Storyteller: Legend in Hamilton
Sat, 31 Oct
|Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts
Behind every piece of music is a story and across our 2026 Season, we're diving into them. Join us at Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts for an evening exploring a rich cross-section of compositional voices and celebrating the art of storytelling through music.
Time & Location
31 Oct 2026, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Knighton Road University of Waikato, Hillcrest, Hamilton 3216, New Zealand
About the event
Tickets coming soon.
Presenting, our 2026 Season: Storytellers.
Behind every piece of music is a story and across our 2026 Season we're diving into them. Join us at Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts for an evening exploring a rich cross-section of compositional voices and celebrating the art of storytelling through music.
PROGRAMME FOR LEGEND:
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 11, in F minor (Op. 95)
Interval
Claire Cowan Scenes from Hansel & Gretel
Benjamin Britten String Quartet No. 3, in G major (Op. 94)
To be announced: A new work by an emerging composer from New Zealand School of Music - Te Kōkī
‘Legend’ opens with Beethoven’s high-octane Op. 95 quartet, a piece that changed the direction of string quartet writing and continues to surprise and thrill audiences to this day.
Claire Cowan was the first New Zealand woman to compose a full-length ballet. Here she takes scenes from her internationally-celebrated score ‘Hansel and Gretel’, reimagining the magic of the ballet stage for string quartet.
Celebrating the next generation of New Zealand composers, a brand-new piece will be written by a composition student from the New Zealand School of Music – Te Kōkī. Students will have the opportunity to submit their compositions to the competition, the winning composition will be chosen and announced in late 2026.
To bring our 2026 Season to a close, we’ll mark the fiftieth anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death with his third and final string quartet. This quietly luminous piece, based on themes from his final opera, ‘Death in Venice’, serves as a poignant musical farewell, made even more profound by the fact it was the last major work Britten ever composed.
The concert programme, crafted in our signature style, aims to engage audiences of all levels of familiarity with chamber music. Each piece of music is preceded by a lively and informative introduction delivered by the Quartet members themselves. These introductions seek to shed light on the stories behind the music, making it an enriching experience suitable for all audiences.