Ashley Brown has two ways of talking about NZTrio, the chamber ensemble he co-founded 23 years ago: the “it” and the “us”. The “it” is an abstraction, Brown standing back and taking stock. The “us” is the group close up, through Brown’s own eyes.
“The everyday experience is personal,” he explains. “You’re at the coal face, you’re three musicians getting into the music. It’s when you’re doing strategic planning, or in moments like this, that you zoom out and consider from afar.”
This moment is Brown’s exit interview; the cellist is leaving NZTrio and colleagues Amalia Hall and Somi Kim. There are some collaborative shows to play first – The Veils, school appearances, but his last NZTrio-presented concerts are four “Groove Cafe” performances in Auckland and Hamilton. Brown leaves as he began, with Gareth Farr’s music appearing in the cellist’s final NZTrio concert, as it did in his first. Farr has been a staple of the trio’s repertoire, and anyone who has followed the group’s career will be aware of its history of support for New Zealand music. Between them, Brown, Hall, Kim and the trio’s co-founders, Justine Cormack and Sarah Watkins, have achieved as much as – more than? – any group to promote our own composers.
“I clearly remember the conversation Justine, Sarah and I had when we were deciding on our name,” Brown recalls. “We talked about our values, what we hoped to do. For us it was about being part of the cultural landscape, being role models, showing that it’s possible to grow up here and be professional musicians. Playing New Zealand music was a natural result of those feelings about our identity.”
But why leave now? Brown mentions a bunch of things: a desire to try something new, that 23 years in any job is a long time, the effects of Covid on the group’s international profile, personal stuff about family and being super busy (Brown is also principal cello with Auckland Philharmonia). Plus, he just thinks it’s time, that he’s achieved everything he can with the group.
“I think the trio’s in a really good space,” he notes, turning to “it” mode. “It’s carved out a niche among audiences, it has a clear identity and purpose and created something that wasn’t there before.”
What, though, will it be like sitting in the audience as an ordinary punter?
“I hope that when I get over myself and go to NZTrio concerts that I won’t feel jealous or that I’m missing out but just feel that this is cool.” Bursting into laughter, he adds, “I hope I will be magnanimous enough to be able to do that.”
Groove Cafe, NZTrio, Auckland and Hamilton, February 22 to March 17. See NZTrio.com for details.
