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The Spinoff
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Review: NZSO's Echoes of Home uses the Christchurch Town Hall to its full potential
A review of the NZSO's latest concert series, performed in Wellington and Christchurch and featuring soloist Amalia Hall. Like many orchestras, the NZSO likes to pair big name composers, like Dvořák and Bartók, with shorter pieces. The concert began with New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn's Aotearoa overture. The orchestra's new chief executive, Marc Feldman, who started a few weeks ago, introduced the performance – presumably so the many people who give money to keep the NZSO going will have a face to attach to the names in their emails. He said that he hadn't heard any pieces by Lilburn until the first performance of the concert in Wellington two days earlier. But the audience had – surely many of them, like me, had been assigned a Lilburn piece when learning music at some point in New Zealand – and it was lovely to start the concert from a point of familiarity. The overture is very midcentury magnificence (it was written for the centenary celebrations of the signing of te Tiriti), with the theme developing as it passes between the different sections, with some particularly lively cymbals. As the programme noted, Bartók's concerto was written in the 1930s, as Bartók considered rising Nazism in Europe, eventually leaving his homeland of Hungary and moving to the US. Perhaps that tension can be felt in the music: there's a tug between the strings and the brass instruments. The concerto as a whole made me think of the process of building a cathedral: the years it takes, the vision it requires, the role of each individual instrument as a solid foundation that allows the flourishes of the violin to spin so enthusiastically up and down. Amalia Hall is mainly known for her work with chamber music group NZ Trio. As a soloist with a full orchestra, she was dazzling; her hand dancing up and down the fingerboard. It was amazing how her single small violin could fill the space of the Christchurch Town Hall (I am in no way qualified to compare the acoustics of different venues but wow – the acoustics of the Town Hall are spectacular!). Even though the concerto is quite technical and serious, the kind of music making a capital-letters Statement, I felt like she embraced the music with a kind of warmth and playfulness too. This was especially obvious when she was playing very high and fast, yet maintaining a mellow tone, and in the slower sections of the concerto. For her encore, Hall played a short piece with the first desk of each of the other string instruments, which was even more twisting and playful, like jumping between river rocks. This nod to smaller ensemble playing was particularly fun, and showed the range she can play. I haven't listened to much Bartók before, and especially liked how much pizzicato the orchestra used. It's very fun to see double basses and cellos, with their longer and deeper strings, really going hard on the plucking. As well as the shifting tempo, the pizzicato gave the performance a layers of texture. After the interval, the orchestra played Dvořák's Symphony number 7. Although written about 50 years earlier than the Bartók, it also responds to European political unrest and the thrum of the Czech nationalist movement. While there were way more string players on the stage, the highlights really go to the wind and brass instruments: I liked the way the melody moved between the violas and the flutes. The trombones, despite having very little to do in one movement, joined the horns and trumpets for the grand final movement. The horn section was doing a lot, actually, with some very bouncy solos. The entire performance was held together by guest conductor Gábor Káli. A Hungarian who is an expert in Bartók, Káli wins lots of conducting points for being fun to watch. As someone who feels like I know very little about classical music, this was helpful – I could see from where he was pointing how the double basses or bassoons were responding to the music, which made it easier to understand. But it's also very enjoyable to see a conductor who should honestly have been logging the performance on Strava based on how much he was moving. Seeing a live orchestra with a conductor like Káli is a reminder that of course classical music isn't just the sort of sentimental string music that gets used in ads; it has something urgent to say, both when it was originally written and now. I'm not sure that the theme of 'echoes of home' really made sense to apply to the concert, even if one of the pieces was named after Aotearoa. Perhaps (definitely) I'm not that good at recognising Czech folk tunes being repurposed for classical music. But the challenge of music is that words don't always map neatly onto the ideas it holds. Instead, the orchestra is made up of moving parts, and not just the moving parts of a harp. In the big, complex sound of so many instruments working together, there's an invitation to be absorbed, and a ticket to look towards home, then go somewhere new.
NZ Herald
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
NZTrio's Magnifique concert captivates with Schubert and Vasks
Schubert's one-movement Notturno offered eight minutes of total beguilement, delivered with true Viennese charm, its gentle hesitations hinting at a Strauss family waiting in the wings. The truly magnificent and beating heart of the programme came with Episodi e canto perpetuo, a 1985 work by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, an intensely moving response to Messiaen's classic Quartet for the End of Time. There were close and specific parallels with the Messiaen, from a seat's edge, feverish dance in driving unisons to two oases of purest song, showcasing violinist Amalia Hall and the trio's new cellist Matthias Balzat. These culminated in a heart-stopping finale, uncredited in the printed programme, that moves irrevocably upwards, as if to heaven, Vasks having achieved his 'song of love' after travelling a 'difficult road through evil, delusion and suffering'. Here is a composer who navigates with enviable ease from traditional scoring – Bartok being inevitably referenced in two Burlesca movements – to the freer notations and effects of the later Lutoslawski. Yet he has been woefully under-represented in our concert halls. In my many decades of concert-going, I only recall one instance: cellist David Geringas in 2011 stunning a town hall audience after his Dvorak concerto with a short Vasks encore. After interval, Linda Dallimore's commissioned Self Portrait was short, agreeably astringent, and very much to the point, even if the young New Zealand composer had made more of its boppy final section, marked 'soulful, joyful, bluesy'. Saint-Saens' Second Piano Trio proved a workout of Olympian proportions for pianist Somi Kim. This is a sparkler of a score, with Hall and Balzat elegantly weaving around Kim's shifting, evanescent textures. All three musicians contributed equally to the brittle wit of its second movement, coming together in full strength for a thrilling, purposeful finale. How pleasing it is to heartily recommend this concert before the NZTrio take Magnifique to Cambridge on Wednesday, Rotorua on Thursday and Whakatāne on Friday.
