PRESS RELEASE – New Zealand Music Month
New Zealand Composers Measure Up in Australia
New Zealand conductor, Hamish McKeich conducted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in a concert almost entirely of New
Zealand music in Melbourne last Saturday. Works by John Psathas, Dorothy Ker and Lyell Cresswell were presented,
together with a new work by Australian composer Adrian Mansukhani.
The Melbourne Age said that John Psathas’ Saxophone Concerto was given a “blistering performance” by soloists Lachlan
Davidson (saxophone) and David Jones (drumkit). They concluded that, “This brief exposure to New Zealand music at least
showed that our neighbour’s breadth of composition stands comparison with Australian composition and is just as
diverse.”
On June 2 Marc Taddei, also making his debut with the Melbourne Symphony, conducts a programme including what is
believed to be only the second professional performance in Australia of Douglas Lilburn’s Overture: Aotearoa.
ENDS