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Chamber Music NZ presents The John Psathas Group
Saturday, August 15 — Glenroy Auditorium
Brilliant live performance combined with multimedia content and powerful political/environmental messages to create a fully immersive show presented by The John Psathas Group.
The performance, a bold and unusual project for Chamber Music NZ, featured New Zealand composer John Psathas himself at the keyboard, along with a trio of superb international musicians.
Working in a variety of configurations, Psathas, pianists Dawn Hardwick (United Kingdom) and Stephen Gosling (United States), along with marimba players/percussionists Katarzyna Mycka and Fabian Ziegler created mesmerising soundscapes.
Images of nature, crowded modern cities, designs and political/environmental messages were projected behind the performers, as they moved through a widely varied selection of Psathas’ works.
The opening piece, the dance-like Trimetrical Hub, showcased the full group in superb style, while Relentless featured Mycka as solo drummer while a powerful message on women’s rights showed on screen.
Following the environmentally-focused Ichi-Go Ichi-E, and the gentle, contemplative Inna, the stunning Hijra showcased Arabic greeting and music to commemorate the Christchurch Mosque attacks.
Rounding out the first half, Predator combined driving, rhythmic music with mesmerising high-speed visuals of city-scapes contrasting with nature to highlight humanity’s voracious behaviour.
The second half opened with elegaic new work Ave Noir, followed by two movements of Infinite Mind featuring the recorded thoughts of 20th century philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky.
After an appealing excursion into young love with Atlanta, the concert returned to sobering reality at its conclusion.
The final piece, The Nature of Reality, combined rhythmic sounds with writings of 20th century thinkers on current existential issues, from the climate crisis to the doomsday clock.
The audience responded with thunderous applause, earning a brief encore, before heading out into the night with plenty to think about.
All in all, an intriguing and thought-provoking evening of modern chamber music.