disagreement and, after all, that’s life.

Conversely, Hyslop’s Whakamaheahea takes all this as a given or starting point and looks to the world we live in today while providing a basis for navigating the path ahead.  A future that shimmers one moment and then cowers the next.  As Hyslop has noted, cultural identity is a continuum and the place of māoritanga is clearly identified and deeplyembedded in the social context of our country.

The dancers provide a strong ensemble quality with individual characters allowed to emerge and some of the solo work is of a high quality indeed.

Of special mention is the creative team who handled the production aspects of this work admirably.  It is slick, extremely contemporary and entirely captivating.

Importantly, this work acknowledges and further develops the legacy that is Altamira Dance Company.  Yes, there may be some ‘fooling about’ along the way but there is also a strong sense of empowerment, transformation, and resilience that underpins Ka Mua Ka Muri.  It has the potential to inspire a bright collective future.

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The dark world of “Hamlet” from Opera Australia

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Act I Hamlet Image Keith Saunders

Opera Australia

Hamlet,

Brett Dean , Music

Matthew Jocelyn, Libretto 

Until August 9

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

“or not to be “, are the first lines we hear from Hamlet in Opera Australia’s latest offering by composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Jocelyn. They are of course a clip from one of the plays most well know soliloquies – “To be or not to be, that is the question”.

That question is

“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles”

In other words act now or prevaricate.

Hamlet never answers his own question and delays taking action to revenge the death of his father. In a typical revenge tragedy of the time that revenge would be quickly and simply exacted but his  equivocation is a sign of his own mental illness or his inconsistent political decision-making which ultimately leads to the death of multiple individuals.

Hamlet doesn’t even speak the words of the soliloquy that is left to a player from the theatre troupe, later in the play.

The opera explores questions of Hamlet’s mental state, how it impacts on his relationship with other members of court, his friends and his betrothed, Ophelia.

Librettist Mathew Jocelyn has done this by cleverly concentrating on some key lines and phrases while Brett Dean has produced a musical landscape which creates moods, emotional portraits and dramatic moments. The score is largely percussion with raw and unusual sounds along with traditional instruments pushed to their limits, providing an edginess and inventiveness to the work.

Director Neil Armfield has realised the visions of Dean and Jocelyn with an impressive production employing a stellar class including Allan Clayton who has performed the leading role at Glyndebourne and the Met. This is an opera which seems as relevant today as it was 400 years ago.

The opening scene, which is replicated in the final duel scene is the main hall in Elsinore where the new King Claudius and Gertrude enter for a banquet. Hamlet, looking remarkably like Peter Jackson  prowls the room in his ‘inky cloak’, gets his own bottle of wine and makes sharp comments about his mother and new father. Along with his brusque complaints there is also a playfulness when he greets his friends Horatio and Marcellus

One becomes aware of the conflict within the work. Is Hamlet actually mad or is it a ploy  which he uses. There are a number of scenes where the theme of pretence, subterfuge  and acting are cleverly developed by Jocelyn. This  notion of reality and artifice is seen at its most powerful in the Players scene where Hamlet adds some lines to the fictional “Murder of Gonzaga” play.

.One of the clever approaches that Jocelyn uses is to repeat particular words and phrases, giving emphasis to them so they become striking mantras

Allan Clayton’s Hamlet is very different from most theatrical versions, there is little that is princely or all that perceptive about him – he is a man burdened with a task, angry with most of those about him and lacking in empathy. He is in a dark world of his own making and that is conveyed through Brett Deans oppressive and stressful music.

It conveys something of the internal melancholy of Hamlet and Clayton’s rough tenor makes one aware of his struggles as he flails physically and vocally with his feelings and (in) actions. His approach to revenge is insipid compared to the pesky Laertes (Nicholas Jones) who leaps at the opportunity of dispatching Hamlet.

Much of Hamlet, as with many of Shakespeare’s plays is focussed on the nature and the future of the royal family and by implication, the future of the state, with reference to the  legitimacy of Claudius and Gertrude and the rottenness of the state of Denmark.

