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Reviews, News and Commentary

Home, Land and Sea

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Way Alone Photo credit: Stephen A’Court

Home, Land and Sea

Royal New Zealand Ballet & The New Zealand Dance Company

Kiri te Kanwa Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland

July 31

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Choreography: Stephen Baynes, Shaun James Kelly, Moss Te Ururangi Patterson
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Philip Glass, Shayne P. Carter
Set Design: Jon Buswell (Home, Land and Sea)
Costume Design: Stephen Baynes with RNZB Costume Department, Rory William Docherty, Moss Te Ururangi Patterson with RNZB Costume Department
Lighting Design: Jon Buswell, Daniel Wilson

“Home, Land and Sea”, The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Triple Bill featured three very different works each with a distinctive mood and choreography, all had links to the land with styles ranging from the abstract to the deeply connected.

The opening work, Stephen Baynes’ “The Way Alone” was originally performed in Hong Kong in 2008 for a Tchaikovsky programme and is a response to some of the composers lesser-known music  included some of his choral works. Firmly in the classical tradition the dancing was a direct response to the textures and rhythms of the music. the choreography emphasising the qualities of weightiness, graceful movements and subtle gestures as well as accentuating the dancer’s integration with aspects of light and shadow.

The work owed much to concepts of ritual with an elegance and refinement to the dancing which featured some beautifully articulated pas de deux and pas de trios.

The only problem with this sequence was that the recorded sound lacked the refinement of the dancing and created a disconnection between audio and visual. It was an issue that did not affect the other two works.

Chrysalis, Kate Kadow and Calum Gray Photo credit: Stephen A’Court.

After the first interval was the premiere of  Shaun James Kelly’s “Chrysalis” set to the Phillip Glass music “Metamorphosis” which was inspired by the Franz Kafka short story of  a man who wakes up to find his body has been changed to that of a large insect or chrysalis.

The setting for the dance also gave a nod to Kafka’s other work “The Trial” with various figures, some in trench coats roaming the stage, divesting themselves of items of clothing , an act which provided a clever metaphor for transformation – the shedding of skin and the emergence of the butterfly from the chrysalis.

The music features Glass at his minimalist  best with repeated phrases and  eerie looping sequences. There were also long, enigmatic  silences which were as expressive as the music and emphasised the notions of the dream, the surreal and the transformation.

The musical landscape with its abrupt, stark sounds was echoed by  the dancers with their carefully choreographed movements,  rapid changes and tense interactions.

Home, Land and Sea Photo credit: Stephen A’Court

The  third work on the programme was “Home, Land and Sea” choreographed by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson’s (Ngāti Tūwharetoa), the  Artistic Director of The New Zealand Dance Company. This was the first the Royal New Zealand Ballet has partnered with The New Zealand Dance Company with members from both companies performing.

The stage featured five panels on which were projected images linked to the dance – tāniko, vegetation, clouds and sea.

The work combined contemporary dance and kapa haka suggesting elements of journey, history and tradition.

The music for the work composed by Shayne P. Carter had a harsh quality to it which was emphasised by the dancing where there was much angularity in the gestures and movements, combining the sinuous quality of contemporary dance with the intensity and athleticism of kapa haka.

The  element of sound often associated with kapa hake -was also much in evidence – slapping, stamping and breathing, all adding to the physicality of the work.

In the latter part of the dance when the dancers became more dynamic and  the music more aggressive, the roiling mass of dancers seemed to become a force of nature transcending their human condition to become god-like in their expression.

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Burlesque Satire Drenched With Quality

Photo: Alisha Lovrich

Chicago The Musical

Book Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse

Music John Kander

Lyrics Fred Ebb

Based on the play ‘Chicago’ by Maurine Dallas Watkins

A Ben McDonald Production

Bruce Mason Theatre, Takapuna until 15 August

Then Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, from 17 August

Regent Theatre, Dunedin from 25 August

Director Michael Hurst

Choreography Shona McCullagh

Musical Director Paul Barrett

Lighting Simeon Hoggan

Sound Peter van Gent

Costumes Nic Smillie

Set Chris Reddington

With

Nomi Cohen, Lily Bourne, Jackie Clarke, Joel Tobeck, Andrew Grainger, Rebekkah Schoonbeck Berridge, Hannah Tasker Poland, Sophie Jackson, Hannah Kee, Taane Mete, Amèlia Rojas, Finley Hughes, Ellyce Bisson, Vincent Farane, Geoff Gilson, Joel Hewlett and Vida Gibson 

Review by Malcolm Calder

31 August 2025

Musical theatre is a strange beast. To some it is simply a chance to hear and see some wonderful voices and dancing on a stage set, to others it’s primarily about glitz, glam and fantabulous costumes, while some of the more cynical may even view it as a pale imitation of a classic form packaged in a simpler, more modern and easily accessed way.

