Vibrant bunch play it again

ACO director Peter Scholes is dedicated to works seldom played.

The Auckland Chamber Orchestra provided the core players for Beyond the Box, the recent evening of Weill and Schoenberg that, for three nights in May, revived memories of the glory that was the Mercury Theatre.

And ACO director Peter Scholes had more than his share of "Mercury ghosts" during the season.

He remembered the months he spent as a clarinettist in the orchestra pit for Porgy and Bess and other Mercury operas, and even a stint on stage, as one of a trio of musicians, in Raymond Hawthorne's production of The Death of a Salesman.

But today he's talking about the orchestra's upcoming 2006 season, launched this Sunday with a concert titled German Romantics.

ACO is in its seventh year and Scholes is proud of his "vibrant bunch of players who, like me, are dedicated to programming pieces that aren't often heard in concert; works that are maybe too risky for larger groups to take on".

His audience is a loyal one. "It's a matter of trying to build a tradition around holding our events in the Concert Chamber on Sundays at 6pm. There has been a lot of favourable feedback because people don't get home too late. The concert ends at 8pm and there is time to socialise or have dinner.

"Artistically," he adds, "it means we have the whole of Sunday for the final dress rehearsal and concert, uncluttered by other things."

In the past, financing has been a problem, although, as Scholes reminds tactfully, "orchestras throughout the world never pay for themselves".

"We have had some great success with Lion Foundation and ASB Trust which have made our work possible, not to mention our special relationship with Ngatarawa wines."

The appearance of Ngatarawa's Brian Corban at every ACO concert has become a welcome ritual.

"It's a little tradition," explains Scholes, "our showbiz wine draw just after interval.

"Brian sees the links between wine, music and the whole social event of the concert. He has been a supporter for some years now, and his son Ben does our posters and programmes."

There are six concerts in the 2006 season, including another instalment of last year's successful Gone to the Beach. When pressed for a top pick, Scholes singles out September's Mozart and Friends concert with its lineup of Bartok, Prokofiev and a Mozart concerto featuring pianist Katherine Austin.

"I've done a lot of chamber music with Katherine," he adds. "It's good to be able to pursue this way of working in a new context. When I have played with my soloists in smaller ensembles, then it's easier to approach our orchestral collaboration as if it were chamber music and hope that some of that feeling will feed into the orchestra."

And so it will be this Sunday when the New Zealand String Quartet tackle Spohr's Concerto for String Quartet - it was only last year that Scholes shared the same stage with them in a performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet.

The Spohr work, written in 1845, is not often heard.

"It's a total delight. It really does shimmer. The writing is full of multiple duets between the quartet members, and it sparkles along with lots of notes in typical Spohr fashion. Very pretty."

Sunday's programme also includes Schubert's Fifth Symphony and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.

Scholes hopes that will benefit from the "simplicity and the clarity that comes from a small orchestra" combined with the intimacy of the Concert Chamber.

"That's my intention. That's the driving force behind how I want to play it."

* Who: Auckland Chamber Orchestra

* Where and when: Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, Sunday, 6pm