Greytown Music Group – Aroha Quartet with Diedre Irons

The Aroha Quartet will revisit Greytown for a concert on 30 June with guest pianist Diedre Irons, who is widely known as one of New Zealand’s best piano soloists and accompanists.

They will be performing an interesting and appealing programme of old and new music.

First up will be Mozart’s String Quartet “The Hunt”, a high-spirited joyful work, both rustic and sophisticated. Its popularity is reflected in its use in various films, as diverse as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Star Trek:Insurrection.”Unbound”, by Aucklander Brigid Bisley will complete the first half of the concert. The group describes the work as expressive, heartfelt, and enjoyable.

Diedre Irons joins the quartet for the Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor. The quintet began life as a string quintet, but a friend of Brahms thought that strings alone didn’t do justice to the work, so Brahms rewrote it for two pianos, and finally as a piano quintet, to give a real breadth and strength of sound. … Continue Reading

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

“I was absolutely delighted to be asked back” Matthias Balzat 

Martinborough Music Festival 27-29 September

www.martinboroughmusicfestival.co.nz

Audiences at last year’s Martinborough Music Festival (MMF) were entranced by the 19 year old cello prodigy, New Zealand born, Matthias Balzat. So constant was the praise for his playing and requests for his return, Artistic Director Vicki Jones invited Matthias to return as part of the line-up of stellar musicians for this year’s Festival. He needed no second bidding.

Matthias wrote “…it is always an honour to perform with [the] incredible musicians of New Zealand and honorary New Zealander, Chris Moore (Australian Violist) along with the ever rich programmes that we get to play – it also helps to have a wicked management team that knows what they are doing”. 

Since January, Matthias has been in Düsseldorf, Germany taking an extensive course to gain a “B2” language certificate. Being proficient in the German language is a prerequisite for studying at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik. Having completed this course, Matthias is now receiving tuition with renowned cello teacher, Professor Pieter Wispelwey. … Continue Reading

Letters 

Not good enough 

Why was the notification regarding the water pipe flushing so poorly managed by the personnel responsible?

The initial ‘boil water’ notification arrived to me via my Ipad and I was impressed that this happened.  Following this a vehicle drove the street in the early evening with lights flashing and something being said over a loud speaker.  Many people never heard exactly what was being said as it was so distorted and others never even heard more than a commotion as it was a time when televisions would be on in homes.  When I went down my driveway to find out what the hubbub was, I was grateful to find a notification in my letterbox clearly informing me to boil all water.  

Later I received a second notification (dated 30 April) informing me about the ‘pipe flushing’ that was to be carried out.  My home at 23A Dublin Street was to be flushed on Wednesday 8 May at a time that would be confirmed nearer that day.  The remainder of the information was reasonably clear with the exception of some streets not being named and the map being extremely small to decipher.  However, a magnifying glass assisted here. … Continue Reading

From the Mayor

With much relief, safe drinking water was restored to the Martinborough township late on Friday 17 May. Thank you once again to all those who were inconvenienced by the boil water notice; your support and co-operation throughout the period has been much-appreciated.

Council made the decision to temporarily chlorinate the water to give time for a permanent solution is found, which may end up being chlorination on a permanent basis. Taking this kind of multi-barrier approach to protecting drinking water was one of the recommendations of the Havelock North Inquiry. Council officials are working with Wellington Water to investigate all the options for Martinborough, taking into account the water’s high manganese levels and other features of the water supply arrangements.

Over winter it is possible to meet the town’s water demand from just one bore, the one with the lowest level of manganese, therefore avoiding the discolouration that can occur when chlorine and manganese react. Part of investigating all the options for the permanent water solution includes modelling future demand. For future chlorination, on a permanent or as required basis beyond the end of winter, it is likely that the manganese extraction plant will need to be in place. When we are ready with all the information and the options, there will be a discussion with the community to determine the best way forward. … Continue Reading