About
BAROQUE
About
BAROQUE MUSIC
About
BAROQUE
From
MEDIA
From
MEDIA
Support the
TRUST
Baroque Music Community and Educational
Trust of New Zealand
The Baroque Music Community and Educational Trust of New Zealand began with Tomas Hurnik, a cellist that had moved from the Czech Republic to live in Christchurch New Zealand. His passion was Baroque music, but there was no existing Baroque Music scene on the South Island. Thus he began bringing musicians from Europe and other areas of New Zealand together to perform and tour New Zealand under the name Beautiful World of Baroque Music. His intention was always to offer the highest quality of Baroque music and educate amateurs and professionals alike in the art and beauty of authentic Baroque interpretation. This mission has now expanded to not only Baroque music, but music of all classical music using historically informed interpretation; essentially performing music in such a way so that it captures the style of the time period and sounds as it would have in the time it was composed.
Beyond periodic concerts, the trust also cooperates with other charities such as Champion Centre, supports emerging artists by mentoring them and giving them opportunities to perform alongside professional musicians, has commissioned musical compositions in Baroque style and supported a concert tour showcasing the work and just recently, organized the purchase of Baroque instruments to sustain a small orchestra.
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Baroque and all classical music in historically informed authentic interpretation is unique not only for it's beauty, but for it's ability to sooth the human nervous system. This is because the tuning used is slightly lower then modern instruments, which puts less stress on the instruments, and thus less tension is transferred in the vibrations of the sound.
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In collaboration with the Champion Centre and Julie Wylie Musical Play, the Baroque trust puts on regular concerts for young children aimed at ages from 0-7 years old.
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"When invited to see Tomas play a Cello concert at The Champion Centre with my Son, born premature at 25 weeks, I was eager to see my sons reaction. He did not lose focus of Tomas the entire show and even decided to dance for the very first time. As many mums can relate, these moments are the most memorable."
- Nikita Thompson Bach Children's Concert
We support emerging young artists in cooperation with the University of Canterbury, giving young musicians a chance to perform for audiences alongside professional musicians.
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We organize workshops and masterclasses featuring world renowned masters in the Baroque music field and often in cooperation with other organizations such as University of Canterbury and Chamber Music New Zealand. These workshops are offered to students, professionals and amateurs alike. Workshops are free and open to the public.
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We bring high quality and entertaining music to communities large and small including Christchurch, Timaru, Invercargill, Wanaka, Oamaru, Greymouth, Dunedin, Nelson and less frequently, Wellington, Auckland and Napier, so everyone has a chance to experience Baroque music in authentic style on period instruments
"I loved the concert on Tuesday here in Timaru and so did my friends. I felt I was at Versailles in France!
The addition of Mareike was a bonus, we enjoyed her dancing and also her commentary and explanation of the history of dance at that time, and its setting in the Baroque period.
I loved her costumes too.
Thank everyone involved for coming to little Timaru, we are appreciative of the group including Timaru in their itinerary.
Please pass on our thanks and appreciation – it was a wonderful performance." - concert goer in Timaru 2018
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Concerts (after) are also an opportunity for the public to interact with the musicians and ask questions about the music, the performance and the instruments. We give discounts to children, seniors and students to make the concerts accessible to everyone.
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"Very precise moves, slow and sensuous or cautiously frivolous, but proudly elegant at all times."
- Otago Daily Times
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"Jonathan Le Cocq, a master of the Baroque guitar and Theorbo, gave a masterful performance throughout and delighted the audience with his rendition of Canario by de Murcia which would have inspired even the most professional guitarist.
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Douglas Mews is a world class exponent of the harpsichord which he showed to full capacity throughout. His performance of Handel’s Suite No.2 was spellbinding."
- Nelson Mail
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In 2020 the trust commissioned a Concerto Grosso from talented New Zealand emerging artist, Rakuto Kurano from the University of Canterbury Christchurch NZ. This project was combined with a workshop educating students from all over New Zealand in historically informed interpretation and performance of Baroque music. The workshop culminated in taking the students on tour in 2021 across the South Island performing not only Rakuto's work but other Baroque works directly from that time. The work Rakuto produced with the performance of his peers took the breath away from audience members. The feedback below from students and audience members captures just how profound this experience was for those involved.
Here is the finale movement from the Concerto Grosso by Rakuto Korano. Also particularly beautiful is the contrasting Grave movement below:
Good Evening Tomas,
I am Sara and my mum forwarded me your email as she was in the email list initially. Thank you for the amazing experience of rehearsing and playing with a small baroque ensemble. It definitely is and will remain one of my best highlights of 2021. Below are my answers to your questions from your previous email. 1. My teacher, Jonathan recommended this workshop and I gladly accepted. 2. It was a very unique opportunity. I learned a lot from the tutors as well as other participants of the group. It was very different to playing in an orchestra because there were less players and every voice or part was equally important. In a way it was also different to a school ensemble as most people were more advanced and have more experience than my high school peers. 5. No, everything went smoothly and very similarly to what I expected. 6. Yes, one of the best things you can do as a student; play with others meanwhile having fun and also learn at the same time. So enjoyable. Thanks again and hope I'll have a chance to play with the group again.
