Between the Lines: Outsider with New Zealand String Quartet

All Between the Lines events are FREE to attend, but booking in advance is encouraged.

This event will take place in Ngā Pou Ruahine on Level 2 of Te Matapihi.

Between the Lines is a monthly early-evening chamber music series and book club that brings music and literature into conversation. Presented in the beautiful setting of Ngā Pou Ruahine in Te Matapihi, the series invites audiences to listen, think, and chat. No prior knowledge of music or literature is required, just a curious mind.

Taking place monthly from April to October on the final Thursday of each month, Between the Lines has been co-created by New Zealand String Quartet, Orchestra Wellington, and New Zealand School of Music. Each month these organisations will take turns presenting a talented group of musicians to perform music and host discussion on a different literary theme. From devil's bargains to language games, the obsessive tortured artist to the intimate private lives of writers and composers, this book club will delve deep into themes that span across artforms.

Each session will feature carefully selected music and a reading list highlighting the theme of the month. So, arrive solo or bring your book club to Te Matapihi for a new kind of conversation.

The theme of our August musical book club is outsider.

Music to be performed:

John Dowland | Flow My Tears

Fanny Mendelssohn | String Quartet in Eb Major

Erwin Schulhof | Five pieces for String Quartet

Florence Price | Five Folksongs in Counterpoint

History is littered with artists who stood apart from society, and this month’s musical book club explores some of these outsiders. From Dowland’s melancholic reflection as a religious minority, to Fanny Mendelssohn’s struggle as a woman composing and performing in a male-dominated time, Schulhoff’s political persecution and eventual death in the Wülzburg concentration camp, and Price’s struggle as a Black woman in early 20th-century America.

Explore the rest of the series:

Thursday 30 April, 5:30pm - Orchestra Wellington - The Art of Conversation (first & second sessions to take place on Ngā Paiaka/ Bleachers on Te Papa Whenua/ Ground Floor)

Thursday 28 May, 5:30pm - New Zealand String Quartet - Obsession (first & second sessions to take place on Ngā Paiaka/ Bleachers on Te Papa Whenua/ Ground Floor)

Thursday 25 June, 5:30pm - New Zealand String Quartet - Private Lives

Thursday 30 July, 5:30pm - Orchestra Wellington - The Devil's Bargain

Thursday 27 August, 5:30pm - New Zealand String Quartet - Outsider

Thursday 24 September, 5:30pm - NZSM - Te Kōkī - Theme to be announced

Thursday 29 October, 5:30pm - Orchestra Wellington - Language Games