“The poems blend and shift between meditative recollections of the English countryside and the poet’s emerging belief that he must fight to save it. Happiness lies just out of reach…” - Janet Jennings (composer of In Memoriam)
The New Zealand String Quartet and opera singer Jared Holt join forces to premiere a new song cycle, In Memoriam, by New Zealand composer Janet Jennings - settings of poems by poet and soldier Edward Thomas, who was killed in the Battle of Arras in 1917.
After winning the Mobil Song Quest in 2000, Jared Holt studied at the Royal College of Music in London and was subsequently a young artist at the Royal Opera House for two years before commencing his freelance singing career, performing principal roles at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival and Teatro Giuseppe Verdi Trieste, as well as for Opera Australia and Opera New Zealand. Well-known as a baritone, Jared has recently made the move to tenor and is thrilled to premiere this moving song cycle for tenor and string quartet.
The acclaimed New Zealand String Quartet recently celebrated 30 years on the concert stage and will complete the programme with short works by Puccini and Stravinsky, as well as Beethoven’s epic opus 132 Quartet, written in celebration of life itself shortly after the composer’s recovery from a life-threatening illness.
Sun 29 Apr, 3:00pm | ChristchurchChurch of St Michael and All the Angels
Sun 13 May, 3:00pm | AucklandSt Luke's Church
Sat 19 May, 7:30pm | WellingtonSt Andrew's on The Terrace
In Memoriam Programme
Puccini: Crisantemi
Stravinsky: Concertino for String Quartet
Jennings: In Memoriam (song cycle for tenor & string quartet)
INTERVAL
Beethoven: String Quartet in A minor, op 132