Violin virtuoso Wilma Smith and friends to play in Whanganui

Alexandra Partridge (cello), Andrew Leathwick (piano), Wilma Smith (violin) and Caroline Henbest (viola) will play in Whanganui on Tuesday.

Wilma Smith is described as a "legendary Kiwi violinist" although Australia, the US and her birth country of Fiji also have legitimate claims.

Born in Suva, she moved with her family to Auckland as a child and went on to study at Auckland University where her talent earned her early experience with the Auckland Symphonia (now Philharmonia) and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Smith and her 1761 Guadagnini violin have enhanced the Lydian String Quartet, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Harvard Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

She has played masterclasses with the likes of Josef Gingold, Yehudi Menuhin and Sándor Végh.

Smith is the former Concertmaster of both the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as well as a founding member of the New Zealand String Quartet.

Chamber Music New Zealand (CMNZ) has arranged for Smith to perform with her friend Caroline Henbest (who may be familiar as principal viola with the Australian Chamber Orchestra), along with two up and coming Kiwi musicians who have stormed the National Academy of Music in Melbourne in recent years, Alexandra Partridge (cello) and Andrew Leathwick (piano), at the Prince Edward Auditorium on Tuesday night as part of an 11-date New Zealand tour.

"Every year Wilma puts together three different groups of musical friends she thinks might create some exciting chemistry and they put together programmes full of variety and appeal," says Whanganui CMNZ organiser Ingrid Culliford. "From premières to revered masterpieces and undiscovered gems from every musical era."

A special feature of this tour is the inclusion of a new work especially written for the group by their pianist.

The circumstances of the commission arose out of a chance meeting with Smith at a tram stop in Melbourne in 2015 where he struck up a conversation and invited her to attend an upcoming recital showcasing some of his compositions.

Given free rein in writing this work, Leathwick feels that it might be most influenced by the sound of the Russian Romantics and perhaps also some "dashes of Greek folk music".

Catch this brand new work, alongside favourites of the piano quartet repertoire by Beethoven, and Dvořák.

Ms Culliford says this will be the final subscription concert in the 2017 series, presented by Chamber Music Wanganui and it is specifically sponsored by The Grand Hotel, along with funding from Creative Communities Whanganui.

Wilma & Friends: Prince Edward Auditorium, Wanganui Collegiate School, Tuesday, October 10 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Royal Wanganui Opera House, or at the door (no eftpos). Adults $35, Seniors $32, CMW subscribers $20 (or prepaid), students $5.