News re Music Fellow Jonathan Berkahn

“When the Cross Creek Blues Club disbanded in 2018,” says bass guitarist Rod Lawrence, “we wanted the leftover funds to go to a good cause.

“The Music Fellowship with New Zealand Pacific Studio is a special opportunity for a musician, and we are pleased that Jonathan Berkahn’s music can be performed at Carterton Events Centre, which is a great facility.”

“Berkahn was selected as the 2020 Music Fellow for the breadth of his musicianship and his track record of community engagement,” says Jean McCombie, Chair, New Zealand Pacific Studio Artist Residency Programme.

“A registered charity, we are grateful to the Blues Club and Carterton Creative Communities which accepted our funding application. Over the past 20 years, we have enabled residencies for hundreds of musicians, writers and other artists. Each residency is different, as each individual artist is unique. It’s been an extraordinary journey.”

Previous awards went to musicians Aldo Pinelli of Argentina (2017) and Jona Byron of Australia (2015).

Jonathan calls himself a ‘musician-at-large’. A composer, performer, educator, accompanist, soloist, chamber musician, choral conductor, and ceilidh caller, he has been active in Celtic, Eastern European and Irish bands, and has degrees in composition and performance (organ, harpsichord, fortepiano), and a PhD in musicology. The opportunity provided him with time and space to create.

Jonathan recounts the residency: “I cycled around, looking for places and stories of interest, and wrote some songs about the things I came across: an op shop in Carterton; the 36 oak trees of the Maungaraki war memorial; Percy Fisher's 1912 monoplane; Stonehenge Aotearoa, and the incredible stars above us. Now a collection has been arranged for the Wairarapa Community Orchestra in honour of the beautiful place where I was privileged to spend those weeks as the Music Fellow -- the hills and farms, shops and frogs, and the people I encountered.”

The Orchestra will give the premiere of Jonathan’s Frog Farm Suite, inspired by his weeks at Frog Farm Cottage in Gladstone where he was hosted by NZ Pacific Studio members Belinda Carey and Ken Isaac in November 2020.

The ALLSORTS concert on 10 April will feature a colourful array of music: Berkahn’s Suite with a waltz and polka; cello and guitar works; and classics by Saint-Saëns, Dvorak, and Mussorgsky.

For information and tickets, visit Carterton Events Centre in person or online: www.cartertonec.nz/whats-on.

“Ticket sales will help offer this opportunity to musicians in the future,” says Rod Lawrence, “so we want a full house!”

DETAILS FOR 10 APRIL, 7pm

ALLSORTS Concert at Carterton Events Centre Taratahi Auditorium (seats 350), Holloway St, Carterton, Wairarapa, 379 4081

Tickets: Adults $20, Students $10, Children free. Tickets online or in person from Carterton Events Centre

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

NZ Pacific Studio Artists Residency Programme Music Fellowship
 

Wairarapa Community Orchestra

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