Dorothea Franchi, composer, pianist and harpist left New Zealand for London in 1948 for further study. While there she won the prestigious Lionel Tertis Prize for her Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra in 1951 before returning to New Zealand.
Orchestra Wellington's principal violinist Sophia Acheson will perform this work with the Kapiti Concert Orchestra.
Franchi's Concertino for Harmonica, Harp and Strings was written especially for our soloist, harmonica virtuoso Coral Trimmer who will perform with Wellington based harpist, composer and teacher Michelle Velvin.
Coral first performed the work with the Alex Lindsay String Orchestra and has a special connection to Kāpiti.
Coral Trimmer has had a long and successful career as a performer from playing violin solos with the Petone Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine, also playing the flute and harp, but it is through her virtuosity on the harmonica that she really made her name in New Zealand, the United Kingdom where she toured extensively and in Melbourne before returning home to New Zealand last year.
She now lives in Paekākāriki close to her brother, Sir John Trimmer.
Tickets can be purchased online from eventfinda.co.nz or from the customer service desk at Coastlands. $20 early bird tickets are available until August 8, after that adults are $25 and students are $10.
About Coral Trimmer
Born in 1930 into a family of professional musicians, by the age of nine Coral Trimmer was playing violin solos with the Petone Symphony Orchestra.
Though she is also fluent with piano and flute, it is her virtuosity on the harmonica that has been astonishing audiences since 1944.
She performs across a wide variety of musical genres including classical, blues, jazz, folk, and rock 'n' roll.
In the early days Coral performed on stage in New Zealand with various entertainers such as Howard Morrison, regularly on NZ radio, and was New Zealand Television's first live instrumental performer.
She promptly won the Australian Amateur award for best performer in Australia, performed for a season at the Theatre Royal in Brisbane with George Wallace Junior and went on to be the supporting act for the famous Johnny O'Keefe.
In 1960 after three years studying harmony and composition in Auckland, Coral performed with the Alex Lindsay String Orchestra - a concertino for harmonica, harp and strings especially written for her by Dorothea Franchi.
When she arrived in the United Kingdom, Coral's agent changed her name to Coral Kaye, and under this alias she toured extensively with the then popular Variety Shows.
These shows would always have a residential orchestra, and with them Coral's virtuosity was displayed performing a variety of genres - mainly a mixture of light classical such as Brahms Ritual Fire Dance, popular songs of the day and jazz.
Coral continued to work extensively in England at theatres such as The Windmill, City Varieties, on the Valley Circuit, and for BBC radio.
In 1961 she completed an extensive War Office tour of the Middle East with the Stan Stennett Show.
Hanging up her harmonica in 1964, Coral retrained in Wellington as a potter, and then opened a successful pottery business in Melbourne.
By the 90s she couldn't resist the pull any longer and returned to show business on the Melbourne circuit, playing regular clubs and venues, and on ABC radio, often as a duet with the wonderful pianist Celia Rowley.
In 2019 Coral returned to New Zealand where she lives in Paekākāriki close to her brother Sir Jon Trimmer.