Broadway did that pretty well, establishing, delivering and contributing significantly to the Great American Songbook.  Y’know : boy-meets-girl, let’s-all-have-a- rousing-time and aren’t-things-wonderful-in-America.   The focus was on music, singing and dancing with the plot or storyline merely a vehicle.

Towards the end of the 1960s however, and perhaps partly because of a growing social awareness at the time, a new element started creeping in – social commentary.  Two of the earlier exponents or explorers of this were John Kander and Fred Ebb.  They expanded the tradition – perhaps most notably with Cabaret (1966) followed by Chicago a few years later and music theatre found itself with a new dimension to explore.

But there was no sudden leap to this new level. It was a gradual process, perhaps slowed somewhat in Kander and Ebb’s case, through a series of projects jointly mounted by others. The choreography of Bob Fosse in particular saw early productions of both their Cabaret and Chicago pretty sanitised by today’s standards – sort of a middle-class version of sleaze.  And the movie versions too.  Nearly 50 years on and Rebecca Frecknall’s 2021 production of Cabaret now seems a far cry from Fosse’s rather dated movie starring Liza Minelli.  Chicago has followed suit. I mean …Richard Gere as Billy Flynn?

Rather thankfully, Michael Hurst has now delivered a Chicago as it should be done. His sweeping satirical brushstrokes might include a certain obeisance to Broadway tradition, but his production is rough and raw and pushes Kander and Ebbs’s work quite clearly into the world of burlesque.  I think they would be very happy about that.

This Chicago is far more than a rear-view mirror of underworld life in Illinois a hunded years or so back.  It might be phrased that way – and some might still be perfectly happy to do so – but it is also a bitingly allegorical take on contemporary American society.  I was puzzling on this right through to the final scene when a rather bedraggled stripes (minus the stars) flew rather forlornly in.  Then it all clicked neatly into place for me. 

Hurst has created a truly outstanding piece of highly theatrical burlesque finger-pointing at … well pretty much everything in today’s American and how it got there.

Let’s look at some of themes.  This Chicago is based on the media’s obsessively intense version of real life events; there are allusions to self-indulgent lifestyles and lip service to broken or non-existent loyalties; it contains larger than life figures who earn squillions from graft, corruption and from manipulating others; fake news quickly becomes truth, the cheapness to life is highlighted; a longing for long-term goals with no hope of achieving them underpins  life for many;  truth is very very easily re-written to serve venal goals; even the American underbelly of religion gets a whack as a growing seediness envelopes everything.

Does this make it a ‘downer’ of a show ?  Not on your Nellie. Chicago is funny, heartfelt, energetic …  and we know pretty much all of the songs is a bonus.

Hurst’s version is not glamourised and it’s not not about stars.  Yes, there are principal characters but no stars as such – it’s just not that sort of a show.  This is a seedy burlesque so ALL think they are stars of their own little piece of the world.   Yet he has also managed to acknowledge Broadway’s tradition, giving exquisite and delightful framing for each of the non-stars to do their big number without extraneous interference.  This is a throughly professional cast and it shines.

Nomi Cohen (Roxie Hart) and Lily Bourne (Velma Kelly) are a well-matched pair and Jackie Clarke does Mama Morton as only Jackie can – torn fishnets and all. 

Joel Tobeck subtly reveals a tad of humanity under the normally one-dimensional façade of Billy Flynn, and Andy Grainger (Amos Hart) steals the audience … he really CAN sing you know.  But then again ‘Mr Cellophane’ was probably written with someone like him in mind.

Of particular note is Shona McCullagh’s choreography which provides a whirl of activity that manages to highlight and clearly delineate individual ensemble characters while focussing on the emotional outcomes for individuals where appropriate.  Good to see some great circus skills highlighted where appropriate too.

Paul Barrett’s orchestra remains hidden in full sight – reinforcing that this is very much a live performance where the band exists to reinforce the vocals – while his sympathetic arrangement avoids lapsing inappropriately into the regularly cliched brassiness so commonly associated with Chicago.

