New Zealand String Quartet

The New Zealand String Quartet was in Washington, DC in March for a ’sell-out’ concert in the legendary Library of Congress series. ‘Concerts from the Library of Congress’ is one of the world’s most historic and famous concert series. The invitation to perform there was a great “feather in their cap” according to Martha Woods of J Wentworth Associates, the Quartet’s North American agent. She describes it as “one of the most prestigious environments for any chamber ensemble on any continent”. The large audience gave the Quartet a standing ovation.

Dating from 1925, the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium and the concerts held there are under-pinned by the visionary arts patronage of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (1864-1953), one of the most notable patrons in the history of American music.  Designed according to her preference for “severe and chaste beauty”, the Coolidge Auditorium has become world-famous for its magnificent acoustics and for the calibre of the artists and ensembles that have played there.  Names like Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, the Juilliard String Quartet, Stephen Sondheim, Joshua Bell, Leontyne Price and the Beaux Arts Trio have over the years given the venue its world-wide reputation.

The New Zealand String Quartet’s concert began with Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Opus 44 No 2 and ended with Schubert’s String Quartet in G Major, D. 887.  However, the Quartet’s programme included not only traditional chamber repertoire but a New Zealand work. Richard Nunns, performer on Maori instruments, joined the ensemble for Gillian Whitehead’s quintet Hineputehue.

The title translates literally as “the woman of the sound of the gourd”, who is the Maori goddess of peace. The work was written in 2001, at the time of President Bush’s State of the Union address shortly before the invasion of Afghanistan, and Whitehead says the work “suggests the fragility rather than the celebration of peace”.  Martha Woods notes that the programme staff at the Library of Congress are keen to extend concert programmes beyond standard repertoire and were fascinated by Whitehead’s music.

While in Washington the Quartet and Nunns also offered a short private concert at the New Zealand Embassy which  included another quintet, Gareth Farr’s He Poroporoaki (A Farewell) specially composed for and premiered at the 2008 Gallipoli celebrations.  Other concerts by the Quartet and Nunns on this US tour were in Reading, Pennsylvania and Luther College, Decorah, Iowa.