“Pierard’s sound is the purest tempered steel ...” The Independent (London)
Rising international star soprano Madeleine Pierard returns to New Zealand to perform 10 concerts as part of Chamber Music New Zealand’s 2012 ‘Kaleidoscopes’ season, with a concert in Auckland in August.
And joining Madeleine onstage for four of the concerts, including the Auckland performance on Thursday 23 August, will be her talented sister Anna Pierard.
Madeleine won the 2005 Lexus Song Quest before pursuing an MMus at London’s Benjamin Britten Opera School and she is currently a Jette Parker Young Artist with the Royal Opera in Covent Garden. Anna recently performed the role of Lola in New Zealand Opera’s Cavalleria Rusticana to critical acclaim.
New Zealand pianist Terence Dennis will accompany Madeleine and Anna.
The Auckland concert will feature selections from Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel, Berg’s lush Seven Early Songs, along with arias from Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, Bellini and Rossini. The concert also features a specially commissioned work from Ross Harris, Songs for Beatrice. Ross worked closely with poet Vincent O’Sullivan to create the work which honours New Zealand astronomer Beatrice Tinsley.
This is the seventh collaboration between the pair, and Vincent says choosing the subject or theme takes place over a “kind of ritual of coffee and Swedish buns, until we hit on something that strikes us both as an exciting possibility”.
Composer Ross Harris says Beatrice Tinsley was a pioneer who was famous in her field of scientific research, but she was little known in New Zealand. She was Professor of Astronomy at Yale University and was part of the team which discovered that the universe was infinitely expanding. Beatrice also played cello and loved Bach and this is reflected in one of the songs in the work ‘True Romance’.
Vincent says Ross and he took the chance to engage with her personality and interests. “I wrote a group of poems in various registers that I hoped Ross would find musically useful. The name Beatrice of course has marvellous resonances, while her dealing with galaxies as 'a job', and the tragedy of her early death, spurred us both. It was also a way to celebrate and honour who she was and what she did.”
Madeleine Pierard, Anna Pierard and Terence Dennis perform at Auckland Town Hall on Thursday 23 August at 8pm. Book tickets in person at Box, Aotea Centre or by phoning 0800 BUY TICKETS (289 842) or www.buytickets.co.nz For more information, visit www.chambermusic.co.nz.
Chamber Music New Zealand acknowledges major funding from Creative New Zealand.
Madeleine Pierard
and Terence Dennis with Anna Pierard
Auckland Town Hall
Thursday 23 August
0800 BUY TICKETS | 09 357 3355
www.buytickets.co.nz