Having first seeing it in 1976, then the movie in 2002 and several stage productions since, it seems that Chicago has gradually inched towards becoming rawer, rougher and edgier.  And definitely truer.

This Chicago sits where it should and remains theatrically burlesque to the end.

God Bless America – well Illinois anyway.

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World Press Photo Contest: the best of photojournalism

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Image Ye Aung Thu Documenting the conflict in Burma

World Press Photo Contest

Presented by Rotary Club of Auckland

131 Queen St Auckland

Until 24 August,

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples


The World Press Photo Contest is one of the most important photographic exhibitions and has been held every year since 1955.

While the focus is on the major political, social development and changes around the world it also presents aspects of sports and culture along with the drama and humour of everyday life.

The 2025 exhibition has six worldwide regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia & Oceania and four categories (Single, Story, Long Term Project and Open Format). The winning entries from the six regions in each category form this exhibition with four global winners chosen.

The exhibition highlights significant global events and issues through powerful photojournalism and documentary photography. This year’s exhibition, presents a diverse range of subjects, including the human cost of conflict, the impact of climate change (like the Amazon droughts), political events, and stories of human resilience and cultural identity.

The exhibition rarely shows New Zealand work  but this year the Belarusian, New Zealand based photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava is included with her award-winning group of photographs titled “Te Urewera The living ancestor of the Tuhoe people” which includes is an image of Tama Iti.

The top honour for 2025 was awarded to Samar Abu Elouf’s haunting image of nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour, who lost both arms in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City.

Image by Samar Abu Elouf

The exhibition includes a special display marking 70 years of World Press Photo, offering a look back at the evolution of photojournalism and its impact.

Donald Trump is the focus of a work by Jabin Botsford showing members of the US Secret Service helping Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump off stage moments after a bullet hit his ear during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds, Pennsylvania

Image by Jabin Botsford

Mosab Abushama’s image of a groom at his wedding in Omdurman, Sudan, where weddings are traditionally  announced with celebratory gunfire. He asked a friend to document his wedding on his cellphone in a city constantly targeted by airstrikes.

image by Mosab Abushama

Gaby Oráa photograph shows Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado as she greets supporters during a campaign rally in 2024. She was barred from running and as a result, she endorsed the former ambassador as the opposition’s candidate and led his political campaign across the country.

Image Gaby Oráa

Brazil’s Gabriel Medina was captured by Jérôme Brouillet as he bursts out triumphantly from a large wave in the fifth heat of round three of men’s surfing, during the Olympic surfing at Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia  in 2024.

Jérôme Brouillet

The exhibition is brought to Auckland by the Rotary Club of Auckland as a fundraiser for charity. This year the profits will go to Rotary youth programmes, interact and Rotaract, and PHAB an inclusive organisation dedicated to empowering individuals with disabilities.

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Shakespearean Disappointment

Phoebe McKellar (Juliet) and Theo Dāvid (Romeo) Photo: Andi Crown

Review by Malcolm Calder

Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare

Auckland Theatre Company

Director – Benjamin Kilby-Henson

Design – Dan Williams

Lighting – Filament Eleven 11

Costumes – Daniella Salazar

Sound – Robin Kelly

With Ryan Carter, Liam Coleman, Theo Dāvid, Courteney Eggleton, Jesme Faa’auuga, Isla Mayo, Miriama McDowell, Phoebe McKellar, Jordan Mooney, Meramanji Odedra, Beatriz Romilly and Amanda Tito

Waterfront Theatre – until 9 August

Review by Malcolm Calder

This is a brave attempt by ATC to broaden its audience base and provide a path for younger performers.  And when you’re doing that, a good Shakespeare is a fairly safe bet as it can probably do quite well with younger audiences, meet the needs of traditional adherents and will no doubt fare well with a schools audience.  And ATC is to be acknowledged for that.

Unfortunately, when one looks at the larger theatrical picture, this Romeo and Juliet doesn’t really fare very well.  Especially as a major production by one of this country’s more significant professional companies.  However ATC’s production standards remain fairly high and are arguably this production’s saving grace. 

This Romeo and Juliet is set in a 1960s Verona and I get that – not such a silly idea.  The the overall design is consistent and sometimes works very well indeed with the themes Director Benjamin Kilby-Henson is articulating – youth, love and lyricism.  Chapeaus are due to the entire creative team and his production looks and feels quite stunning.