Hamlet (Allan Clayton) and Ghost of his Father (Jud Arthur) Image Keith Saunders

Many of the scenes are brilliantly staged. When the ghost of his father (Jud Arthur) appears to Hamlet it is in a surreal setting worthy of Salvador Dali. The Frankenstein-like figure moves slowly across the stage, a beam of light cuts across the stage from a door giving onto a misty swirling nether world. The ghost tells Hamlet of the need for revenge as the quivering woodwinds and tentative percussion aid his growling voice. The relationship between the two becomes particularly  physical as the two embrace.

Lorina Gore’s  Ophelia gives a splendid performance as she expressed love, confusion and ultimately madness. Her performance was particularly touching in her mad scene where, having strewn herbs around the stage, she proceeded to beat her breast and used her strangled voice along with the sharp strings of the orchestra to convey her fragile mental state. Her cries were accompanied by a small female chorus situated high in the boxes who initially shouted their concerns but then became a choir of angels.

Ophelia (Lorina Gore), Guildenstern (Christopher Lowery) & Rosencrantz (Russell Harcourt) Image Keith Saunders

Rod Gilfry as the guilty Claudius stepping into his new role as king was able to convey his own ambivalent position with a voice which ranged from the rough to the benign while Catherine Carby’s Gertrude duets with her son and Ophelia were taut with genuine feeling.

Kanen Breen’s supercilious bureaucrat, Polonius was excellent with his finger clicking insistence, and Samuel Dundas as Horatio, the only likable character in the opera, gave an intelligent and perceptive performance.

Most of the characters were white faced, as though already embalmed but it was Jud Arthurs monstrous, white figure and his penetrating bass which made the most impression. Arthur was also magnificent as the cocky, philosophical Gravedigger.

The two foppish counter tenors, Rosencrantz (Russell Harcourt) and Guildenstern (Christopher Lowrey) looking like the artwork, Gilbert and George added an element of comedy as well another dimension to the notion of artifice.

The set designed by Ralph Myers with its changing structures was something of a metaphor for the changing veneers, masks and stratagems of the characters while the lighting by Peter Harrison provided many moments of visual drama.

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Opera Australia’s “Tosca”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Tosca. The Te Deum sequence Image. Keith Saunders

Opera Australia

Tosca by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Sydney Opera House

July 13

Performances until August 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Last Saturday’s performance of Tosca at the Sydney Opera House  didn’t go quite as planned. The role of Tosca which had been played by a now ill Giselle Allen  was to be replaced with Natalia Aroyan

Allen’s Tosca had previously been reviewed in Limelight where her performance  was described as “a wonderfully capricious creation; a haughty, self-absorbed prima donna one minute and tragic heroine the next”.

This was to be Aroyan’s first outing in the role but she has had several roles in other Australian Opera productions and has previously even performed with Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

From the first moment we hear Tosca calling her lover’s name from offstage to her bursting onto the stage any concerns about her abilities vanished. She revealed the power and lyricism the role requires immediately. We also heard the notes of the recurring love theme, sometimes calm, at other times agitated, mirroring Tosca’s changing moods. In this opening scene she also revealed other aspects of her complex nature, playfulness egotism, jealousy and romanticism, giving the audience one of the crucial aspects of the opera – a believable character who, she says “lives for art”.

Her voice in Act II traversed a huge range of emotion, – pure love, pain  and yearning while her soaring rendition of the aria“ Vissi d’arte ” captured an almost ethereal dimension.

In a sense she is the alter ego of Puccini who saw the opera a political work which had a strong political thread with a plot that revolved around the historical and political narrative of Italian nationalism. While the opera was originally set in Rome in the early part of the nineteenth century, Director Edward Dick has set the work firmly in the twenty-first century with laptops, CCTV and earpieces. All this provides a very clear reference to the growth of contemporary fascism.

The story , set in Rome still revolves around the tragic love triangle between Floria Tosca , the famous opera singer ; Mario Cavaradossi , a painter ; and Baron Scarpia , the sadistic chief of police .

The opera opens with the escaped revolutionary Angelotti (David Parkin) making a dramatic descent by a rope from the opening in a painted dome in the ceiling of a church. This oculus can be seen as a reference to the ceiling opening of the Patheon in Rome. Cavaradossi comes to his aid and in so doing implicates himself and Tosca in his escape and that knowledge is exploited by  Scarpia in order  to capture the escaped Angelotti, punish Cavaradossi and seduce Tosca.

