NZTrio - 2011 Museum Series Finale - 6th Nov

“It is always a pleasure to relax and enjoy the sheer musicianship of this group. ” –

William Dart, New Zealand Herald review, August 2011

NZTrio return for the ultimate concert in their acclaimed 2011 season at Auckland Museum with some very special guests, Miranda Adams (violin) and Rob Ashworth (viola)of the Auckland Philamonic Orchestra. Having worked with Robert and Miranda many times before, in the recording studio and with the APO the trio are very excited to be performing a programme of quintets for what promises to be a triumphant and exciting end to their 2011 series.

Opening with one of Shostakovich's most celebrated works - the Quintet in G minor, Op. 57. Written in 1940 and first performed with Shostakovich himself on piano in 1941, it was one of the first winners of the State Stalin Prize (renamed the only slightly less onminous, USSR State Prize, in 1952) and seamlessly blurs the boundaries between Classical and Modernism.

We then take a leap forward to a stunning work by NZTrio's recording label mate and one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and successful contemporary composers, John Psathas. His Piano Quintet was originally commissioned by the 2000 International Festival of the Arts for Dan Poynton and the New Zealand String Quartet. It's subtlety and beauty hide the difficulty Psathas had when writing it “...one of the great ironies composers have always endured, that the labour, agony, and difficulty which are part of the process of writing music, should never be audible in the finished work.” he explained in an interview at the time.

The trio will close the 2011 Series and its celebration of Brahms’ luscious works for ensemble, with the composer’s Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 36. With the addition of Adams’ and Ashworth's virtuosity, the trio will inspire spine-tingling emotion performing one of Brahms' most adventurous compositions.

All three works are masterpieces in thier own right, so the combination promises to be a programme filled with drama, passion, and emotion all of which will make this a night to remember.

“One hopes that NZTrio's final appearance, on November 6, will be duly noted in music-lovers' diaries.”

William Dart, New Zealand Herald, Sept 2011