Dan Williams has generated a well-executed, three-dimensional set, largely articulated with reductive arches, derived some mobility from a well-used billiard table and unusually introduced what looks like a painter’s scaffold that trucks about a Veronian ballroom that is ‘under renovation’ and elsewhere too.  It makes for a splendidly unusual balcony scene.

I wasn’t in Verona in the 1960s, however I did own a pair of vertically-striped trousers a decade later, so I give costumier Daniella Salazar’s costumes a big thumbs up too.  Her use of colour is at times subtle and nuanced and the differences she has drawn between Montague and Capulet families are finely drawn.  Of particular note is the ballroom scene.

But it was the lighting and the soundscape that were the standouts for me.   The Filament 11 designers have introduced some dramatic and highly effective lighting that echoes the sentiments of Shakespeare’s words and the emotions highlighted by the director.  It is also pleasing to see ATC using effective sound reinforcement for actors who often spend more time in front of cameras and on more intimate venues these days than on the comparatively largish Waterfront’s stage.

However, Miriama McDowell aside, the cast struggled with Shakepeare’s words, couplet-ridden though they are

In fact, the whole casting process seemed somehow –  odd.  Generational differences were blurred, there was a rather strange mix of accents, some characters seemed to fit the context while others didn’t, and I’m still trying to work out why there were so many varied approaches.

Music may be the food of love but, as the director has noted, poetic verse is its very life force. Romeo only addresses Juliet in verse and she does likewise.  But sustaining this is very difficult indeed.

Apart from occasional flashes, especially with some of the longer speeches, the net result was one where authority and credibility were just – missing.   At one point it seemed like I was watching a youth company of younger kiwis imagining a Verona they had never visited.   

Miriama McDowell (Whaea Lawrence), however, was very much the exception, actually speaking Shakespeare’s words rather than matching the prevalent declamations of others. Theo Dāvid (Romeo) matched her to some extent leading one to wonder whether their work with the now-long-gone Popup Globe had anything to do with this.

There were a number of unanswered quibbles too: why, for example, did Friar Lawrence became a ‘Whaea’ in this production.  If this really were set in 1960s Tauranga and there two gangs at war with each other it could make sense.  But it is a term never uttered in in Verona in the 1960s.  And perhaps a bit of undersheet nudity was a way of  the simpering unreality of Paris, but that didn’t work for me either.

So thanks for the effort ATC.  But Romeo and Juliet was a disappointment for me.

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The Monster in the Maze: a new community opera opera from N Z Opera

John Daly-Peoples

The Monster in the Maze

Composer Jonathan Dove

Libretto by Alasdair Middleton

N Z Opera and The Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus

Christchurch, Isaac Theatre Royal, September 5 /6

Wellington, St James Theatre, September 12/13

Auckland Kiri te Kanawa Theatre, September 19/20

John Daly-Peoples
Following its highly successful production of  La Boheme N Z Operas next production will be the Monster in the Maze, a contemporary community opera written by the British composer Jonathan Dove (Mansfield Park, Flight, Marx in London) with libretto by Alasdair Middleton that earned a British Composer Award in 2016.
Celebrated as one of the most successful contemporary operas of its kind globally, it was originally perforemed by the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence.
 When the legendary King Minos defeats the Athenians, he metes out his punishment in the cruellest way possible: by destroying their hope for the future. Every year, the king compels the conquered Athenians to send him their youth, to be fed to the terrible beast at the centre of his island’s maze: the Minotaur.


