An Afternoon of Song

Take a group of talented young singers, three of their tutors, a splendid Martinborough venue and a highly appreciative audience, and you have a recipe for a wonderful afternoon of music. Winifred and David Bull generously opened their home at The Cabbage Tree Vineyard recently for a concert featuring voice students from the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University. A similar and highly successful concert was held at The Cabbage Tree last year and this was again was a full house, with over 100 people coming from Wellington and Masterton as well as from the South Wairarapa.

Two hours of inspiring operatic singing included the three tutors as well as sixteen current students, accompanied by Mark Dorrell. The twenty-strong cast was completed by Christian Thurston, who has now graduated from the School but asked to be part of this concert.

Christian has been a Dame Malvina Major Scholar and Emerging Artist and has won a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He will study under James Morris, who tutor Richard Greager describes as “ one of the best tutors for his voice”. The audience was treated to two hours of opera classics as well as some lighter and less known pieces and a resounding ensemble finale that did its best to lift the roof.

It was a privilege to have contributions from world-class singers Richard Greager, Lisa Harper-Brown, and Margaret Medlyn as well as the fresh young talent of current students. Richard, Lisa and Margaret have all achieved successful singing careers and students benefit enormously from their stature and experience.

It was clear how much the group enjoyed themselves, describing the experience as “a class trip” and saying that it had been “a day out and a lot of fun”.
Introducing the afternoon’s programme, Margaret Medlyn explained how much students need opportunities like this to perform, particularly in a year when the School is putting on their own opera. The August 2015 Season of Opera production will be a double bill with Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas paired with L’enfant at les Sortileges by Ravel.

The $4000 raised from this concert will go toward the costs involved, which are always considerable. As Margaret said, “It is only gestures like this that make it possible to mount a full production to assist the development of students”.

A member of the audience reflected on the “cultural desert” that was Martinborough when he came here 18 years ago. That reputation has long since been swept away by the diversity of talent and expertise that we enjoy now in so many areas of life, art and culture, not least of which is the joy of music.

Rachel McCahon