Artists in Residence
The New Zealand School of Music has three ensembles in residence:
The New Zealand String Quartet
With its dynamic performing style, dramatic energy and eloquent communication the New Zealand String Quartet has forged a major career in the busy international chamber music field, earning the acclaim of critics and the delighted response of audiences. The Quartet has particularly distinguished itself through imaginative programming, insightful interpretations of the string quartet repertoire including cycles of composers’ music from Mozart to Berg, and the development of an international audience for important new works from New Zealand composers.
Recent career highlights have included acclaimed debuts in London at Wigmore Hall and in New York at the prestigious Frick Collection. International tours and festival successes have taken the group to Canada and the US for twice-yearly visits as well as to Mexico, Korea, Australia, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands, with debut performances in Poland and the Czech Republic in 2008. Much-loved by audiences in New Zealand, the engaging musicians of that country’s premier chamber ensemble present over eighty concerts there and overseas each year.
The New Zealand String Quartet has recently brought its interpretative skill to a major project to record all of Mendelssohn’s string quartets in a three volume CD set for Naxos. The Quartet has been featured on North America’s popular public radio programme St Paul Sunday, and has recorded for Deutsche Welle, CBC in Canada, and Australia’s ABC, as well as regularly appearing on Radio New Zealand Concert, the national fine music network. The group’s extensive discography includes works from the standard quartet repertoire by composers such as Bartók, Ravel, Debussy, Beethoven, Dvorák, Berg and Wolf, as well as the premiere recording of the remarkable Zoltan Székely quartet, and numerous works by acclaimed New Zealand composers.
Collaborations undertaken by the New Zealand String Quartet have included performances of concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony. They have performed with internationally renowned artists such as Colin Carr, Anton Kuerti, Jim Campbell, Frans Helmerson, Alexander Lonquich, Piers Lane, Nobuko Imai, Hariolf Schlichtig, Christoph Richter, Atar Arad, and Peter Nágy; the Lafayette, Lindsay, Michelangelo, Prazak, St. Lawrence and Goldner quartets, as well as jazz greats Mike Nock, Jim Hall and Wayne Marshall.
The New Zealand String Quartet participates regularly in a number of international chamber music festivals, including recent appearances at the Festival of the Sound, Parry Sound, Ontario, Music Mountain in Lakeville, Connnecticut and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, Queensland. Quartet members play a central role in the biennial Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson, New Zealand; two members of the Quartet are Artistic Directors of this Festival and the ensemble plays in many of the concerts of the two week event, working with international guest artists.
Dedicated teachers as well as performers, the group has been Quartet-in-Residence at Victoria University of Wellington, now the New Zealand School of Music, since 1991. The New Zealand String Quartet members teach individual lessons, conduct string classes, and coach chamber music ensembles. The Quartet rehearses and teaches in the Turnovsky Room, a beautiful space generously endowed by the Turnovsky Trust.
The Quartet also founded and runs the Adam Chamber Music Summer School, an intensive 9-day programme for the finest string and piano students in the country that takes place every February in Nelson. They have given master classes around the world and have been artist/teachers-in-residence at the Banff Center, Quartet Fest West, and the Quartet Programme at Bucknell in Pennsylvania.
The NZSQ coach and act as mentors to the NZSM graduate quartet. This quartet is sponsored by NZSM with the generous support of the New Zealand String Quartet Foundation and gives postgraduate students the unique chance of working in close proximity with the NZSQ, and gaining knowledge and experience of what it is like to be part of a professional string quartet. In 2005, the inaugural quartet was the Amygdala Quartet and in 2006, the Antipodes Quartet. Both performed in numerous concerts and their members are now overseas continuing postgraduate study. The 2007 Graduate Quartet, the Tasman Quartet, continued their studies with the Takacs Quartet, earning prizes at various international competitions, and are currently acting as teaching assistants to the Pacifica Quartet at the University of Illinois.
The NZSQ is New Zealand's only full-time touring music ensemble and receives funding support from Creative New Zealand and a variety of sponsors, including HSBC (principal sponsor), the Turnovsky Endowment Trust and the Adam Foundation.
Visit the NZSQ’s website for more information, including concert dates and recordings:
www.nzsq.co.nz
Pohl, Helene – Violin
BMus PerfCert Eastman, MMus Indiana
Born in Ithaca, New York to German parents, Helene Pohl spent her childhood on both sides of the Atlantic. She began violin at age 4 with the Suzuki method. A musical omnivore, she began piano study at 9 and as a teenager added viola, clarinet and baritone saxophone (the latter in order to join the jazz band). At 17 she began tertiary study at the Musikhochschule Cologne, where her teacher was Franzjosef Maier, founder of the Collegium Aureum, and her chamber music coaches were the members of the Amadeus Quartet. She continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music where she received a Bachelor's Degree and the coveted Performer's Certificate. Her violin and chamber music teachers were the members of the Cleveland Quartet; she also studied voice with Renee Fleming. She received her Master's Degree at Indiana University where she studied violin with Josef Gingold (student of Eugene Ysaye), viola with Kim Kashkashian, and chamber music with Fritz Magg, Abraham Skernick and Gyorgy Sebok.
