Celebration as top player takes a blow

Violinist Brigitte Balzat will perform in Rotorua this weekend.

Young talent will be celebrated at this Sunday's Opus Orchestra concert.

For the orchestra's final concert of 2014, its partnership with Waikato University's Conservatorium of Music will be celebrated with a performance by violinist Brigitte Balzat.

She is the winner of the University Concerto Competition, and has been a regular member of the orchestra for the past few years.

Balzat will play the esteemed Violin Concerto No5, composed by the 19th century Belgian, Henri Vieuxtemps, along with a series of other famous songs.

Balzat has been playing music since she was 3 and has been involved in concerts for charity and tours across the United States, Australia, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland and Germany with her musical family of nine.

She is in her second year of studying music at the University of Waikato.

Promoter Russell Armitage said the concert was a wonderful opportunity to see a young talented musician perform.

It was not to be missed, he said.

The concert will also feature Mozart's Haffner Symphony and Prokofiev's evocation of a Russian summer and will pay tribute to Professor Marshall Walker, the former dean of the School of Humanities at Waikato University, who died two months ago.

Professor Walker was the author and presenter of a series of award-winning radio programmes called "Letters to Sibelius" and has made a significant contribution to the development of music at the university.

The concert will be held at the Rotorua Convention Centre, from 3pm.

Details

What: Opus Orchestra Concert.
Where: Rotorua Convention Centre, Rotorua.
When: Sunday, from 3pm.
Cost: Adult $40, senior $35, tertiary students $15. Under 18s free.