Wellington concert musicians Amiki Trio to visit Palmerston North

Amiki Trio are Rachel Thomson (left), Karen Batten and Barbara Paterson.

Three Wellington concert musicians will visit Palmerston North on Sunday to perform at the Globe Sunday Matinee concert.

Soprano Barbara Paterson, flute player Karen Batten and pianist Rachel Thomson are itinerant teachers at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.

Thomson is an examiner for Trinity College of London.

Paterson is also an artist-teacher of classical voice at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music and conducts the Capital Choir.

Batten’s involvement with Orchestra Wellington provides her with plenty of challenging orchestral repertoire, and she is also a member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band.

A conversation among the three in a corridor sparked a desire to make music together, and led to the formation of Amiki Trio. Amiki in te reo Māori means to tell a story in detail.

The theme of the trio’s Palmerston North concert is tales of love and enchantment.

Ravel’s Enchanted Flute opens the programme. The sensuousness of this piece continues with Debussy’s setting of short poems that narrate the fictional story of Bilitis, a young woman in ancient Greece who explores her sexuality.

The flute sonata of Carl Reinecke is based on a German romantic tale of Undine, a water spirit who longs for an immortal soul.

Three colourful Irish folk songs for voice and flute by American composer John Corigliano will allow concert-goers to be grounded before the programme concludes with Schubert’s The Shepherd on the Rock. A lonely shepherd is on a mountain filled with longing for his absent sweetheart and chooses to make his way to find her.

The Details

What: Amiki Trio

When: Sunday, March 24, 2.30pm

Where: Globe Theatre

Entry: By donation, recommended from $5