Les Bons Vivants – Violin, Flute and Harp

Chamber music with joie de vivre is the theme of Les Bons Vivants, a group of musicians from the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra: Amandine Guerin, violin, Anthony Ferner, flute, and Helen Webby, harp. France and the Antipodes meet, musically, at 57 Wood Street in Greytown at 7.30pm on Saturday 19 August, before the group continues on its Chamber Music NZ tour.

The music to be performed is for varying combinations of the three instruments. Trios by Ibert and Leclair, and Duos for violin and harp by Saint-Saens and Faure, will be interspersed with a new commission for solo harp by New Zealander Lissa Meridan, another new commission for all three players by Alex van der Broek, a Suite for flute, violin and harp by Eugene Goosens, who lived most of his life in Australia, and Jack Body’s Rain Forest for flute, alto flute and harp.

Amandine Guerin studied music in France, graduating from the Conservatoire National de Region , Montpellier, with prizes in performance, chamber music, sight-reading and solfege. From 1998 she lived in Tokyo where she taught violin and ensemble playing at the International Music School. Since moving to NZ in 2004 she has played as first violin and acting concertmaster in the Southern Sinfonia, before moving to her current position as first violin in the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

Anthony Ferner is Principal Flute of the CSO, and a frequent soloist with the orchestra. He teaches flute at the Canterbury University School of Music, coaches ensemble groups, gives recitals, and teaches orchestral conducting. Winner of the NZ National Concerto Competition in 1972, he is a graduate of Canterbury University, and also studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He taught and performed for 2 years in Milan, studied conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatory, and spent 17 years in the Sydney Symphony and in opera and ballet orchestras. His recordings are frequently heard on RNZ Concert.

Helen Webby is Principal Harp with the Christchurch Symphony, and is well known throughout New Zealand as a recitalist: solo, chamber, and concerto soloist. She studied at Auckland University, and in the Netherlands and Hamburg. During Christchurch’s Quake year Helen commissioned nine NZ composers to write short works for harp, and in 2012 she released her solo harp CD Pluck, later made into a DVD and screened on Television New Zealand. She performed in Greytown 2 years ago, with Scottish guitarist Davy Stuart. Helen performs on a concert harp built of NZ red beech by her brother Kim Webby.

Bookings advisable – phone Ed and Juliet Cooke on 06 304 9497. Admission is $25, and $10 for students.