Kind regards,
Sara
"It was a fascinating opportunity connecting with other great musicians and performing many concerts for this Baroque tour around New Zealand. There are so many intriguing sceneries and sparkling moments that I would never forget during this tour. I have always been having a great interest in different performance method on Baroque instruments and Baroque music. When this opportunity comes up online, I decided to audition for it. The workshop was spectacular as it helped me grow my technique and Baroque performance style a lot! In an orchestra setting or school ensemble group, it is hard to get detailed individual tuition in terms of the tone colour, the performance style, and the correct bow strokes for different music genres. It is hard for teachers to give feedback individually as there are many people in an orchestra or a school ensemble group. However, everyone got a chance to share thoughts with and receive feedback from Tomas and Mark. I did feel I get to enjoy more and more as the tour went further. The memory of performing the first concert is still fresh in my mind because I remembered I was shaking and nervous throughout the concert. I was so afraid of making mistakes on the stage so that I would ruin it. Fortunately, it did not happen as everyone was very supportive. Mark and Tomas always encouraged us to enjoy the music on stage and not think about the mistakes we made during performances. As the concert tour came to the last stop in Wellington, I found out that I started to swing with the music, and I could present the baroque style more accurately. I had a great time travelling to different tourist spots with the group! Honestly, I have no requirement for accommodation. My goal was to learn something but not a holiday. I would love to share this wonderful experience with other potential student musicians because, in my opinion, everyone deserves to experience how a professional musician life is. Not only could it inform their knowledge of the Baroque music genre, but also it could provide them with a general idea of a travelling musician's life. I truly appreciate this opportunity, and I hope to have the chance to collaborate with you all again!" Leo Liu
"What a wonderful concert last night! I saw a friend there who is not a classical concert-goer at all, but was accompanying his father-in-law who said to me "The music just draws you in, this won't be my last concert". Rakuto Kurano's work was jaw-dropping in it's maturity, the Fugue being the absolute highlight for me. I can't wait for the next concert " Christine
"What a fabulous concert last night! I really enjoyed it, and the audience was really buzzing as they walked to their cars.
Your musicians were so professional and Rakuto Kurano was a star throughout the performance - his composition was a real hit and could have been written in the 1600’s!"
Kate Lovell
President
Wanaka Concert Society
"Last night here in Oamaru we had an energising brilliant concert from New Baroque- but what was truly notable is Rakuto Kurano's Concerto- as new NZ compositions go this ranks at least with
our musical greats- and for my money I have not ever enjoyed a new piece of work more-nor been unable to fault it for its compositional elements of technicality more than matched
by its rich beauty of genre: truly a 21st C work that shows the best of 17th endures, and maybe could even outshine!
All music lovers of all genres should not miss your remaining performances this next week in Timaru today/ then on through to West Coast, Nelson Welllington: we only had 50ish but it was an
engaged audience that spontaneously gave a standing ovation to Rakuto- as also the whole ensemble. A night to be remembered- and Mark assured me they will continue to return to Oamaru.
What great music does is unmatched therapy- New Baroque deserves all our accolades and patronage!"
Bruce
The most recent project with the Trust has been to build a collection of period instruments for students. We sought to raise $40,000 to achieve this goal.
We have cooperated with the University of Canterbury for five years, educating, training and providing performance opportunities for young talented NZ musicians. To deepen this educational experience the availability of period instruments will allow the students to rehearse and perform on the period instruments so that they can more authentically explore the roots of western music. Period instruments are a very important tool for learning and understanding structure and the sound architecture of music.
The fundraising for this was accomplished with a concert tour with an appeal to our audiences, subscribers and supporters to donate to the project. By June 2023 we received enough funds to successfully purchase 7 violin, 3 violas, 2 cellos and 1 double bass including bows and cases. We will begin with our first workshop in 2024. We want to thank everyone that made this happen, this is an important step forward in the future of historically informed interpretation in New Zealand.
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To make these projects happen, we heavily rely on financial donations and in kind support (for example housing and feeding the musicians and rehearsal space, administration, hire of van for transportation for tour, hire of harpsichord and advertisement through CSO). No donation is too small or too large.
The Baroque Music Community and Educational Trust of New Zealand is a charitable trust with Registration Number CC52394. A receipt will be issued for all donations. All donors will be entitled to a tax rebate or refund equal to on third of the total donation.
Trust Contact Details
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​Email
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Telephone
021 075 7791
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Registration Number (Charitable Trust)
CC52394
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