The summer holidays in Nelson this year are drawing a crowd that's not just there for the sun, wine, classy dining and
arty shopping - music lovers will be flooding in for the marvellous Adam Chamber Music Festival.
Bookings have come from as far away as Australia and the USA for the 16 day festival, which starts on 26 January - and
one couple from the North Island has booked for all of the nineteen concerts including two in Motueka and one in Takaka
and Blenheim.
Now in its ninth season, festival manager Ro Cambridge says the biennial festival this year features three string
quartets and a line up of Œeye-popping' talent from overseas.
"We are bringing back the wonderful viola player Nobuko Imai who was here in 05 and a new star for us, clarinet player
James Campbell, a classical musician who's also a jazz player," she said. "There are also some other treats that are not
strictly Œchamber' music such as Deborah Wai Kapohe singing her own compositions for voice and guitar, a bit of fun with
the Musical Island Boys - the Wellington group that won the collegiate section of the International Barbershop
Convention this year in the US, and Saxcess, another Wellington quartet that plays jazz, classical and edgy contemporary
music."
Ms Cambridge said organisation of a festival on this scale started over a year out, with a focus on selecting the right
music to show off the performers at their best, matching the programme with the venues and dealing with masses of minor
details.
"We are relieved that airline security measures have been relaxed so Frans Helmerson from the Michelangelo Quartet, will
have no trouble bringing his cello from Sweden - it has to have a seat all to itself and this was looking difficult
after the Heathrow bomb scare in August."
The festival's accessible style makes it a great way to discover both the classic and the contemporary on the chamber
music spectrum. The programme is available now and can be viewed online at www.music.org.nz with details of the 19
concerts and 4 master classes, mainly at the Nelson School of Music and the Cathedral, but also in other venues around
the Nelson- Marlborough region from January 26th - February 10th.
ENDS