Tag Archives: arts

UC events in Christchurch Arts Festival

August 17, 2017 Grant

The Christchurch Arts Festival is just around the corner, featuring over 50 events from 30 August – 17 September.

This year sees the biggest international line-up ever, with artists coming from places as diverse as China, Mexico, Denmark, the UK, South Korea, Sweden, Germany, Australia and our own home-grown talent.

Go wild with a varied programme of dance, music, spoken word, visual art, theatre and comedy – find it all at Arts Festival!

The UC School of Music has two events as part of the Arts Festival:

Oresteia Experience on Sunday 10 September – A specially curated tour of UC’s Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities and the Logie Collection sets the scene for the New Zealand premiere of Iannis Xenakis’ operatic take on Aeschylus’ Oresteia at the Great Hall, The Arts Centre.
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Virtuosity Series – a series of three concerts at the School of Music Recital Room, The Arts Centre:
Virtuosity of Sound – Thursday 31 August
Virtuosity of Percussion – Monday 4 September
Viola/Violin Virtuoso – Sunday 17 September.
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The Arts Festival also pays homage UC legend Ernest Rutherford in Ernest Rutherford: Everyone Can Science! at the Great Hall, (The Arts Centre) 14 – 16 September, in which Ernest (played by Nic Sampson) gives his first lecture in over 70 years.

Events

Christchurch Arts Festival: Virtuosity Series

August 10, 2017 Grant

UC School of Music is very proud to present the Virtuosity Series to be performed at the Arts Centre during the Christchurch Arts Festival of 2017 in August and September this year. The Virtuosity Series is a three-part series that features different disciplines. Professor Mark Menzies, Head of Performance, School of Music talks about how the programme features the idea that “sound itself has its own kind of incandescent virtuosity”.

Virtuosity of Sound is the first installment of the series and as Mark describes, there is a certain openness in the music and it has been composed in such a way that allows the performer to explore in the moment the sound created by the virtuosity on display. The audience will be treated to the ultimate capacity of the instruments themselves, and also in the diverse collective of instruments involve, for example, the Balinese Gamelan features as an exotic instrument.

One of the pieces featured is ‘Concerto for Active Frogs’ by Anne LeBaron. Mark is “particularly delighted to include this piece which features improvisation with the musicians being free to contribute their own voice and sounds”.

Virtuosity of Percussion is the second installment of the Series and features Senior Music Lecturer Dr. Justin DeHart on percussion. He has selected a piece called ‘Anvil Chorus’ by American composer David Lang. Justin explains that Lang was inspired by Blacksmiths’ use of rhythm to distinguish their beating patterns on metal to create new tools, while Justin himself is inspired by the constant construction noise as he settles as a new resident in Christchurch. He says, “the natural occurrence of hammering polyrhythms sang out from a construction site, reminds me how basic and productive rhythm can be”.

Justin says that each of the four movements of the piece explore a different single sound source (conga, cymbal, glockenspiel, and tambourine) that is manipulated through live electronic processing. He has chosen “works for this concert that highlight the diverse aspect of percussion” and in his performance he hopes that in a small way his “hitting of stuff” will also add to the exciting and creative rebuild of Christchurch.

The final of the three arts festival concerts, the Virtuosity of the Viola/Violin, is the first of four concerts Mark will be presenting this year at the School of Music. The series is called ‘4 in the time of 7’, and will feature Mark’s virtuosic playing described by a reviewer in Los Angeles as “a penned-up Paganini”.

While the Virtuosity of Percussion and the Virtuosity of Viola/Violin are presentations of more traditional repertoire, they will feature works that people are not likely to have heard before.

WHEN:
Thursday 31 August, 7.00-9.00pm
Monday 4 September, 7.00-9.00pm
Sunday, 17 September 5.00-7.00pm

VENUE:
School of Music Recital Room, UC Arts,
The Arts Centre of Christchurch, 3 Hereford Street

TICKETS: $20 / Concession $10

BUY TICKETS: www.artsfestival.co.nz/virtuosity-series

Events

Arts Festival: The Oresteia Experience

July 28, 2017 Grant

The Christchurch Arts Festival 2017 (CAF17) is on during August and September. CAF17 boasts over 50 shows, and we’re very excited that UC’s very own School of Music, Department of Classics and Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities are collaborating to present the Oresteia Experience. Head of Classics Dr. Patrick O’Sullivan says that the New Zealand premiere of Iannis Xenakis’ operatic take on Aeschylus’ Oresteia “is a collaboration that only the Classics and Music Departments could produce”.

The two-hour duration of the show features a talk on the dramatic aspects of the composition and performance itself by both Professor Mark Menzies, Head of Performance, School of Music, and Dr. Patrick O’Sullivan, Head of Classics. Following this, a tour of the University’s Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities will set the scene for the performance in the Great Hall.