As the vindictive king will soon learn, however, these youth will not accept their fate without a fierce challenge. The Monster in the Maze is a story about resistance; about justice; about finding power not in oppression, but in collectivism. Fittingly, then, it’s also a groundbreaking work in its form: a community-focused and community-driven opera in which young and community singers and players stand proudly shoulder-to-shoulder with their professional counterparts, and in which both are integral.
The production marks the significant NZ Opera directorial debut for Anapela Polata’ivao. Reflecting on what drew her to The Monster in the Maze she explains: “What attracted me was the community aspect. This is an incredible opportunity for our local choirs and community members to participate in a high-level, professional performance. This collaborative involvement not only enriches the storytelling but also fosters a sense of connection to the production’s cultural themes and to each other, making it an inclusive and empowering experience for all participants and audiences.”
This new production pays homage to the rich Pasifika heritage that profoundly shapes New Zealand’s cultural tapestry, highlighting themes of displacement and resilience. The Athenian youth’s journey from a warmer homeland to the cold, unforgiving land of Crete powerfully echoes the migration experiences of many Pacific peoples. In this Aotearoa-specific interpretation, Athens symbolises the warmth and familiarity of the islands, while Crete metaphorically becomes contemporary urban New Zealand, embodying the challenges and opportunities of arriving in a new land.
An exceptional, all-New Zealand cast star in the principal roles. Acclaimed UK-based mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle (Andrea Chénier, Semele, La Cenerentola) brings her powerful presence to the role of Mother. Popular baritone and 2018 Lexus Song Quest winner Joel Amosa (La Traviata, Mansfield Park, Rigoletto) steps into the role of maze architect Daedalus. Rising operatic talent Ipu Laga’aia, recently named NZ Opera Freemasons Foundation Company Artist for 2025, makes his professional operatic role debut as the hero Theseus. Completing the principal cast, versatile entertainer and actor Maaka Pohatu (Ngai Tāmanihiri, Tūwharetoa), known for The Modern Māori Quartet and screen roles in Happiness, Far North, and Wellington Paranormal, makes his NZ Opera debut as the vindictive King Minos.
Joining Anapela Polata’ivao and Stacey Leilua in the creative team, conductor Brad Cohen leads the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, and Brent Stewart conducts the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington and Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland respectively. The Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus, child, youth and adult community performers join the production in each city.
A highly innovative set, costume, and lighting design by Filament Eleven 11 (Rachel Marlow and Brad Gledhill) vividly transforms the worlds of Athens and Crete into a compelling contemporary setting. The design skilfully weaves local narratives into the production elements, showcasing Aotearoa’s unique identity and its ongoing dialogue between traditional heritage and contemporary realities.   One of the operas first review, ten years ago in the Financial Times  gave it high praise

“First seen in Berlin last month, and now on its way to Aix-en-Provence, The Monster in the Maze is an exhilarating, visceral take on the ancient Greek myth of the Minotaur. Every aspect of Dove’s score, from the rhythmic game-play to the lower-brass Minotaur roars, stokes the imagination, leaving stage director Thomas Guthrie only to supply some subtle image projection and artful choreography. Alasdair Middleton’s libretto is less successful, thanks to some inane rhymes (“Theseus can box/ His arrows are unerring;/ And he works out with rocks”). But when sung with the do-or-die conviction of the LSO Discovery Choirs and LSO Community Choir, the overall product is a beast to be reckoned with.”

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The Art of Banksy

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Banksy, Girl with a balloon

The Art of Banksy

Hunua Rooms, Aotea Centre

Until  3 Aug.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Art of Banksy, is a  major exhibition of the artist’s work which has now been seen by 1.5 million visitors in 18 cities around  the world.

The collection of 150 original and authenticated works features more than 150 pieces, including prints, canvases, unique works, and ephemera.

There are several versions of his well-known pieces such as the “Girl with a balloon” and “Flower Thrower,” also known as “Love is in the Air,”

As with many of his works Banky borrows from other sources, changing the original intention, subverting the original meaning as well as trawling the world for the symbols and highlights in other artworks.

So, there are references, adaptations and reworkings of Christian iconography, news photographs, Disney images along with the work of Andy Warhol, Keith Harring and even Degas.

Banksy, Ballerina with Action Man parts

It is the clever borrowing of images which appeals to adult audiences as well as well as children and his images which undermine capitalism will bring a smile to both to the conservative as well as the revolutionary.

The exhibition spans his output from the 1990’s to the present-day showing examples of his satirical and subversive output  often appearing in public places around the world.

His iconic artwork depicting a masked figure or rioter, about to throw a bunch of flowers is taken for a newspaper image of a rioter throwing a projectile. This substitution is an obvious message advocating for love and peace over conflict and war.

Banksy, Trolley Hunters

There are other works like “Trolley Hunters” that satirize consumerism by depicting cavemen hunting shopping trolleys instead of wild animals. As well as being a clever juxtaposition of elements it is also a commentary on how modern society has become overly reliant on mass-produced goods and detached from nature.

Banksy, Souvenirs

Some of his work has more immediacy such as the several works related to his Walledoff Hotel in Bethlehem including some hand painted souvenirs. There are also images of his “Dismaland”, his take on Disney World ,creating a dystopian “bemusement park” located at the Tropicana in Weston-Super-Mare in 2015.

