Latest news with #Ensemble
Travel Weekly
27-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Beth Butzlaff returns to Virtuoso
Beth Butzlaff will return to Virtuoso on June 16 to be the travel agency consortium's general manager for the U.S. Butzlaff was most recently Ensemble's senior vice president of partner relations. She also had been Global Travel Collection's vice president and partner liaison. Prior to that, she spent 14 years with Virtuoso, including as vice president of global partner relations. Her position at Virtuoso is a new one. "The U.S. is our largest and most complex market, and having the right leadership in place here is absolutely vital," Virtuoso COO Brad Bourland said. "Beth's appointment ensures that we are not only honoring the legacy of what has made Virtuoso exceptional, but that we are positioning ourselves to lead the future of luxury travel." Butzlaff will report to Virtuoso senior vice president of global operations Michael Londregan.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Sunday Concerts Presents Amici Ensemble As A Piano Quartet
Sunday Concerts presents the Amici Ensemble at 3 pm on Sunday 25 May 2025 at St Andrews on The Terrace, Wellington. The members of the Ensemble are Donald Armstrong, violin; Monique Lapins, viola; Robert Ibell, cello; and Jian Liu, piano. They are performing two of the mighty works of the chamber music repertoire. Brahms' Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, a work of profound emotional depth and musical richness, was written at time when his friend Robert Schumann was struggling with mental illness. Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor embodies the elegance of French Impressionism, his refined musical language and his poetic inspirations. The String Trio by Jean Françaix , a witty, graceful, intricate and utterly delightful work, has huge technical challenges for the musicians but lends an effortless air. As Françaix himself said, 'I am always told that my works are easy. Whoever says that has probably not played them.' Do not miss this wonderful concert by four of New Zealand's top musicians! For more information see or Eventfinda for bookings. Tickets are $40 or $10 for those under 26. School students are free if accompanying an adult. Background information Wellington Chamber Music was formed in 1945 and has been presenting Sunday Concerts since 1982. The concerts feature top NZ artists and most concerts are recorded by RNZ Concert for later broadcast – often heard in the 1-3 pm slot on RNZ Concert. Ticket prices are modest as the organisers are unpaid volunteers, though the artists receive professional fees. The Amici Ensemble was formed in 1988 and is led by NZSO Associate Concertmaster Donald Armstrong. The Ensemble membership varies each year to match the works being performed. Many of the artists are senior members of the NZ Symphony Orchestra and leading chamber musicians on the New Zealand music scene.
Travel Weekly
14-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Virtuoso names Una O'Leary VP of global partnerships
Virtuoso has named Una O'Leary vice president of global partnerships. O'Leary joined Virtuoso in 2021 as general manager of Canada. Prior to that, she worked for business consulting firm WNS, travel agency consortium Ensemble and travel management company CWT. Based in Toronto, O'Leary will continue to support the Canadian market until her previous position is filled. In her new role, she will report to Cory Hagopian, senior vice president of global partnerships. "Una's leadership in Canada has delivered measurable impact, and we're thrilled to bring that expertise to a broader scope as we continue to grow and deepen our partnerships across the globe," Hagopian said.
Sydney Morning Herald
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sex, lies and hitmen: What more could you want?