From the first mention of Scarpia’s name we hear the ominous sequence of three, strident chords that represent the evil character. Sung by Gevorg Hakobyan he emanates ruthlessness and amorality with a sinister voice and the actions of a disturbed man. This is highlighted in the powerful Te Deum sequence at the end of Act I where the power of the state is linked to that of the church and the choir sings along with Scarpia as he fantasises about his seduction of Tosca.

Giselle Allen (Tosca) and Gevorg Hakobyan (Scarpia) Image. Keith Saunders

While Hakobyan conveys a narcissism and cruelty with a searing, caustic voice it is Young Woo Kim singing the role of Cavaradossi who was the standout performer of the opera with a powerful voice with which he conveyed a range of rich emotions along with a very honest portrayal of character.

The set in each of the acts is dominated by a large dome shape with an image of the virgin which works effectively and the oculus in the final act becomes the space from which Tosca plunges to her death.

In Act II the central feature of the set is Scarpia’s four poster bed which becomes the site of seduction as well as acting as a cage within which much of the strugglers between Scarpia and Tosca take place

The work really relies on its wonderful, evocative music, emotionally charged  with some poignant orchestral passages which requires a conductor who is aware of that emotional and dramatic range. In Johannes Fritzsch and the Opera Australia Orchestra all the great qualities of the music were delivered. 

With ten performances to go Tosca is one great reason for a short holiday across to Sydney.

Future operas at the Sydney Opera House

Brett Dean/ Matthew  Jocelyn, Hamlet, July 20 – August 9

Mozart, Cosi van Tutte, August 1 – 17

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Sylvia Jiang’s lively and energetic performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Sylvia Jiang

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Scheherezade

Auckland Town Hall

July 4

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The first half of the APO’s Scheherezade concert featured two works composed a century apart with Melody Eötvös’ “The Saqqara Bird” of 2016 and Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No 2 of 1913/1923.”

The highlight of the concert was the Prokofiev Piano Concerto played by Sylvia Jiang. She is a Chinese born New Zealander and Juilliard graduate  who was ranked as a Rising Star in the Asialaw Profiles of 2023.

Last year she performed Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia and later in the year she will also be making her debut national tour as a soloist with Chamber Music New Zealand playing seven concerts.

Prokofiev’s second Piano Concerto is considered to be one of the most difficult piano concertos to play. Thankfully Jiang appears to have not been told that and she never faltered in her exploration of the work even when she was faced  with the massive solo cadenza of the first movement.

This section saw Jiang playing vigorously for over 4 minutes before the orchestra joins in again.

She opened the work delicately creating  gentle, magical sounds along with the woodwinds and strings which hinted at a shimmering watery setting with the orchestra developing the theme and Jiang providing streaks of colour and drama.

This quiet lyricism didn’t last long and was soon interrupted by menacing sounds from the orchestra and a darkness emerged which overpowered the piano which then responded with some ferocious sounds.

This early interaction of orchestra and pianist highlighted the emphasis of the concerto. This was the sense of competition between player and orchestra. With most  concerti there is a collaboration between soloist and orchestra but with this work there was more of an antagonism and intervention.

This is in part due to Prokofiev s music where we hear a clash between romanticism and modernism which is an indication of the composer struggling with his own idea.

In playing the first movement solo cadenza Jiang seemed to be physically attacking the keys and her playing eventually revealed an emerging theme and she was rejoined with the orchestra which enveloped her with the gentler music which had preceded the cadenza.

The short second movement saw Jiang playing  with a  lively energy, butting up against the  savage and insistent tones of the orchestra.

The third movement which opens with huge swells of brass and percussion and a rustic theme where Jiang dashed off flashes bright notes inserting herself into the orchestral themes. Here again the pianist and orchestra were in competition, with the orchestra seeming to overpower Jiang who fought back with a relentless energy finishing the movement with a few quiet  notes of victory.

She opened the fourth movement with a rapid-fire assault on the piano followed by a lethargic sequence where her fingers seemed to wander across the keyboard in search of a theme. Then as she managed to discover the theme the orchestra joined in, expanding and enhancing it.

Her playing at times seemed to be urged on by the energetic orchestra while at other times she seemed to strive against the orchestra.