With groups formed during her studies she spent many summers at the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival where she received coaching from members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard and Tokyo Quartets. Other violin teachers whose lessons she found inspirational along the way were James Buswell, Robert Mann and Joyce Robbins. She herself began her teaching career in Boston, MA at the New England Conservatory Preperatory Division and at Walnut Hill School, a boarding school specialising in the performing arts.
As first violinist of the San Francisco based Fidelio String Quartet (1988-1993), Helene Pohl performed in the USA, Germany, England, Italy and South America. The Fidelio Quartet was prizewinner in the 1991 London International String Quartet Competition and quartet in residence at both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals. She also taught at the San Francisco Extension Division where she prepared students for tertiary auditions as well as working with adult violinists at all levels.
Helene Pohl joined the New Zealand String Quartet as first violinist in February 1994. In 2001 she became Artistic Director, with fellow quartet member Gillian Ansell, of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music.
At the New Zealand School of Music Helene teaches violin and chamber music and aims to share with her students the best of what she has received from her mentors as well as what she has learned from over 2 decades of teaching. She believes that teaching must develop an awareness of all aspects of playing, including the physical use of the whole body in playing, the ability to problem-solve the whole range of technical issues, using the personal feedback loop of constant performing, seeking the emotional and spiritual expression of music, and applying a deep knowledge of the score to interpretation.
Email: helene.pohl@nzsm.ac.nz
Phone: +64 4 463-5866
Room 212, Kelburn Campus
Beilman, Douglas – Violin
BMus NECons, MMus SanFranCons
A native of Kansas, USA, Douglas Beilman studied with Dorothy Delay and Hyo
Kang at the Julliard School and the New England Conservatory of Music. He then
completed his Master of Music degree with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music.
Before joining the New Zealand String Quartet in 1989 he was first violinist
of the Sierra String Quartet, the first resident quartet at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Music Centre. The Sierra Quartet was a prizewinner
at the 1988 Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition (now the London
International String Quartet Competition) and performed widely throughout the
USA.
Douglas Beilman was a co-founder of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber
Music and was its artistic Director until 2001. He has been soloist and guest
leader of the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra and has performed concertos with other
New Zealand orchestras. As both a founding member of the 20th century ensemble
CadeNZa and as an individual he has participated extensively in premiere performances
of New Zealand and international compositions.
Email: douglas.beilman@nzsm.ac.nz
Phone: +64 4 463-5866
Room 212, Kelburn Campus
Ansell, Gillian – Viola
LRSM ARCM
Gillian Ansell was born in Auckland, New Zealand and began violin and piano
lessons at an early age. At 16 years she made her concerto debut with the Auckland
Symphonia (now the Auckland Philharmonia).
An Associated Board Scholarship to study violin, viola and piano took Gillian
Ansell to the Royal College of Music in London where she won several prizes. She
then took up a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) scholarship for further study in
Germany at the Musikhochschule Cologne with Igor Ozim and the Amadeus Quartet.
After working professionally in London for three years she returned to New
Zealand to become a founding member of the New Zealand String Quartet. She was
second violinist for two years before taking up the position of violist of the
group. In 2001 she became Artistic Director, with fellow quartet member Helene
Pohl, of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music.
Email: ga@nzsq.co.nz
Phone: +64 4 463-5866
Room 212, Kelburn Campus
Gjelsten, Rolf – Cello
MMus Cin, PerfCert Northern Ill, DMA Rutgers, BMus University of Victoria
Rolf Gjelsten began cello in his native city Victoria, Canada, with James Hunter
and Janos Starker at the age of 15. At 21 he became the youngest member of the
Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He returned to North America to study with Zara Nelsova
which led to further study with the members of the La Salle, Hungarian, Vermeer,
Cleveland and Emerson string quartets.
As a member of the Laurtentian Quartet for almost a decade he toured internationally,
made five CDs and taught cello at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. He was also
a member of the New York Piano Trio. He furthered his studies in 1990 with the
great Casals protégé Bernhard Greenhouse at Rutgers University from
where he received his doctoral degree in cello.
Rolf Gjelsten joined the New Zealand String Quartet in May 1994 and became
a New Zealand citizen in 1997.
Email: rolf.gjelsten@nzsm.ac.nz
Phone: +64 4 463-5866
Room 212, Kelburn Campus
The New Zealand Piano Quartet
The New Zealand Piano Quartet brings together some of the finest musicians
in New Zealand, with Richard Mapp (piano), Yury Gezentsvey (violin), Donald Maurice
(viola), and David Chickering (cello), all of whom have had illustrious careers
both in New Zealand and abroad.
Over the short period of time they have been performing together, the musicians
have developed a tremendous rapport resulting in dynamic, exciting and sensitive
performances. In addition to their world-class renditions of the well-loved, traditional
repertoire, they take an interest in performing and promoting new works. Their
committed performances of contemporary music have earned them praise, not only
from composers but from audiences and critics alike.
