CMNZ’s official comment on RNZ’s proposal for Concert FM
Whatever genre, music is universal human experience across all cultures. Within the art form of chamber music, CMNZ presents a wide diversity of genre including early music, historical performance, string quartets and wind ensembles to name but a few, jazz, cross genre and world music. RNZ Concert is woven into the very fabric of what Chamber Music New Zealand does. From the skilled technicians who record and broadcast our concerts live across the country to the articulate and passionate commentary provided by Concert’s presenters, they allow us to share and connect with communities across Aotearoa beyond the physical concert hall. If you love and support what we do, please join us in signing the online petition to keep RNZ Concert on FM and retain their presenters – so that listeners of all ages are given the opportunity to connect with the many forms of concert experiences offered by RNZ Concert.
CMNZ has shown their support for RNZ Concert by writing to the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and other relevant Ministers. We have encouraged our Facebook supporters to sign the above petition and we are responding to the announcement as part of a sector wide group.
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Adding a viola and double bass, NZTrio He Taonga Wairere will be creating a quintet in the upcoming tour of NZTrio+ to perform Schubert's ebullient and beloved Trout Quintet. We caught up with NZTrio cellist Matthias Balzat and asked him about touring, what he's most looking forward to in the upcoming NZTrio+ tour, and which artists he'd most like to work with.
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Ā mua is a groundbreaking new work commissioned by Chamber Music New Zealand for our 2026 season. Incorporating kupu (word), taonga puoro, and orchestral string instruments, it's an exploration of how the past, present and future intertwine and connect. "Ki te Whai Ao, ki Te Ao Marama. Light comes into the world. Matter spirals into being. The history of humanity rolls out—longer and more fascinating and complicated than we can imagine, and you have lived many lives through it, coming into and out of being," writes award-winning author Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā), who collaborated with composer and multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch to create Ā mua. We caught up with Tina and had a chat about writing, her creative process and the experience of working with musicians.
Artist Spotlight: Q&A with trumpeter and composer Cameron Pearce
Trumpeter and composer Cameron Pearce draws on colours from composers Aaron Copland, Steve Reich and Gabriel Fauré and trumpeters Kenny Wheeler and Ron Miles for his original works that he'll be touring with Symposium Brass as part of CMNZ's 2026 Season, Te Hiringa Oro - The Experience of sound.
Artist Spotlight: a Q&A with composer and multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch
For our 2026 season, Te Hiringa Oro – The Experience of Sound, we commissioned a work called Ā mua, combining kupu (spoken word), taonga puoro, cello and viola. A collaborative creative endeavour by award-winning author Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) and composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist Riki Gooch (Ngāti Wai, Patuharakeke, Ngaati Maahanga), it's a unique and intimate journey through time and space, blending Māori futurism and universal human stories in an intimate and evocative performance. We caught up with Riki and asked him a few questions about his creative process and the show.
50 Years of Avant-Garde Sound
For half a century, New Zealand’s legendary and most adventurous contemporary chamber music ensemble, From Scratch, have created performances where sound, image, and invention collide.
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In the middle of her daughter Emily’s performance in the Otago District Rounds of the Chamber Music Contest, Philippa Fotheringham’s Garmin watch told her that her heartrate was abnormally high.
