Sunday Concert Series - Liz Hirst & Stephen De Pledge

In its ongoing commitment to support and provide opportunities for live performance, Pah Homestead is proud to present the Sunday Concert Series 2022 – an eclectic array of musicians and musical genres showcasing local performers. Check out our website for this year’s programme https://www.wallaceartstrust.o...

Pianist Stephen De Pledge and flutist Liz Hirst present a modern programme of solos and duos for flute and piano, featuring works by NZ and Italian composers and the première of Night Thoughts (2004), by NZ composer David Hamilton. 

This concert has come about through friendship; between the performers, who met during participation in NZ National Secondary Schools and Youth Orchestras in the late 1980s; between Stephen De Pledge and numerous NZ composers; and between Liz Hirst and musician/ mentor David Hamilton, who is largely responsible for her interest in performing and promoting contemporary music.  

Hamilton's music has been published and recorded internationally. Whilst he currently devotes more time to composition, he is also involved with schools on a part-time basis as a composition tutor and choral conductor, adjudicates and presents worldwide in choral competitions and workshops.  

The focal work of the programme is the première of Hamilton’s Night Thoughts for flute and piano. David Hamilton writes:

“Over the years the flute has been an important instrument in my writing, having been used prominently in several choral works and other chamber scores…The whole work is intended to be an evocation of aspects of the night.”