The exhibition also helps expand our understanding of the artist with numerous quotes by the artist about his history and approach to his work along with commentary by some of his collaboratives.

While here are many of his famous work there are also some of his original pencil sketches for the finished works

The works in the exhibition show that Banksy can be viewed  from various perspectives – a cartoonist, a comic, a satirist, an agent provocateur or an  advertising guru,

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The Auckland Philharmonia’s Nightscapes

Reviewed by John Dally-Peoples

Bede Hanley, Ingrid Hagan and Gabrielle Pho, Jonathan Cohen Image Sav Schulman

NIGHTSCAPES

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

July 19

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Auckland Philharmonia’s latest concert “Nightscapes”  went someway into describing  aspects of the night, the night sky and activities occurring at night, so the opening work, a  Strauss waltz was very appropriate.

For a Viennese at the end of the nineteenth century a nighttime’s entertainment would almost certainly involve dancing to one of the composer’s works.

The Emperor Waltz was originally called “Hand in Hand” and intended as a toast  made by the Emperor of |Austria to the German Emperor on the occasion of his visit to Germany and at the time, seen as a toast of friendship.

Strauss’ publisher suggested the title Kaiser-Walzer, as the title could allude to either monarch.

The work created a night under the twinkling stars or the sparkling chandeliers of the ballroom. Filled with gay, celebratory music its swirling music suggests whirling dancers and conjures up images of a night filled with gaiety, romance and pleasure.

The second work on the program didn’t seem to have much of a connection to the theme of night or nightscape but was one of the highlights of the orchestra’s recent concerts.

Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds “featured Bede Hanley (oboe), Ingrid Hagan (bassoon), Gabrielle Pho (Horn) and Jonathan Cohen (clarinet).

The work provided the audience with the pleasure of a quartet as well as the impact of a full orchestral concerto in which the various soloists responded to passages from the orchestra , building on themes to create and elaborate musical work.

Each of the soloists played short sequences but generally combined with each other, notably the clarinet and oboe.

The low burnished sounds of the bassoon  and the warm tone of the horn created some fulsome sequences while the sharper sound of the  clarinet and velvety sounds of the oboe were in marked contrast. The four instruments showed the full range of the wind instruments – jaunty, reflective and dramatic all bound together with Mozart’s showmanship.

When the soloists played, they showed considerable skill both with their individual playing as well as their ability to integrate with each other  and the orchestra.

For their encore they performed an arrangement of Libertango by Astor Piazzola where the jazzy Latin American sounds  they produced were dazzling  and inventive.

With the second half of the concert the two works on the program explored the notion of the nightmare and secret love.

First there was Richard Wagner’s Traume (Dream) featuring Andrew Beer as soloist.

Wagner composed settings of poems written by his lover Mathilde Wessendonck which eventualy appear as part pf his musical drama “Tristan and Isolde”. The Wesendonck Lieder portray an angel yearning for sublime bliss and eternity, escaping  the sorrows of the world through death. This desire is linked to the eroticism and longing that encapsulate Wagner’s bond with Mathilde.

The music  initially conjured up images of dusk and fading light followed by an ever-developing harmonies with moments of passion and stillness which are never quite resolved. Throughout the work Andrew Beer’s violin became an insistent voice in this melancholic tale.

Rather than end the dream summoned up by Wagner before beginning the final work Conductor Guiordano Bellincampi chose to seamlessly move the orchestra into the brooding final work, Schoenberg’s “Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night).

The work depicts a man and a woman  walking through a darkening forest. She tells of having conceived a child by another man and he declares his love of both the woman and the child.

The music reflected the physical journey through the forest – the moon moving above the trees and the scudding  cloud as well as the couples  emotional connection with each other while the notion of the  child’s transfiguration parallels the story of the birth of Christ.

The orchestra’s strings depicted the encroaching darkness and bleakness in which the couple walk. While these darker strings dominated there were also interventions  by lighter strings which helped create this psychological tone poem. There was both the description of the physical environment as well as the  psychological condition of the young woman who feels she has transgressed as well as offering some form of redemption, relief and spiritual calm.

The music presented a bleakness filled with sadness and anxiety but in the latter part of the work it became more joyous and lyrical with some ethereal bowing.