In the final minutes of the work her playing returned to a simple romanticism before morphing into some frantic playing matched by an equally frenetic orchestra which overpowered the piano before the  final race to the climatic conclusion.

The “Saqqara Bird” refers to a bird/plane shaped relic found at Saqqara in Egypt in the late nineteenth century whose function was unknown. Melody Eötvös’ work explores the imagined reasons behind its creations and purposes and envisages it in search of its identity.

The work opens with the sounds of bird-like twittering from the woodwinds and strings which seem to be emerging from a dark forest of sounds conveyed by the blasts of brass and thumping drums.

Several of the instruments appeared to have been adapted or employed to create eerie sounds as though a backdrop to a fairy tale filled with shadowy beings.

In the middle section the woodwinds replicate  the sounds and movement of birds along with the ghostly forms leading to enigmatic encounters and discoveries.

The intriguing music ranged from sequences of unruly and strident sounds to the use of the simple single note which ends the work.

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Sight Lines: Women and Art in Aotearoa

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Sight Lines: Women and Art in Aotearoa

By Kirsty Baker

Auckalnd University Press

RRP $69.99

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Sight Lines: Women and Art in Aotearoa is a bold and timely book exploring various threads of women’s  art  of the past as well as those creating art for our times. Editor and writer Kirst Baker acknowledges the complexity of bringing together writings for  such a book in her introduction  where she notes “It should come as no surprise that this book does not attempt to offer a complete history of women’s artmaking in this country. Such a project is doomed to fail… Instead, the book winds its way along a path that is both fragmented and politicised”.

Within that winding journey it is the through the fragments that we see ideas and revelations and make connections. It is through the practice of many of these artists and their working within a social and political context that we see the importance and ramifications of art.

Lisa Reihana, in Pursuit of Venus [infected], Auckland Art Gallery. single channel UHD video

The dozen chapters in the book have been written by Kirsty Baker along with  Chloe Cull, Ngarino Ellis, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Rangimarie Sophie Jolley, Lana Lopesi, Hanahiva Rose, Huhana Smith and Megan Tamati-Quennell.

The essays are all thought-provoking with a mix of biography, narrative, interviews, observations and reflections. These offer new ways at looking at the art created by women but also the nature of art and art institutions.

Baker notes that there are a number of themes running through the book which are indicative of the often different world in which many female artists exist and work.

There is the way that women artists have interrogated their relationship with the land and place and the way they have pushed against gendered limitations.

There is also the way that artists have used their practice to comment on art history and arts institutions and the way that art making plays a role in the care and transmission of knowledge.

In not being a contiguous history of women’s art, the gaps and exclusions are often apparent. These gaps mean at times the book is less satisfying without the linkages of history and context.

While not a history the book covers over two hundred years of art making in New Zealand and includes painters, photographers, performers, sculptors,  textile artists and writers. The work of these artists spans whatu kākahu through to the recent work of the Mataaho Collective. Along the away there are chapters on a diverse range of artists –  Frances Hodgkins, Rita Angus, Rangimārie Hetet, Pauline Rhodes, Teuane Tibbo, Yuki Kihara and Ruth Buchanan.

With over 150 illustrations the books also provide a visual history of women’s art which is well integrated with the texts.

Julia Morison, Quiddities 1-10. Auckland Art Gallery, Cibachrome transparencies

The essay on Frances Hodgkins provides a succinct overview of her life and work while highlighting the issues which impacted on women artists of the early part of the twentieth century.

The essay on Kura Te Waru-Rewiri reveals the way in which Māori artists have addressed issues of mythology. history  and land using abstraction as a means of conveying ideas.

Many of the chapters focus on the issues around the land, whānau and wāhine which is seen in the work of artists such as Robyn  Kahukiwa so it is surprising that  Robin White, Sylvia Siddell and Jaqueline Fahey who have documented the family and domesticity for several decades are not mentioned.

The other area of exclusion is around abstraction for while the work  of Vivian Lynn, Kura Te Waru-Rewiri and Imogen Taylor is included artists such as Phillipa Blair and Gretchen Albrecht are omitted.

Maureen Lander, Ko nga puna waiora o Maunga Taranaki (detail), Govett-Brewster Gallery, mixed media

The final chapter in the book concerns the  work by the Mataaho Collective, a group which has recently won the prestigious Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale. The chapter predates the win but much of what is written is relevant to the work which has generated more column  inches than any previous New Zealand exhibition at the Venice event.

