A Quick Festival Q&A with Peter Clark
- New Zealand String Quartet
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 21 hours ago
The 2026 Adam International Chamber Music Festival is only days away from kicking off in Nelson, so we thought you would enjoy this quick Q&A with Peter all about how he's prepping for his first time at the Festival.
This interview was originally published in the ACMF newsletter. Sign up here to receive it directly in your inbox.
1. This will be your first Adam Chamber Music Festival - is that correct? If so, what are you most looking forward to about “the Adam”?
For musicians and concert-goers of ACMF, our collective love of chamber music and the act of coming coming together to experience this incredible art-form is a special and important thing. In the midst of global uncertainty, the ACMF becomes more than just a ‘music festival’. It demonstrates the power of community, the importance of listening deeply to one another, and the way music can bring us closer together. The festival invites people from all across the world to experience something inherently good, and in the process we learn more about one another, and about ourselves. After the festival’s conclusion, we return to our respective homes with a renewed sense of wonder, giving us the energy and inspiration to face the daily challenges of our individual lives.
2. Does the festival environment have an effect on your performance?
For classical musicians, the ‘festival’ environment is famously (or infamously..!) completely different to any other type of musical engagement in our year. The sheer amount of repertoire we need to prepare is like climbing Everest. It feels a little like asking an actor to prepare ‘Hamlet’ for an afternoon show, ‘Waiting for Godot’ for the evening concert, all the while rehearsing ‘Death of a Salesman’ for the next day! But the festival environment is certainly exhilarating, with an energy you don’t experience in a typical concert setting.
3. Tell us a little bit about one of the pieces you’ll be performing at the 2026 Adam Festival.
With so many extraordinary pieces programmed, it’s hard to choose just one.
Around ten years ago, I was lucky enough be able to spend a week living in Benjamin Britten’s actual house in Aldeburgh, on the East Coast of the UK. It was a surreal and deeply moving experience to be immersed in the physical world of the composer so closely, especially given the house is largely untouched since Britten’s passing, as well as the fact the composer is buried just a mile’s walk from the home.
2026 marks fifty years since the composer’s death, and the ‘Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings’, composed in the middle of the Second World War, will be a poignant and moving meditation on the themes of darkness and mortality.
4. What are you listening to at the moment - we all love a recommendation!
To be honest, right at this moment I’m deeply immersed in about 14 pieces I’m preparing for a very special upcoming chamber music festival! But a slightly more poetic response to the question is that I’m trying to embrace the idea of listening to other human beings more deeply. Too often in this global climate, it seems we listen to each other having potentially already formed our opinion, having already made up our mind about something. Too often we listen to respond, rather than listen to learn, missing the chance to gain greater understanding about someone or something. Music, as an art-form, is a wonderful vehicle to inspire deeper listening in each of us.
5. You perform in venues from the very small to the very large. What is it about a smaller venue that appeals to you most?
Without a doubt, the smaller the venue, the greater the connection between audience and musician. This is one of the most special differences between the intensity and closeness of chamber music and something like the grand symphonic tradition. Alongside the performance of so much special music, I am personally excited to learn as much as I can from our audience - to listen to the perspectives, thoughts and feelings, and stories that our audience undoubtedly have. So please, if you see me in the community, ordering a latte from one of the many fantastic Nelson cafés, please come and talk to me!
Although, if at 8.55am you see me hurriedly rushing along Trafalgar Street toward the NCMA, it’s likely because I’m running late for rehearsal. So rather than stopping me for a chat in that moment, I’ll instead need the cheers and encouragement that someone would give an individual finishing a marathon!
Looking forward to seeing you in Nelson soon!
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