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La traviata: exceptional voices, intelligent direction and a superb conductor

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

La traviata Image Sav Schulman

La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

Pub Charity, Opera in Concert

Auckland Philharmonia and the Freemasons Foundation  NZ Opera Chorus

Aotea Centre, Auckland

June 7

Violetta Valéry Luiza Fatyol

Alfredo Germont Oliver Sewell

Giorgio Germont Phillip Rhodes

Annina Felicity Tomkins

Flora Bervoix Katie Trigg

Doctor Grenvil Joel Amosa

Baron Douphol Pelham Andrews

Marquis D’Obigny James Ioelu

Gastone de Letorières Andrew Goodwin

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

“La traviata” or  “The Fallen Woman” centres on the life of Violetta Valéry, a courtesan living in Paris, and her struggle to find love and escape her past. It deals with the societal and familial  judgments faced by her due to her profession and choices, highlighting the opera’s themes of love, sacrifice, and social hypocrisy.

The opera is more intimate than much of Verdi’s output, focussing on contemporary social issues and has autobiographical elements paralleling his relationship with the singer Giuseppina Strepponi with whom he had a scandalous relationship in the 1840’s  It is also the only one of Verdi’s operas to specifically take place in his own time,

At the centre of the various themes of the opera is the nature of love in all its forms – romantic love, lust, the love of family and the love of individual freedoms.

Being a work about love any production succeeds or fails on the way in which these notions of love are conveyed and emphasised. Without sets which can often add to the drama and symbolism it means it is the voices which have to convey the emotional nature of the story and relationships.

This production succeeded by having exceptional voices, intelligent direction and a superb conductor.

In the first half of the opera we were treated to some impressive singing by Luiza Fatyol dressed in red, standing out from the black costumers of the chorus.

Oliver Sewell (Alfredo) and Luiza Fatyol (Violetta) Image Sav Schulman)

Almost immediately the two lovers, Violetta and Alfredo (Oliver Sewell) sing “Un di, felicé, eterea” in which they speak of the torments and delights of love, succinctly capturing the nature of their love and love generally.

Luiza Fatyol provided some touching moments with her singing notably with the aria “Sempre Libera” at the beginning of the opera, after Alfredo confesses his love. Here she  is torn between wanting to be free to live her life and reflecting on her possible future with her lover.

That division between the two lovers was emphasised by Alfredo singing in a  distant voice from offstage.

At times she seemed to be singing directly to the audience, baring her soul as in her singing of “Un di, felicé, eterea”. Where she lamented her fate “alone in the desert of Paris”

There were times when she used her calm recitative voice to convey secrecy and at other times her voice was not much more than a whisper. Then, in her meeting with Giorgio Germont she engaged in a raging vocal duel and in her final minutes her voice sounded as though sung from a failing body, robbed of sensation.

Later in the opera she produced some stunning singing as with her “Alfredo, di queste core”  (If you know how much I loved you), which she sang with a forlorn pathos flecked with anguish and despair. Her final death scene was heart wrenching as her voice gasped and quavered with a real sense of loss, love and sadness.

Oliver Sewell as Alfredo was impeccable . He presented as a simple down-to-earth male whose life is suddenly filled with an  urgent passion and the realization of his mature love.

He gave the role a realism and authenticity expressing his love, anger and turmoil

with genuine emotion .

Oliver Sewell (Alfredo) and Phillip Rhodes (Giorgio Germont) Image Sav Schulman

Phillip Rhodes was impressive as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father. He provided a strong emotional character with his furious and exciting singing, which was genuinely powerful and unsettling. He brilliantly conveyed, with gesture demeanour and voice a man using his superior moral station to impose his will.

All the main characters as well as having great voices also displayed great acting talent conveying personalities through well-judged voice action and facial expression.

The Freemasons Foundation  NZ Opera Chorus, as ever sang gloriously and inhabited the upper levels of the Auckland Town Hall stage in a relaxed and realistic way. Although the “dance sequence” featuring Gypsies and Matadors could have been better performed with only a few of the cast.

The Auckland Philharmonia was guided by conductor Giordano Bellincampi  who followed the singers intently and ensured that the music added to the emotional drama of the opera, never dominating the singers, creating  a rich soundscape which enveloped cast and audience making for a moving and inspiring evening.

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Reviews, News and Commentary

Grace Wright, Grand Illusions

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Grace Wright, The Truth Is In The Depths

Grace Wright

Grand Illusions

Gow Langsford, Onehunga

Until July 19

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

“In the beginning how the heavens and earth

Rose out of Chaos:”

John Milton “Paradise Lost”

John Miltons lines at the beginning of Paradise Lost provide a succinct description of Grace Wrights suite of paintings in her show Grand Illusions. Equally the description of Charles Albury’s who was an observer of the effects of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima are also applicable – “We watched that cloud rise. It had every colour of the world up there, beautiful colours. To me it looked like salmon colours, blues, greens.”