Scoop
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
NZTRIO Welcomes New Permanent Cellist Matthias Balzat
Press Release – Elephant Publicity The renowned chamber ensemble NZTrio He Taonga Wairere are thrilled to announce the appointment of new permanent cellist, Matthias Balzat. Matthias, an award-winning performer, brings a wealth of local and international performing experience to the trio's next chapter. Matthias will take over from founding member Ashley Brown, and will join the extraordinarily talented Amalia Hall (violin) and Somi Kim (piano), who have been with NZTrio since 2019. He will join the trio on a guest basis this year before taking on the role permanently in February 2026. Matthias will have his first performances with the group during the Magnifique concerts in May, before joining NZTrio's Chamber Music New Zealand tour of Four Last Songs with acclaimed soprano Emma Pearson in October and NZTrio's Hypnotique tour in November. Somi and Amalia are thrilled with the appointment, and say 'Matthias' name was one of the first to spring to mind in our search for a new cellist, and we are excited to start this new chapter of NZTrio with him. We knew after just minutes of rehearsing with him that he was the one! Matti's energy and musicianship completely align with our core values at NZTrio, and we're going to have so much fun on and off stage together.' Matthias' musician journey began at the age of three, and has since taken him around the globe. Completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Waikato at just seventeen, he also holds a prestigious Konzertexamen and Master's degree from the Robert Schumann Hochschule under Pieter Wispelwey in Düsseldorf. A seasoned performer, Matthias has graced stages across Europe, United Kingdom, Australia and Aotearoa, as a soloist, chamber musician and with the Ares Trio. His appearances as a soloist include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Köln, St. Matthew's Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Robert Schumann Hochschule Orchestra and Opus Orchestra. He has also performed at major festivals such as Aspen Music Festival, Classiche Forme, and Edinburgh Fringe. Over the course of his career to date, Matthias has worked with many renowned musicians, including Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, and Wolfgang Schmidt, and has collaborated with notable conductors including Guy Noble, Benjamin Northey, and Rüdiger Bohn. He has won numerous prestigious competitions including the Accordi Musicali International Cello Competition, 69th ROSL Annual Music Competition, Sieghardt-Rometsch Concerto Competition, and the New Zealand National Concerto Competition, twice. Matthias performs with a Reiner Beilharz 2014 Cello, accompanied by a Klaus Grünke bow. Matthias says: 'I'm really excited to be joining NZTrio as their new cellist. After several years working as a freelance musician in Germany, the chance to return home to Aotearoa for a role like this feels incredibly special. NZTrio has long been a group I've admired—for their artistry, adventurous spirit, and deep connection to New Zealand's musical landscape. Stepping into this role is both a personal homecoming and a professional milestone. To take it on fully, I'll be unfortunately reducing the number of my commitments in Europe, yet driven to focusing my energy on this next chapter with the Trio.'
Scoop
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
NZTRIO Welcomes New Permanent Cellist Matthias Balzat
The renowned chamber ensemble NZTrio He Taonga Wairere are thrilled to announce the appointment of new permanent cellist, Matthias Balzat. Matthias, an award-winning performer, brings a wealth of local and international performing experience to the trio's next chapter. Matthias will take over from founding member Ashley Brown, and will join the extraordinarily talented Amalia Hall (violin) and Somi Kim (piano), who have been with NZTrio since 2019. He will join the trio on a guest basis this year before taking on the role permanently in February 2026. Matthias will have his first performances with the group during the Magnifique concerts in May, before joining NZTrio's Chamber Music New Zealand tour of Four Last Songs with acclaimed soprano Emma Pearson in October and NZTrio's Hypnotique tour in November. Somi and Amalia are thrilled with the appointment, and say 'Matthias' name was one of the first to spring to mind in our search for a new cellist, and we are excited to start this new chapter of NZTrio with him. We knew after just minutes of rehearsing with him that he was the one! Matti's energy and musicianship completely align with our core values at NZTrio, and we're going to have so much fun on and off stage together.' Advertisement - scroll to continue reading Matthias' musician journey began at the age of three, and has since taken him around the globe. Completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Waikato at just seventeen, he also holds a prestigious Konzertexamen and Master's degree from the Robert Schumann Hochschule under Pieter Wispelwey in Düsseldorf. A seasoned performer, Matthias has graced stages across Europe, United Kingdom, Australia and Aotearoa, as a soloist, chamber musician and with the Ares Trio. His appearances as a soloist include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Köln, St. Matthew's Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Robert Schumann Hochschule Orchestra and Opus Orchestra. He has also performed at major festivals such as Aspen Music Festival, Classiche Forme, and Edinburgh Fringe. Over the course of his career to date, Matthias has worked with many renowned musicians, including Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, and Wolfgang Schmidt, and has collaborated with notable conductors including Guy Noble, Benjamin Northey, and Rüdiger Bohn. He has won numerous prestigious competitions including the Accordi Musicali International Cello Competition, 69th ROSL Annual Music Competition, Sieghardt-Rometsch Concerto Competition, and the New Zealand National Concerto Competition, twice. Matthias performs with a Reiner Beilharz 2014 Cello, accompanied by a Klaus Grünke bow. Matthias says: 'I'm really excited to be joining NZTrio as their new cellist. After several years working as a freelance musician in Germany, the chance to return home to Aotearoa for a role like this feels incredibly special. NZTrio has long been a group I've admired—for their artistry, adventurous spirit, and deep connection to New Zealand's musical landscape. Stepping into this role is both a personal homecoming and a professional milestone. To take it on fully, I'll be unfortunately reducing the number of my commitments in Europe, yet driven to focusing my energy on this next chapter with the Trio.'
