Musical Miscellany

Left to right: Bethany Angus, Lucas Baker and Noelle Dannenbring

Bethany Angus, cello, Noelle Dannenbring, piano, and Lucas Baker, violin

The Greytown Music Group’s next concert will feature three young professional musicians, striving to perform  in the midst of the pandemic.

Bethany and Noelle have been playing together since 2017, when they were placed in a chamber music group at the University of Waikato.  They have been playing together intermittently since, including performing in Greytown as two thirds of the Tararua Trio in 2018, and winning first place in the Te Awamutu chamber music competition. They have recently taken part in “Classical on Cuba”, in Wellington  and are now looking forward to their return to Greytown.

Noelle is originally from Rotorua, and completed her Masters qualification at the University of Waikato. She won the university concerto competition playing Chopin’s Concerto in E minor, and has also performed Rachmaninoff’s second concerto in Hawkes Bay. She is now in her second year of doctoral studies at the New Zealand School of Music exploring collaborative piano. In her spare time Noelle enjoys cooking, patting cats, and ballet dancing.

They will be joined in Greytown by Lucas Baker, who performs with Noelle as Duo Korua. Lucas is in his Honours year at the New Zealand School of Music and has performed as concertmaster of the Wellington Youth and National Youth Orchestras.  Lucas is also a talented dancer, and performs and teaches professionally alongside his musical career.

  Bethany is a cellist and keyboardist from Wellington, and has taken part in Greytown concerts for several  years.  For the past 18 months she has been freelancing on cello. piano, harpsichord and organ with Orchestra Wellington and the NZSO as well as other groups. She has also been working as an administrator for Chamber Music NZ, the NZSO and Circa Theatre. She is looking forward to travelling overseas on 9 August to study for a Masters at the Royal Conservatoire of Den Haag.

They will perform a range of music including  Shostakovich’s tuneful and passionate  Cello Sonata, and Haydn’s “Gypsy” Trio – named due to its finale in Hungarian style.

Musical Miscellany: 4pm on Sunday 7 August at 57 Wood St, Greytown. Admission $30, children $10. Bookings Essential – contact Ed and Juliet Cooke on 06 304 9497 or efjacooke@gmail.com.