Theses impressions  of shape, design and colour are something we also see in  the  images of the heavens taken by NASA revealing what appears to be chaos in the Milky Way and other galaxies.

Grace Wright, The Causes of Seeds, Plants and Fruit

Wright’s paintings conjure up a range of associations, from the of cosmic to the microscopic with some of her images  linked to brain scans and the flares of neurological synapses as in her “The Causes of Seeds Plants and Fruit”.

As with her previous work the artist explores the confluence between abstraction, symbolism and realism with a colour palette echoing the renaissance masters as well as the great Impressionist.

Grace Wright, On the Disposition which Characterizes the Wise

With a lot of her work she appears to have a contemporary take on the Baroque with images such as  “On the Disposition which Characterise the Wise)” with its drama and exuberance. Here the brush strokes suggesting the writhing bodies of baroque paintings in the paintings of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, at the Il Gesu church in Rome.

With “Cosmology” there is a sense of floating diaphanous fabrics in pastel colours while works like “The Causes of Atmospheric Phenomena provide a sense of dramatic skies after a storm .

Grace Wright, Cosmology

The small lively brushstrokes in several of the works suggest small birds in flight (On the Beauty of Song” or carefully described shell forms (Projections). These lively brushstrokes also make the viewer aware of following the mark making of the artist, both the small tentative marks as well as the grand gestures.

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Violinist Arabella Steinbacher shines in Auckland Philharmonia’s “Beethoven 5” concert

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Arabella Steinbacher image: Sav Schulman

Beethoven 5

Auckland Philharmonia

June 26

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

It is rare for a New Zealand orchestra to perform the  same concert twice  in a week, something which is common with European orchestras and even Australian ones. However, this week the Auckland Philharmonia performed its Beethoven programme on a Wednesday and Thursday, both to sold out audiences.

The orchestra’s “Beethoven 5” concert opened and closed with two very different compositions composed within ten years of each other. The first, Rossini’s Overture to La Cenerentola, composed in 1817 is an effervescent work based on a fairy / folk story while Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 of 1808 is a dramatic work reflecting the composers view of the political climate of the time as well as a growing awareness of his own fate.

Between those two pieces was an elegant display of violin playing by Arabella Steinbacher

The Rossini opened with an engaging display by the woodwinds and brass evolving into a dance-like piece.

The woodwinds held much of this musical adventure together which captures the essence of the opera, its comedy and convoluted storyline.

The Auckland Philharmonia manages to attract some of the world’s great soloists and with the Japanese / German violinist Arabella Steinbacher the audience was treated to a stunning performance of Mozart’s “Violon Concerto No 5”.

She opened the work with some silky playing, slowly revealing the intricacies of the work. At times her playing flowed along with the orchestra while at other times she appeared to add new musical themes to which the orchestra responded.

With the cadenza she showed a skill and insistence which gave the work a very contemporary and adventurous sound.

Throughout the piece she seemed to be perfectly in control of her playing, never trying to outdo the orchestra preferring to let her exquisite, often restrained  playing  shine. In the second movement some of her playing was almost ethereal while at other times her deft and refined.

In the third movement as the orchestra became more dynamic, she seemed to revel in their playing adding an urgency to her own playing.

Having heard Beethoven’s “Symphony No 5” several times it is still rewarding to hear another orchestral performance. The drama, the nuance, the intensity of the conductor and the players, all add the spectacle. As well as appreciating the music there is also a sense of the composer himself grasping for musical ideas, responding to the momentous events of his  times and seeing his own political and spiritual condition connected to those events.

No section of the work is irrelevant or unnecessary, it can can be loud and dramatic with rousing sequences but also gentle, soothing. delicate and  sprightly. Beethoven certainly knew how to create drama, mystery and atmosphere.

Apart from the symphony’s well-known dynamic opening and other dramatic sequence the symphony also has superb moments provided by individual instruments  such as the clarinet and flutes in the opening minutes or the mass pizzicato of the strings.

Conductor  Bellincampi guided the orchestra  brilliantly showing his ability to reveal the drama, tension, and revolution within the work. He also highlighted the nuances of the work, emphasising the  contrasts and  moods of the piece.

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