International Akaroa Music Festival - Woodwind Extravaganza

Luca Manghi, flute
John Robinson, clarinet
Barbara Stegemann, oboe
Ben Hoadley, bassoon
Milena Parobczy, violin
Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola
Alvin Wong, cello
James Bush, cello
Susie Xu, harpsichord

Woodwind instruments—the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon—are the stars of the show in this diverse concert featuring outstanding national and international talent. Historically favoured by kings across Europe, and today literally at the centre of the modern orchestra, these members of the woodwind family produce a dazzling palette of colours and are instruments both of stunning virtuosity and breathtaking emotion. In this concert, the programme covers almost 300 years of music, ranging from the genius of Bach in his dazzling Concerto in C Minor for Oboe and Violin, to the quintet for piano and winds by the French Romantic composer Théodore Dubois, and the ethereal imagery of ‘Mirrors’, the duet for flute and cello by contemporary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho.