The Guide

EDITED BY FRANCES MORTON

34 culture this Month 114 orchestrAs 116 coMedY 118 visuAl Arts 120 design 122 theAtre 124 Music 126 spotlight 128 reviews

Eckehard Stier conducts the APOs gala opening.

battle of the batons

The tussle between orchestras for funding heats up.
STORY FRANCES MORTON PhOTOgRaPhY AdRiAN MAllOCh
times for New Zealands orchestras and it has nothing to do with stage fright. For the first time in more than 60 years, the sector is in for a major shake-up. A government review is under way and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) hopes it will no longer have to play second fiddle. The current structure has the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) at the top of the pedestal, above four regional orchestras in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. That means the NZSO gets the fattest cheque from the government $13.4m this year while the APO gets $2 million in central funding. The
ThESE ARE NERvOuS

rest of the APOs $9m operating budget is made up from ticket sales, council funding, sponsorship and fundraising. Chief executive of the APO, Barbara Glaser, says the current model doesnt reflect reality. For a while now weve been saying thats not how it is. There are two full-time orchestras and three professional part-time orchestras. If you change that mindset, it enables a different way of looking at things and different demands out of the orchestral dollar. While the APO manages to put on an impressive concert programme, play host to international stars and deliver a far-reaching education programme without going into the red, Glaser says funding restrictions

mean they are constantly up against a glass ceiling when trying to fulfil their vision for a culturally vibrant Auckland. I dont even want to think about what happens if we dont get a good result out of this review, she says. Minister for Culture and Heritage Chris Finlayson called for this review last August and it is being carried out by the ministry with guidance from a panel of experts, chaired by Peter Biggs, former chair of Creative New Zealand. For an external perspective, the ministry enlisted the help of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestras secretary general, Avi Shoshani, who visited late last year to talk to orchestras and the review panel. He returned a few

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weeks later after deciding he needed to hear the orchestras play. Shoshanis report was delivered to the ministry in March. The public will get the chance to have a say this month when the ministry releases a discussion document laying out a range of options. The minister has not ruled anything out, so expect some potentially radical changes.
A ShAKE-up OF the sector has been a long time coming, according to Lewis Holden, chief executive of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Its probably years, if not decades overdue, he says. The arrangements weve got currently are, in many respects, an accident of history. There has been no evaluation of how the countrys orchestras function since the NZSOs forerunner, the New Zealand National Orchestra, was formed by the NZ Broadcasting Service in 1946. Holden insists the review is not about trimming costs, although the government is not expected to increase arts funding in these tight economic times.

and New Zealanders. Says Glaser: We do not want to see the demise of the NZSO. Its about finding the right roles for each orchestra.
IF AuCKLAND wANTS to be the worlds most

Beyond the concert hall

APO iN ThE COMMuNiTy

having an orchestra based in a city gives it a deep connection with the local community in a way that touring orchestras cant achieve.
That sets up an uncomfortable tussle for funds. If the APO is going to get more core, sustainable funding, it can come from only one place another orchestras budget. Holden, on the line from his Wellington office, calls the APO a terrific institution. It has grown in a fantastic way over the last several years. I have huge respect for the APO and its ambitions. Speaking as the CEO of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, it would be wonderful if they could continue on that journey. Its up to Holden and his team to evaluate where the limited money is best spent and, in doing so, he says, public servants would be foolish to ignore the changing complexion of the country. Im talking age, ethnicity, but also the drift north. Within the next 20 years, Auckland will be home to 40 per cent of the population; it already accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the nations economic output. Wellington has traditionally been home to national arts institutions, the ones that get the most funding. Both Glaser and Holden are careful not to enter into an Auckland vs Wellington battle. New Zealand is far too small to indulge in an asinine dispute between cities, says Holden. We are trying to approach this, as are the orchestras, from the point of view of what is best for New Zealand

liveable city, it needs its own professional orchestra. Having an orchestra based in a city gives it a deep connection with the local community in a way that touring orchestras cant achieve (see sidebar). Community involvement and teaching take up a lot of the musicians time and energy, but Glaser says the music itself remains the top of the mountain. Under the baton of their music director, German Eckehard Stier, the APO maintains a high standard, enabling the orchestra to lure luminaries of the classical music world to Auckland. This years programme includes appearances by American opera star Deborah Voigt, the remarkable deaf percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie from Scotland and the return of virtuoso Canadian violinist James Ehnes. The orchestra also has some world leaders in its ranks. Gordon Hunt was described to me by his colleague as the best oboeist in the world. When I put this to him, Hunt responded with typical British humility: If thats what he likes to say then its fine with me, but its not for me to say. Hunt is a soloist, conductor and principal oboeist of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, and performed at Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles wedding. He has family connections with New Zealand and spent the summer months in Auckland playing with the APO. He is mulling over whether to make the move permanent. Hunt says the orchestra is in fine form. It has a very go-ahead outlook and very adventurous programming from Eckehard Stier. To keep it on an uphill trajectory, Hunt believes the orchestra needs to pay more to recruit and keep talented people. The musicians are extremely poorly paid for the sort of work they do, the role they have in the community and the artistic level they achieve, says Hunt. Glaser agrees. As the lowest-paying professional orchestra in Australasia, they struggle to attract top-quality applicants. We try to make the APO as attractive as possible as a destination organisation, by making a really interesting artistic life, but at the end of the day they have to put food on the table for their families, she says. Glaser wants to increase the number of core musicians from 70 to 85 and take the orchestra on tour. Shes standing by anxiously to see whether the review will take the APO a step in that direction and what it will mean for the professional orchestral sector overall. Everyone knows the review needed to happen, she says. But at the same time, like any big change process, were all a bit nervous.

Sistema Aotearoa

sistema aotearoa
Launched last year in partnership with the Ministry for Culture and heritage, the aPO supplies instruments and tuition to 90 Otara primary-school pupils. The programme is based on the Venezuelan scheme El Sistema, which has been credited with falls in truancy and youth crime. aUT is researching the impact of the programme here. Sistema aotearoa is led by Dr Joseph harrop, an aucklander with a PhD in performance violin from Londons Royal academy of Music. Chris Finlayson has called Sistema aotearoa one of his top priorities as Minister for Culture and heritage.

aPoPs
aPOs partnership with schools. aPO players visit schools to mentor students for specific projects. The orchestras education programme reaches 30,000 children each year.

remix
For the past four years, aPO musicians have been running courses with hip-hop artists and at-risk youth at the Otara Music arts Centre. This fusion of musical styles will be presented at the Remix the Orchestra concert, May 31 at the Town hall.

sacre
In a one-off for the Real New Zealand festival for the Rugby World Cup, the aPO received a $200,000 grant from the Festival Lottery Fund to produce Sacre: The Auckland Dance Project. The orchestra and British choreographer Royston Maldoom worked with 150 students from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions to create a work set to Stravinskys The Rite of Spring, which was performed at the aotea Centre. The show changed the life of at least one young aucklander: after playing a lead role in Sacre, Tangaroa College student alolii Tapu enrolled to study dance this year at Unitec.

aPo oPen Days

The orchestra heads out to venues in Takapuna, Manukau and Waitakere for free informal afternoons where the public is invited to come along and listen to the music, have a go on the instruments and meet the musicians.
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