Programme

Moralità amorosa, Op. 3.02 (Amorous Morality) - Barbara Strozzi (1619-77)

Lungi di vago volto RV 680 - Antonio Vivaldi (1678 -1741)

A donna bella e crudele, Op. 3.04 (To a Woman Lovely and Cruel) - Barbara Strozzi (1619-77)

Formons les plus brillants concerts … Aux langeurs d’Apollon Daphné se refusa Platée - Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683 - 1764)

Musicians

Courtney Hickmott

Courtney completed her BMus(Hons) in Performance with Anna Leese and BA in German and Linguistics at the University of Otago in 2021. Pursuing a Masters in Conducting at the University of Canterbury, this new course of study utilises Courtney’s prior experience with and vast knowledge of the voice by focusing on choral direction and is also exploring the role of the director from a performer’s mindset.

Until now, Courtney has been first and foremost a singer - she quickly worked through grades before gaining her ABRSM Diploma in 2016 at just 16. Courtney has notably performed with New Zealand Opera and been a featured soloist with the Nelson Symphony Orchestra, Opera Otago, Octagon Ensemble, Christchurch Opera Club and City Choir Dunedin. Courtney currently directs the Christchurch Youth Choir, UC’s Consortia, and Schola Cantorum. She continues to take the Columba College Senior and Junior Madrigal Choirs by distance. Courtney is also in demand as a relief teacher at local schools and has begun being invited to adjudicate vocal competitions.

Previously, Courtney has been DoM at All Saints’, Dunedin, and Choir Director of the Southern Youth Choir and Selwyn College’s Competition Choirs. She has been a violinist for most of her life, completing her ABRSM Grade 8 in 2016, and has also dabbled in composition, being awarded a Lilburn Merit Prize and the Aotearoa Composer's Prize, as well as the J.M.W. Speirs Memorial Prize for Choral Conducting.

Mark Menzies

Mark Menzies has established an important, world-wide reputation as a violist and violinist, pianist and conductor. He has been described in the Los Angeles Times as an 'extraordinary musician' and a 'riveting violinist.' His career as a viola and violin virtuoso, chamber musician and pianist, conductor and advocate of contemporary music, has seen performances in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and across the United States, including a series of appearances at New York's Carnegie Hall.

In February of 2017, Menzies performed the debut of a remarkable series of solo recitals in Los Angeles. Called 4:7 (4-in-the-time-of-7) – four separate solo violin/viola programs in one week, the concerts received considerable critical praise with the “New Classic LA” blog writing ‘Menzies was in full command’. 4:7 has been since performed in Christchurch (2017), Sacramento (2019), Wellington (2020) and Auckland (2021).

Mark Menzies has a considerable reputation as a chamber music performer; currently he is violist and violinist in the Formalist Quartet whose discography includes a forthcoming release of the complete quartets by Christian Wolff. A significant number of Menzies’ (solo) recordings are premiere performances: Michael Finnissy’s …above earth’s shadow; Roger Reynolds’ Process and Passion and imagE viola; Barry Shrader’s Fallen Sparrow; James Newton’s In a moment…

Menzies’ compositions are increasingly played across the globe with recent premieres in The Netherlands, Italy, Los Angeles and Christchurch.

Viola, violin professor and coordinator of conducted ensembles at the California Institute of the Arts, from 1999-2016, where Mark Menzies curated a remarkable series of concerts at REDCAT at Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles, he moved to New Zealand in 2016 to take up a Professor of Music & Head of Performance position at the University of Canterbury.

Chris Everest

Chris began his classical guitar studies in 2016, receiving lessons from Dr. Jane Curry whilst majoring in Jazz Guitar at the New Zealand School of Music (NZSM). After switching to full-time classical guitar studies in 2018 he was fortunate to participate in masterclasses with several prominent international guitarists including Steve Cowan, Tariq Harb, Gian Marco Ciampa, Minh Le Hoang, and Matha Masters, and in 2019 was offered a position to study with Dr. Paul Cesarczyk at Mahidol College of Music, which was made possible thanks to the support of the Freemasons Lankuyzen/Whetu-Kairangi Trust and VicAbroad.

Since returning to NZ in 2020 Chris has become one of the country’s most active classical guitarists winning prizes at the 2020 and 2022 NZ International Classical Guitar Competition, premiering several new works including the 2019 and 2020 Matthew Marshall Composition Competition winning pieces for Classical Guitar, as well as performing throughout the country with ensembles such as the New Baroque Generation (Archlute and 19th Century Guitar), Kowhaiwhai Duo (Classical Guitar Duo). He has also performed extensively as a soloist, most recently touring ‘Fantasy Variations’, which was kindly sponsored by the Waikanae Music Society.

In 2022 Chris Graduated Victoria University with First-Class Honours and is currently auditioning to several international Master’s programmes.

Rakuto Kurano

Reviewed as a musician with “flair and panache” by the Christchurch Mail, Rakuto Kurano has established himself as a versatile Japanese/New Zealand performer & composer.

As a multi award-winning musical artist, Kurano has completed numerous concert tours around New Zealand, currently averaging 60 concerts each year. His extensive repertoire ranges from early music to music composed by living composers, but has particularly spent a lot of time studying Historically Informed Performance Practice (HIPP) of baroque music - having performed concertos and sonatas by over 40 unique baroque composers to date.

As a performer of contemporary music, Kurano was invited to perform in the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) & Asian Composers League (ACL) double festival in 2022 as a violinist, violist, and pianist, where he performed 10 works by composers from all around the world. He was invited to the CANZ (Composers Association of New Zealand) Nelson workshop as a violinist/violist in both 2019 & 2020 to workshop and perform new works written by living New Zealand composers. Kurano has personally commissioned works by five young New Zealand composers to date.

As a recording artist, he has recorded and released many of his own works, but also has experience playing in recordings for other artists, including UK singers Aled Jones and Russell Watson with the BMG label (UK).

Orchestral experiences include joining the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra at the age of 18, performing with NZ Opera, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, Hawke's Bay Orchestra, Secret Sinfonia, and many more.

He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 2021 with a Bachelor of Music with Honours, studying with Professor Mark Menzies.