Music Archives - Page 19 of 35

Margaret Nielsen

Margaret Nielsen, who championed the piano works of Douglas Lilburn from the 1950s, was on the staff at Victoria University of Wellington for many years.

Erihapeti Rehu-Murchie was a Ngāi Tahu (or Kāi Tahu) leader and woman of mana, and a prominent activist in the fields of Māori welfare and health from the 1970s to the 1990s. She was a long-serving member and president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, and an acclaimed researcher in the area of Māori women’s health. She also served on the Human Rights Commission and in a wide variety of other public positions. An accomplished actor, singer and orator, she also composed waiata and poetry.

Diny Schramm

Dutch pianist known for making ‘serious’ music fun for a generation of New Zealand children

Marie Blaschke

Jewish cellist Marie Blaschke sought refuge in New Zealand from persecution, arriving in 1939. Vandewart made a considerable impact as a concert artist and taught at the University of Auckland’s School of Music for 15 years from 1961.

Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa

On 1 December 1971 the young Kiri Te Kanawa took the operatic world by storm when she made her debut as the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden.

Gillian Weir

Gillian Weir became renowned as an interpreter of the works of French composer Olivier Messiaen and, after an international performing career of nearly 50 years, gave a farewell recital at Westminster Cathedral in December 2012.

Patricia Payne

Dunedin-born mezzo-soprano Patricia Payne had a brilliant career from the early 1970s, singing on many of the world’s great stages – Barcelona, Covent Garden, Bayreuth (including Patrice Chéreau’s Ring cycle alongside Donald McIntyre), San Francisco, Geneva, and La Scala in Milan.

Lili Kraus

Hungarian-born pianist Lili Kraus (1903–86) was another musician whose flight from the horrors of the Second World War enriched New Zealand’s musical life. She was imprisoned by Japanese forces in Indonesia in 1942. After the war she made New Zealand her home for some years and became a citizen. Kraus resumed her international touring career in 1948.

Heather Begg

As a 21-year-old mezzo-soprano, Nelson-born Heather Begg (1932–2009) auditioned to be part of the National Opera of Australia’s tour of New Zealand in 1954. She was offered three principal roles, including the demanding Azucena in Verdi’s Il trovatore.

Lilli Lehmann

Distinguished German soprano