Wairarapa Community Orchestra will perform its spring concert at Rathkeale College and Kuranui College this month.
With the theme The Magic of Music: Great Moments from Screen and Stage, the orchestra’s musical director Ruth Eckford has chosen an eclectic mix of themes from film, TV and stage.
Reflecting the optimism of the spring season, the concert opens with the ever-cheerful March from A Little Suite, the theme for the television series Dr Finlay’s Casebook by Trevor Duncan.
The Suite from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides a New Zealand connection.
Written and scored by Howard Shore, the “music transports the listener into the magical world of the Shire and the dangerous and threatening world of the Trolls and Orcs”, Eckford said.
Pianist Peter Peng is the soloist in the main title from Forrest Gump, and Dawn, from the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice.
Peng is a final-year student at Rathkeale College and has played with the orchestra for the past three years.
Gregg McMillan-Perry will play the oboe solo in Ennio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission and will also conduct the concert band section of the orchestra in a medley from The Muppets.
In addition to work from established composers, the concerts will showcase work created by local students Thomas Farnham and Daisy Carter.
“We are very happy to again support Thomas and Daisy,” Eckford said. “We have workshopped their NCEA compositions and will be performing them.”
“It is not often musicians get the opportunity to work directly with composers as they write,” Eckford said.
Carter’s piece is inspired by Laurie and Jo’s meeting on the hill from the film Little Women.
“The music was intended to play underneath the scene, as part of the movie score, enhancing the storyline, as it has a good representation of the relationship between the two characters,” Carter said.
The final piece in the concert is “very exciting”, Eckford said, “but is it movie music or not? Come to the concert to discover the answer”.
The orchestra’s 40 members are from diverse backgrounds and ages and new members are “always welcome”.
To join the orchestra, email wairarapacommunity [email protected]. The Wairarapa Community Orchestra will play Friday October 27 at Rathkeale College, Masterton and Saturday, October 28 at Kuranui College, Greytown. Concerts start at 7pm. Tickets from www.wairarapaorchestra.nz, 10 O’clock Cookie Bakery Cafe, orchestra members, or on the door. Adults $15, students/children free.
