A (busy!) day in the life of the NZSQ at the Warren Chamber Music Festival

For our first international tour of 2025 we travelled to rural New South Wales, Australia to spend a week performing at the Warren Chamber Music Festival. This small but mighty festival, created and presented by violinist Frances Evans, presents transformative performances celebrating the heritage, hard work, and resilience that define rural Australian life.

Our very own violinist, Peter Clark, is a regular artistic collaborator at the Festival, so brought the Quartet along for 2025. Here he describes for us a (busy) day in his life during the week of the Festival. Read on for a bit of behind the scenes insight!

8am: Breakfast with my incredible billets, Sue and Frere Green

I’m proud that this is my third time appearing at the Warren Chamber Music Festival, and each time I stay with Sue and Frere - passionate supporters of the festival, and now wonderful lifelong friends of mine! (They even give me a choice of both Vegemite AND Marmite!)

9.30am: Rehearsal

I’m delighted that this year’s festival involves not only the NZSQ, but also some Australian musicians living and performing in NZ, as well as some Kiwis who now call Australia home! A real passion of mine is developing trans-Tasman artistic relations, and the Warren Chamber Music Festival really celebrates this idea.

10am: School concert

In such a small and remote community, live musical performance is a rare thing in Warren, and so to visit three of the local schools, to present a curated schools concert was a deeply meaningful event - for both our young audience, and all the musicians on stage.

12pm: Lunch break

My colleagues and I were so appreciative when, after placing our lunch and coffee order at the local cafe, the waitress informed us that a very appreciative local Warrenite had already paid for ALL the visiting musicians’ lunches at the cafe! A wonderful surprise!

1pm: Rehearsal for “Lest We Forget”

The town of Warren is fortunate to have a newly completed state of the art museum and gallery space. It was in this space two years ago that WCMF Artistic Director, Frances Evans and I began a discussion potentially using the main space of the museum to host a special concert in the next festival. ‘Lest We Forget’ is an extended version of a series I developed and delivered for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, called “Local Heroes”, combining local stories and family histories, with live musical performance.

3pm: Cotton Farm Tour

Whenever the NZSQ tours outside major capital cities, wherever we are in the world, we love meeting the local people, and learning all about their community. We were honoured to have been taken on a special tour of the local cotton growing industry involving farms that provide much of the premium cotton used by many Kiwi and Aussie designers.

5.30pm: Travel by car to neighbouring town, Collie

As part of tonight’s concert, we are collaborating with the local community choir, conducted by WCMF Artistic Director, Frances Evans herself! Frances is the driving force behind the entire festival, and her infectious energy and enthusiasm is something I so admire. Frances is a deep believer in the power of community, and her passion for her home of Warren and the people that live there, is something beautiful to behold.

6.30pm: Pre-Concert Talk with renowned Australian Composer Anne Cawrse

Tonight I’m leading a pre-concert discussion with Anne, about her brand new chamber orchestra work, “Canopy”, written especially for the festival.

Watch the performance: Click here

7pm: Concert

A packed hall, a standing ovation, mutual respect, appreciation, and rapport between

audience and the musicians on stage.

9.30pm: Enjoying a beer with New Zealand Deputy High Commissioner

What a way to finish this extraordinary day. Discussing trans-Tasman cultural relations with the Deputy High Commissioner, at the local pub! It was a special moment to be spending time with incredible people, from all walks of life, coming together to celebrate music and

community.

Watch a short film from the NZ High Commission: Click here

Midnight: A good night’s sleep…

…before we do it all again the following day!

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Our participation in the Warren Chamber Music Festival was supported by the New Zealand High Commission Australia and Absolute Immigration. We cannot thank them enough for their support of the arts and helping us build artistic ties with our Australian neighbours.

Head to the Festival website to learn more and save the dates for the next festival: www.warrenchambermusicfestival.com