Here there seems to be a disconnection because of the six previous New Zealand female artists to exhibit at the Biennale. only Lisa Reihana and Yuki Kihara are mentioned. That the four other women selected over a twenty yar period to represent New Zealand at the world’s most high-profile event seems puzzling.

Despite this oversight and others, the book is still one which offers much in understanding the developing history of women’s art in New Zealand as well as way that they have been impacted  by  social acceptance and cultural institutions.

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Wall to Wall Māfana

Red White and Brass: The Play

Stage adaptation by Leki Jackson-Bourne

Directors, Anapela Polata’ivao, Vela Manusaute

Musical Director, Joanna Mika Toloa

Production Design, Sean Coyle

Costume Design, Chrissy Vaega

Sound Design, Matt Eller

Choreography, Mario Faumui

With Haannz Fa’avae-Jackson, Mikey Falesiu, John-Paul ‘JP’ Foliaki, Onetoto Ikavuka, Saala Ilaua, Diamond Langi, Lauren Jackson, ‘Aisea Latu, Jason Manumu’a, Rocky Manusaute, Michaela Te Awa Bird, Kasi Valu

Original screenplay by Halaifonua Finau and Damon Fepulea’i

Co-produced by Piki Films and Miss Conception Films

A World Premiere

ASB Waterfront Theatre

Until 7 July

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Last weekend I had a cold and spent most of it confined to quarters.  You know – a bit of this, a bit of that and an overly-heavy dosage of highly-predictable news, current affairs and media gossip monochromatically detailing financial woes, political faux pas, a couple of murders, the inevitable obsession with car crashes and countless opinion from a whole heap of ‘experts’ confidently predicting an imminent emigration across the ditch. I was miserable.

Then I went to the Auckland Theatre Company’s world premiere of a new stage production of Red, White and Brass: The Play!  And I wondered what I was being miserable about.

The basic plot is well publicised and closely follows the original screenplay of the same name by Halaifonua Finau and Damon Fepulea’I about sporting underdogs who over-achieve just as Eddie the Eagle and those Jamaican bobsledders did at the Olympics.  Hollywood loves a good sports story especially where the underdog comes out on top and this story has a unique local flavour.

But this stage production is more subtly nuanced, goes well beyond sport and is weighted more towards capturing hearts and minds in ways that both embrace and express the social psyche that is Tongan Māfana.

It is a thing that generates joy and, without being in the slightest bit didactic about all things Tongan,

it assumes a knowledge of many things in a long, long list.  These range from the place of religion to the place of rugby; from gently acknowledging the contrapuntal role of the matriarch in a purportedly patriarchal society; from an acknowledgement that achievement rests ultimately on aspiration; from generational clash to resolution and to an understanding that even addresses the subsets within the contemporary urban Tongan diaspora in Aotearoa.

As Leki Jackson-Bourne has noted… this production is loud, proud and unapologetically Tongan. It is a statement about community, heritage and sense of self.  But it is more than that.  It also says something very important about our increasingly multicultural society and as such provides a further plank in the evolution of New Zealand theatre history.  It does so with unashamed pride and joy, and celebrates both.

JP Foliaki reprises the movie role of Maka, arguably with more light and shade than the movie allowed, and his relationship with his ‘bit less Tongan’ cousin Veni (Saale Ilaua) is well handled.  Overall the cast is strong and well-balanced and their choral work mesmerizingly memorable.

Sean Coyle’s busy set morphs well in multiple directions, the costumes are a hoot and the dialogue a completely understandable mix of Lea Faka-Tonga and English. The finale is a triumph- but no spoiler alert from me other than to say the band grows on one.

Congratulations to Auckland Theatre Company and mālō Leki – the last vestiges of my cold vanished on the spot!

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Aotearoa Contemporary to open at the Auckland Art Gallery in July

John Daly-Peoples

Maungarongo Te Kawa, Celestial Stargate for Invisible People, 2024 (detail). Photo by Jemma Mitchell

Aotearoa Contemporary

Auckland Art Gallery

July 6 – October 20

 The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Ngāti Whātua Orākei have announced a new contemporary art triennial at Auckland Art Gallery which will celebration of the breadth of contemporary art in New Zealand.