THEATRE THE LOVER & THE DUMB WAITER Ensemble Theatre, May 7. U ntil June 7 Reviewed by JOHN SHAND ★★★★ You know when you walk in on an existing conversation, and automatically try to connect threads of what's being said? These two one-act plays by Harold Pinter are similar to that. No playwright was more influenced by Samuel Beckett, yet where Beckett gave us glimpses of universality, Pinter honed in on specifics, like looking at life through a keyhole. Those specifics are then shrouded in enigmas for the audience to decipher. Directed by Mark Kilmurry with a fine ear and eye, The Lover (1962) and The Dumb Waiter (1957) are ideally mated both in terms of those enigmas, and also pragmatically, needing just three actors between them. That The Lover, originally penned for television, is marginally the lesser piece is down to the other's complete enthrallment. The Lover concerns a married couple, Sarah (Nicole da Silva) and Richard (Gareth Davies), who matter-of-factly discuss her afternoon liaisons with her lover, Max, and his dalliances with a sex worker. Except Max is really Richard, and the sex worker is really Sarah: they playact for sexual titillation, which puts them on shaky ground. What if one of them breaks the game's unspoken rules? Written by anyone else, it would be a straightforward comedy satirising the bored bourgeoisie, but Pinter deepens the shadows of each word. Da Silva and especially Davies skilfully play the piece ever so lightly, while implying this element of danger, whereby the game-playing could spiral towards a point of no return. It's akin to watching two domesticated cats who could turn feral. But for combining tension with comedy, The Dumb Waiter, with its overt debt to Waiting for Godot, is supreme, and in just a few minutes during the interval, Simone Romaniuk's ingenious set is transformed from 60s swinging suburbia to the desolation and mould of a twin-bed basement which also has a dumb waiter – a miniature lift for delivering meals via a hatch in the wall. Ben (Gareth Davies, playing his third role, effectively) and Gus (Anthony Taufa) are hitmen, holed up in the room waiting for instructions on their next target. Despite Ben just lying on a bed reading a newspaper ('87-year-old man crawls under stationary lorry and is run over'; 'eight-year-old girl kills cat') and Gus being busy finding squashed matches and cigarettes in his shoes, Ben is swiftly established as the boss; Gus the underling. Davies, half the size of Taufa, is exceptional at conveying a menace and snappish temper from which Gus shrinks. Similarly, Taufa catches Gus' odd quality of being a bit thick, and yet having enough warmth and emotional and moral intelligence to be afflicted with a conscience.
The Age
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Sex, lies and hitmen: What more could you want?
THEATRE THE LOVER & THE DUMB WAITER Ensemble Theatre, May 7. U ntil June 7 Reviewed by JOHN SHAND ★★★★ You know when you walk in on an existing conversation, and automatically try to connect threads of what's being said? These two one-act plays by Harold Pinter are similar to that. No playwright was more influenced by Samuel Beckett, yet where Beckett gave us glimpses of universality, Pinter honed in on specifics, like looking at life through a keyhole. Those specifics are then shrouded in enigmas for the audience to decipher. Directed by Mark Kilmurry with a fine ear and eye, The Lover (1962) and The Dumb Waiter (1957) are ideally mated both in terms of those enigmas, and also pragmatically, needing just three actors between them. That The Lover, originally penned for television, is marginally the lesser piece is down to the other's complete enthrallment. The Lover concerns a married couple, Sarah (Nicole da Silva) and Richard (Gareth Davies), who matter-of-factly discuss her afternoon liaisons with her lover, Max, and his dalliances with a sex worker. Except Max is really Richard, and the sex worker is really Sarah: they playact for sexual titillation, which puts them on shaky ground. What if one of them breaks the game's unspoken rules? Written by anyone else, it would be a straightforward comedy satirising the bored bourgeoisie, but Pinter deepens the shadows of each word. Da Silva and especially Davies skilfully play the piece ever so lightly, while implying this element of danger, whereby the game-playing could spiral towards a point of no return. It's akin to watching two domesticated cats who could turn feral. But for combining tension with comedy, The Dumb Waiter, with its overt debt to Waiting for Godot, is supreme, and in just a few minutes during the interval, Simone Romaniuk's ingenious set is transformed from 60s swinging suburbia to the desolation and mould of a twin-bed basement which also has a dumb waiter – a miniature lift for delivering meals via a hatch in the wall. Ben (Gareth Davies, playing his third role, effectively) and Gus (Anthony Taufa) are hitmen, holed up in the room waiting for instructions on their next target. Despite Ben just lying on a bed reading a newspaper ('87-year-old man crawls under stationary lorry and is run over'; 'eight-year-old girl kills cat') and Gus being busy finding squashed matches and cigarettes in his shoes, Ben is swiftly established as the boss; Gus the underling. Davies, half the size of Taufa, is exceptional at conveying a menace and snappish temper from which Gus shrinks. Similarly, Taufa catches Gus' odd quality of being a bit thick, and yet having enough warmth and emotional and moral intelligence to be afflicted with a conscience.
