Globe Sunday Matinees - Young Performers Gala concert

Following the cancellation of some of the scheduled concerts in the 2021 Globe Sunday Matinee series the convenor, Guy Donaldson, is pleased to announce that, Covid willing, the series will resume on Sunday October 17 with a gala concert of music presented by the finalists in this year’s Musica Viva/ PN Rotary Club Young Performers Competition.

Musica Viva is a society which offers live performances of music, particularly of music of enduring quality, one Monday each month from March to December members at 7.30pm in the Evelyn Rawlins Room on the first floor of Square Edge. One of the aims of the Society is to nurture young performers in the Manawatu area through its Young Performers Scholarship which the Society has run with the support of the Palmerston North Rotary Club since 1993. The competition has helped launch the careers of numerous performers and teachers including soprano Anna Leese.

The 2021 competition was held on Saturday October 2 adjudicated by Wellington musician Julie Coulson and Palmerston North born cellist Robert Ibell. A general concensus of those at the competition is that the standard of the finalists was amongst the highest in any recent competitions. The result will be a programme with an accent both on variety and also on quality.

There are three scholarship categories represented in the competition and in the gala concert: Instrumental, Piano and Vocal. Each of the performers will present one or two pieces or songs from the programme which earned themselves a finalist placing. The three instrumental finalists will play violin and cello music including the famous “Swan” by Saint-Saens, and the Legende of Wieniawski. The singers’ contributions range from grand opera through English art song to music theatre. The three pianists will present music by Chopin, Liszt and Mendelssohn. At the end of the concert the final places will be announced to the performers and to the audience.

The attached image is of the three piano finalists who will be performing – Ben Kang, Isabel Lu, and Nathan Soong.

Globe Sunday Matinee concerts to follow this one will be a performance by the TACH Baroque Quartet on Sunday October 31, and on November 28 a duet concert of Dances and Diversions by pianists Christine Archer-Lockwood and Guy Donaldson.

Admission to the Globe concerts is by donation, recommended from $5.

Under Level 2 admission may be restricted so audience members are recommended to arrive early.