The candles are burning as brightly as the talent for the Southern Sinfonia's latest outing, writes Gillian Thomas.
The Southern Sinfonia's Triple Birthday Extravaganza concert at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday is both a commemoration of three revered and well-loved composers - Chopin, Schumann and Mahler - and a celebration of local talent.
Pianist Modi Deng, a 13-year-old Columba College pupil, will perform Chopin's Variations on 'La ci darem la mano'; New Zealand cellist Ashley Brown will play Schumann's Cello Concerto in A Minor; and the Southern Sinfonia will mark its Mahler début, performing Symphony No 4 with Dunedin soprano Emma Fraser.
The sinfonia's principal guest conductor, Werner Andreas Albert, will be back for this celebration of the birthdays of Chopin and Schumann (200 years ago) and Mahler (150).
One of Germany's leading conductors, Albert makes Brisbane his base for part of each year.
For Deng, this will be her first chance to perform with a professional orchestra.
She was born in China and came to Dunedin with her parents 10 years ago.
She has played the piano since she was 6 years old.
Albert heard her play and thought the concert would be a wonderful opportunity for Dunedin audiences to hear this talented pianist playing one of her favourite composers, Chopin.
"It will be a very special start to this very special concert," Albert said.
Dunedin cannot claim cellist Ashley Brown but the Southern Sinfonia can.
Now cellist with the NZ Trio and winner of prestigious national and international awards, Brown once sat at the front desk of the Southern Sinfonia.
"It was my first year out of school and I was keen to get far away from my home town, Auckland.
"I came to Otago to read law. I was living at UniCol and was in a varsity hockey team and the Easter tourney rowing crew.
"But music, and in particular cello, had always been a big part of my life, so I took some music papers and also got involved in the local orchestra. I was delighted to be sitting up front."
During that year, Brown went to the National Youth Orchestra week in Christchurch and attended a cello masterclass given by Dr Alexander Ivashkin, of Canterbury University.
"I was fascinated by his energy and the drama of the music-making and immediately resolved to audition for performance cello at Canterbury University.
Dr Ivashkin and his wife Natasha put me through the mill and after five years I had my master's in music, competition wins around the country and overseas, and a spot in Aldo Parisot's cello class at Yale University.
"Parisot taught me much about fire and passion. The other cellists I met there were really impressive and musically powerful and I learnt as much from hanging out with them as I did from Parisot himself.
From there, it was just a brief hop over to London to learn from William Pleeth, before returning to New Zealand to share what I had learned."
Brown plays a 1762 William Forster "Liberte" cello.
"It's just gorgeous. Michael Hill [jeweller] bought it in a terrible, worm-eaten state of repair a few years ago.
It was restored over a two-year process in Auckland.
"He let me play it for a while and then asked me to buy it.
"Well, there's absolutely no way I could afford it but, to my absolute delight, a very kind couple purchased it for me to use.
"It's just amazing to think what that cello may have been through over the centuries ... who might have played it ...what music it has known."
At the Triple Birthday Extravaganza Concert Brown will play Schumann's Cello Concerto in A Minor.
"It has all the passion of a deeply romantic cello concerto. The three movements run together without a break.
"It's not so much a flashy, overt piece, full of fireworks, like the classical concertos can be, although there are moments that seem like that.
"It's more considered, as if every note is a precious word whose meaning needs to be fully understood and appreciated for all its connotations."