They are devoted to teaching and promoting young musicians. Through their concerts,
they aim to attract new and promising students to the vibrant artistic community
that exists in Wellington. They welcome opportunities to meet with young people
and conduct masterclasses. If you would like to know more about the New Zealand
Piano Quartet please visit their website:www.massey.ac.nz/~wwnzpq/
Richard Mapp
Richard Mapp is the pianist in the NZ Piano Quartet, which is building a repertoire
of new works by NZ composers. He also teaches classical piano and chamber music
at the New Zealand School of Music.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1975-79, and taught there from
1979-1982. While living in Britain and Italy, he performed regularly in the main
London concert halls, and recorded for the BBC, and for radio in Germany, Sweden,
Finland, and Canada.
Richard Mapp has appeared as soloist with all the orchestras in New Zealand,
and tours regularly for Chamber Music NZ. He is heard often on Concert FM, and
has also appeared as a guest pianist with the NZ String Quartet. His CD of piano
music by Granados for Meridian records was well reviewed in the BBC Music Magazine,
and he also appears on CDs with the flautist Amanda Hollins, and the NZSO.
Richard has a particular interest in the late 19th and early 20th century repertoire.
Room: 213 Kelburn Campus
Phone: 463 9794
Email: r.d.mapp@massey.ac.nz
Yury Gezentsvey
Born in Kiev, USSR, in 1952, Yury Gezentsvey graduated in 1974 from the Gniessin
Institute of Music in Moscow with the diploma as Soloist, Pedagogue, Orchestra
Soloist and Chamber Music Performer.
In 1979, Yury emigrated from the USSR to the USA. In that same year Yury was
the concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as playing in ‘The
Chicago Ensemble’ chamber group. In 1980 Yury was the concertmaster of the
Philharmonic Orchestra of Caracas, Venezuela, as well as performing to acclaim
in the Carnegie Recital Hall, New York. In 1985 Yury became a principal first
violinist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Yury Gezentsvey has been involved in numerous chamber ensembles including the
Gezentsvey Quartet and the New Zealand Piano Quartet. He has participated in many
of the Wellington International Arts Festivals and made recordings for Radio New
Zealand and TVNZ productions. The recording, ‘Romantic Strings’, a
CD released by BMG in 1995, was nominated for Best Album of the Year in 1995.
Together with his orchestral and performing career, Yury Gezentsvey teaches advanced
violinists at the New Zealand School of Music.
Email: desiyury@actrix.gen.nz
Donald Maurice
Donald Maurice is violist with the NZ Piano Quartet. He teaches musicology,
violin, viola and chamber music as well as supervising postgraduate study at the
NZSM.
Donald has formerly been a violinist in the NZSO, held principal positions
in all the regional orchestras and played with numerous British orchestras in
the 1970s. He performs regularly as a soloist, is a National Artist for RNZ, and
as well as appearing on NZ-produced CDs, has ongoing recording projects with NAXOS.
He has presented at International Viola Congresses in London, Chicago, Austin,
Linkoping, Guelph, Seattle, Kronberg, Reykjavik and Montreal and as guest artist
in 2006 at the Lionel Tertis International Viola competition and workshop on the
Isle of Man.
His publications include a book on Bartók (OUP) and numerous articles
have appeared in journals in North America and Europe. His current research interests
are in string pedagogy, New Zealand music history, Alfred Hill and Indian classical
music.
His external affiliations include being Treasurer of the International Viola
Society, Vice President of the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music,
Wellington representative for STANZA and he is a member of the American Viola
Society, American String Teachers Association and the Australian and New Zealand
Viola Society.
Room: 10Bmezz04, Museum Building, Mt Cook Campus
Phone: +64 4 801 2794 ext 6487
Email: donald.maurice@nzsm.ac.nz
David Chickering
David Chickering plays the cello with the NZPQ. Chickering began his musical
studies on the piano with Irene Eckler in the smallest city in New York State.
Suzuki wasn't recognized as a motorcycle, much less a teaching method. The local
high school teacher, Anson Nocera, made the rounds of talented families and recruited
David, age 10, on the cello and his brother on the double bass (Robert went on
to become principal Double Bassist with the Minnesota orchestra).
After graduating with Honours from Northwestern University under the tutelage
of Dudley Powers (former principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra),
“Chick” began his career with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. After
several seasons as principal cellist of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, he was
appointed to the Chicago Symphony orchestra, playing under the direction of Sir
Georg Solti.
Chick then set off for Latin America where he became principal cellist of the
Orquesta Nacional de Costa Rica. But the bleating of sheep lured him to Auckland,
New Zealand in 1991 to the Auckland Philharmonia. Since 1993, Chick has served
as principal cellist of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
His solo appearances playing Dvorak's Cello Concerto and Strauss's Don Quixote
have met with critical acclaim. An active chamber musician, he has performed extensively
in New Zealand and Japan with other NZSO principal players.
He is a well respected and experienced teacher. He has taught at the Wisconsin
Conservatory, Syracuse University, the Eastern Music Festival, the Orquesta Juvenil
de Costa Rica and he is currently a lecturer in Cello at the Conservatorium of
Music at Massey University in Wellington.
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December 7, 2007
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