“The Gallery is thrilled to partner with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to present a new generation of talented artists and showcase Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse artistic environment.”

“Set to occur every three years, the exhibition provides ongoing representation and pathways for new artistic voices, bolstering the future resilience of New Zealand art. Aotearoa needs a contemporary art triennial and it now has one.” adds Lacy.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust Deputy Chair Ngarimu Blair says, “Our tupuna Apihai Te Kawau gifted 3000 acres of land on the Waitematā on 18th September in 1840 to become a city which welcomed people, cultures and ideas from afar. Our relationship with Auckland Art Gallery is founded in the shared goal to foster the arts reflective of our multi-cultural community in Aotearoa.”

With an emphasis on artists not previously exhibited at the Gallery, the exhibition presents 27 artists and 22 compelling new projects in a range of media including painting, textiles, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and performance.

Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland says, “Aotearoa Contemporary reveals a new cluster of artists who work afresh with ritual and storytelling, mythology, rhythm, indigenous space and materials. There is also a special emphasis on art’s relationship with choreography through the commission of four dance works.”

Curator, Pacific Art, Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua adds, “From Ruth Ige’s enigmatic blue paintings of anonymous figures, to the art collective The Killing’s installation of supersized soft-toys in a state of play, there is something for everyone in this exhibition. Amongst the ambitious new commissions is a three-channel video by Qianye and Qianhe Lin featuring mythology set in Hailing Island off the coast of China and Aotearoa.”

Aotearoa Contemporary is proudly supported by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Auckland Art Gallery Foundation and the Chartwell Trust.

Aotearoa Contemporary has been scheduled to coincide with New Zealand’s leading contemporary art award, The Walters Prize 2024, to provide a broad overview of contemporary art in New Zealand in the Gallery’s winter programme.

The exhibition has been curated by Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua, Natasha Conland and Ane Tonga with support from Ruth Ha.

Artists featured in Aotearoa Contemporary

Emerita Baik, Leo Baldwin-Ramult, Heidi Brickell, Pelenakeke Brown, Jack Hadley, Ruth Ige, Hannah Ireland, Xin Ji, Reece King, Qianye Lin and Qianhe Lin, Te Ara Minhinnick, Ammon Ngakuru, Amit Noy, Sung Hwan Bobby Park, Meg Porteous, Maungarongo (Ron) Te Kawa, Tyrone Te Waa, The Killing (collective), Anh Trân, Manuha’apai Vaeatangitau, Jahra Wasasala and George Watson.

Jahra ‘Rager’ Wasasala by Jocelyn Janon

Jahra ‘Rager’ Wasasala is an award-winning cross-disciplinary artist of Fijian/NZ European descent. As an artist, Jahra investigates her ancestral connections through the art mediums of performance activation, contemporary dance and poetry, and has extensively toured her performance works both nationally and internationally.

As a child of the Pasifika diaspora, Jahra is invested in translating her shared internal conflict into an accessible, yet confrontational, physicalised language. Her most recent performance work titled “a world, with your wound in it” focuses on the complex relationship between the earth and a woman’s body, a theme Jahra continues to investigate in her developing work.

Maungarongo Te Kawa is a takatāpui fabric artist, educator, and storyteller. His practice makes old pūrākau newly relevant using brilliant colour, fluid design, and infectious good humour. Following a career in costume design and fashion, Te Kawa dedicated himself to full-time art-making and teaching. In addition to producing his own elaborate whakapapa quilts, he runs sewing workshops, guiding participants to express their creativity and genealogy through fabric.

Ruth Ige is a Nigerian New Zealand-based painter whose intimate, evocative compositions oscillate between bodily forms and painterly abstractions. While some resemble traditional portraiture, others consist of colour fields that capture a more mysterious, ethereal effect. Hands, shoulders, and faces emerge from a watery facture. “I am interested in creating images that are not easily understood,” says Ige. She considers her unique figuration, which renders her subjects featureless and inscrutable, to be a form of “veiling.”

Performances

The commissioned performances in Aotearoa Contemporary include Pelenakeke Brown, Is this a performance 1+2, Xin Ji, Doco Dance, Amit Noy, Errant and Jahra Wasasala, DRA.

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