String Quartet Celebrates Haydn in '09 Series Tour

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New Zealand String Quartet Celebrates Haydn in 2009 Series Tour

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The New Zealand String Quartet celebrates the life and music of composer Joseph Haydn on its annual tour to six centres in August and September.

The concert series features two different programmes of discovery and celebration to mark the bicentennial of Haydn’s death and show the composer as a musical innovator.

Haydn and the String Quartet opens in Wellington on Tuesday 25 August with three concerts, followed by four concerts in Auckland, two concerts in Christchurch, Dunedin for the first time with one concert, Nelson for one concert and two concerts in Taradale, Hawke’s Bay.

“We’re looking forward to sharing fascinating insights into a much-loved composer whose affectionate popular title ‘Papa’ belies the ground-breaking role he played in the classical period,” says NZ String Quartet cellist Rolf Gjelsten.

The first programme of the quartet’s unique tribute to Haydn is an innovative journey through his long creative career, using excerpts from his many string quartets and readings to illuminate the story of his life.

Programme two features four of Haydn’s greatest string quartets from different periods of his life, showing the variety and expressive power he brought to the medium.

It is said that Haydn is the father of the string quartet and he composed the first string quartets in the late 1750s for Baron Fürnberg: this was music designed to be intimate and tailored to appeal to professionals, connoisseurs and amateurs alike. Haydn returned to the genre again and again, finding new ways to make four string instruments speak.

“The New Zealand String Quartet has more reason than most to celebrate Haydn this year,” says NZ String Quartet manager Elizabeth Kerr. “Without his invention of the string quartet, we might not exist at all.”

The NZ String Quartet is on tour with Haydn and the String Quartet in August and September. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.nzsq.co.nz

Haydn And The String Quartet: New Zealand String Quartet Concert Series 2009
WELLINGTON
Tuesday 25 August 7.30pm | Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University (Programme 1)
Thursday 27 August 7.30pm | Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University (Programme 2)
Saturday 29 August 6.00pm | St Mary of the Angels “Haydn by candlelight” (Programme 2)

Auckland
Thursday 3 September 7.00pm | All Saints Church, Howick (in Thursdays @ Seven series)
Friday 4 September 7.30pm | Hopetoun Alpha (Programme 1)
Sunday 6 September 3.00pm | St Matthews-in-the-City (Programme 2)
Sunday 6 September 7.30pm | The PumpHouse, Takapuna (Programme 2)

CHRISTCHURCH (In Christopher’s Classics series)
Tuesday 8 September 7.30pm | Great Hall, Christchurch Arts Centre (Programme 1)
Thursday 10 September 7.30pm | Great Hall, Christchurch Arts Centre (Programme 2)

Dunedin
Tuesday 15 September 7.30pm | Glenroy Auditorium

Nelson
Wednesday 16 September 7.30pm | Nelson School of Music

TARADALE, HAWKE’S BAY
Saturday 19 September 7.30pm | Tom McDonald Cellar, Church Road Winery (Programme 1)
Sunday 20 September 2.00pm | Tom McDonald Cellar, Church Road Winery (Programme 2)

PROGRAMME
Programme 1
This innovative programme is a unique tribute to Haydn the adventurer – a musical journey of discovery through his long creative life, illustrated by excerpts from his string quartets from Opus 1 to Opus 103 and readings illuminating his life and creative process.

Programme 2
Four of Haydn’s greatest and most beloved string quartets from different periods of his life:
Quartet in D Major Opus 64 No 5, “The Lark”
Quartet in G Minor Opus 74 No 3 “The Rider”
Quartet in F Minor Opus 20 No 5
Quartet in G Major Opus 77 No1 “Compliments”

ENDS

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