CONTENT COURTESY GUITAR BRISBANE
The New Zealand Guitar Quartet is coming to Brisbane as part of a four-country June tour. The tour will feature NZGQ at the Guitarromanía (Mexico), Guitar Foundation of America Festival, and appear as soloists with the Dunedin Symphony in addition to the Brisbane International Guitar Festival. With a varied program, these versatile musicians will play bluegrass, Celtic, classical and even a tribute to the late great David Bowie.
On its visit to Australia, NZGQ will perform 7.30pm June 2 at Magda Community Artz as part of the 2018 Guitar Brisbane Concert Series and Brisbane International Guitar Festival.
The musicians will perform in a rejuvenated church, previously St. Mary Magdalene, where the acoustics have been known to complement the subtle colours of the handmade Australian classical guitar. And, yes, members of NZGQ predominantly play Australian handmade guitars: Greg Smallman & Sons (WA), Zbigniew Gnatek (NSW) and Kim Lissarrague (NSW). (Want to know how the guitars are made? Check out our interview with Smallman himself.)
Following a sold-out 2017 tour of New Zealand, the NZGQ has received funding from the government-backed Creative New Zealand to bring the group to Brisbane in June. Originally based in Wellington, the NZGQ is now based on both sides of the ditch: Owen Moriarty and Jane Curry in Wellington, Vladimir Gorbach in Sydney, and John Couch in Canberra.
Internationally accomplished musicians, they play a wide variety of styles from American bluegrass and Celtic melodies and dances to their critically acclaimed interpretations of Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto.
Core member Owen Moriarty’s arrangement of Albéniz’s Spanish Rhapsody Op. 70 is an outstanding piece of work. Originally a piano concerto turned into a piano duo, with one piano playing the orchestra reduction, the NZGQ will bring this amazing selection of Spanish dances to life at the Brisbane concert.
The talisman piece for the tour, The Passing of a Black Star, is a celebration of the life and work of the late great David Bowie. Written specifically for the NZGQ by Australian composer Marián Budoš, it chronicles the different styles and genres for which Bowie was renowned. With rock and jazz fused together with classical compositional techniques, The Passing of a Black Star also tips its hat towards Bowie’s final album Black Star; a substantial work that every Bowie fan would love.
Tickets are $43 Adult, $38 Concession, $30 Student and $125 Family (2 Adults + 2 Students) when booked online. Tickets are also available at the door if not sold out prior ($50 Adult, $45 Concession and $35 Student. Children 12 and under free). For more information, visit the Guitar Brisbane website.
CutCommon subscribers will receive a discount to this event when booked online!
