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Warkworth Music will present Les Bons Vivants, showcasing three musicians from the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra this month.
They are violinist Amandine Guerin, flautist Anthony Ferner and harpist Helen Webby.
They will entertain on the theme “France meets musicians from the Antipodes”.
The trio say the inspiration for the programme came from an evening of eating “‘raclette”, a traditional melted cheese dish from France.
“We have chosen music that enhances our mood, aides our digestion, and takes our spirits on an imaginary journey that adds to the spice of life,” they say.
The programme will feature Saint-Saëns’ Fantaisie for Violin and Harp, taking the audience into the evocative world of French Romantic music, and Fauré’s Après un Rêve (after a dream).
Also featured will be works by New Zealand composers Lissa Meridan, Alex van den Broek and Jack Body.
Amandine Guerin studied music in France and graduated from the Conservatoire National de Région of Montpellier with prizes in performance, chamber music, sight-reading and solfège singing.
Besides her teaching activities, she was concertmaster of the Ensemble Instrumental Contrepoint.
From 1998 she lived in Tokyo, where she taught violin and coached young chamber ensembles at the international music school, Solfran.
Amandine moved to Dunedin in 2004, where she played first violin and is acting concertmaster of the Southern Sinfonia.
In 2009, she moved to Christchurch, and joined the first violin section of Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
Anthony Ferner is principal flute of the Christchurch Symphony and a frequent soloist with the orchestra. He is lecturer in flute at the University of Canterbury School of Music, coaches ensemble groups, and performs as a recitalist and freelance conductor.
Anthony is a graduate of the University of Canterbury. He studied flute, piano and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He taught and performed for two years in Milan, and in 1992 studied conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatory.
Helen Webby is principal harp with Christchurch Symphony and teaches harp at the University of Canterbury School of Music. She is well known throughout New Zealand as a solo, chamber and concerto soloist.
Born in Whangarei, Helen studied at the University of Auckland and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Netherlands.
During Christchurch’s quake year, Helen commissioned nine New Zealand composers to write short works for harp.
In 2012, she released her solo harp CD “Pluck”. The first anthology of New Zealand harp music.
The concert will be held at the Ascension Wine Estate at 4pm on Saturday August 26.
Info: warkworthmusic.org.nz