Dr. O’Sullivan has rich experience in researching ancient Greek theatre and is very keen to see how the Oresteia Experience is recast in Xenakis’ vision and under the direction of the School of Music’s Head of Performance and performed to a modern audience. He notes that the links between Greek myth and opera go back for centuries, so this new production of Xenakis’ challenging work will be not only innovative but also extending a long and creative tradition of music performance inspired by the classical world.

One of the co-curators of the Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities, Terri Elder is delighted to support the production of the UC School of Music Oresteia Experience for the Christchurch Arts Festival. She says this event “draws on the strengths and connections between Music and Classics to create a truly unique experience that should be both challenging and entrancing” as the performance explores “themes of belief, loyalty, family, justice and revenge”. She says that the Oresteia Experience is an opportunity for modern viewers to engage with Ancient discourse and understand the cultural context of the artefacts which gave rise to the mythology behind the performance.

Professor Menzies speaks of the horror, suspense and the very basic human emotions that underlie the experience of what the complicated story of the Oresteia is about. Mark describes the performance as “incredibly potent on an emotional level” and introducing the experience beforehand will “give an appropriate outline to the story” allowing the audience to fully engage with the performance. “Xenakis took this iconic work of literature and tore it apart, leaving chorus in reimagined ancient Greece, in the most visceral exciting emotion vehicle possible”.

Please note this performance includes violent imagery and music played at very high volumes which may not be suitable for some audience members. Discretion is advised.

WHEN: Sunday 10 September 2017, 6.30pm-8.30pm

VENUE: Great Hall The Arts Centre

TICKETS: $39 / Concession $36 / Student Rush $20

BUY TICKETS: http://www.artsfestival.co.nz/oresteia-experience

Events, UC News

PhiloLogie Society Event

July 6, 2017 Grant

Mikaela O’Neill from UC Arts writes:

On Monday evening the PhiloLogie Society got together for the first time in the newly renovated UC Arts Centre location. They enjoyed a private viewing in the Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities and listened to Head of Classics Patrick O’Sullivan speak on a few stand out pieces.

This was also a special occasion as the James Logie Memorial Collection celebrated its 60^th anniversary since being founded. It was an enjoyable occasion for all and was special to get together to appreciate the artefacts on display.

Community Notices, Events, Student stories

Emerging Canterbury artists exhibition

May 30, 2017 Grant

Each year Murray & Co in Christchurch puts on an annual exhibition of emerging artists from the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts.

This year the exhibition is being held at The Piano, the beautiful new centre for music and the arts in the centre of town. A private opening function will be held on the evening of 13 June, and then the public is welcome to view the works every lunchtime (12 noon-2pm) from 14 to 28 June at no charge.

All works are for sale, with the proceeds going directly to the artists. This is a great opportunity to view some stunning pieces while exploring hidden parts of this architectural gem, The Piano.

Charlotte Jackson – “This selection of works is from my 'Instant Food Series' 2016. The body of work consists of 12 paintings in total, and was created for my third year painting project. The series focuses on the depiction of various instant foods you can find on a day-to-day basis. The original inspiration for this series was to generate a body of work that reflected the historical antecedents of Still Life, but could also fit into a Contemporary context. As the series evolved, I decided to explore the realms of scale, and how size affected compositional elements within the work.” — Charlotte Jackson – “This selection of works is from my ‘Instant Food Series’ 2016. The body of work consists of 12 paintings in total, and was created for my third year painting project. The series focuses on the depiction of various instant foods you can find on a day-to-day basis. The original inspiration for this series was to generate a body of work that reflected the historical antecedents of Still Life, but could also fit into a Contemporary context. As the series evolved, I decided to explore the realms of scale, and how size affected compositional elements within the work.”

Maia Abraham – “Ko Maia Abraham ahau, no te mana whenua o Tauranga Moana me nga tupuna hoki o tera rohe ki Katikati. I now live in Otautahi Christchurch while I study. Throughout my practice as an artist I am dealing with my identity and my context as a person within the society of Aotearoa. I draw and celebrate aspects of my culture such as performance art, objects, adornment and cultural practices through the presentation of my art. Reflecting on and understanding traditional practices are very important to me but it’s also important for me to allow my culture." — Maia Abraham – “Ko Maia Abraham ahau, no te mana whenua o Tauranga Moana me nga tupuna hoki o tera rohe ki Katikati. I now live in Otautahi Christchurch while I study. Throughout my practice as an artist I am dealing with my identity and my context as a person within the society of Aotearoa. I draw and celebrate aspects of my culture such as performance art, objects, adornment and cultural practices through the presentation of my art. Reflecting on and understanding traditional practices are very important to me but it’s also important for me to allow my culture.”

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