21/03/2024
I am so happy to see the 2023 world premiere of "Child of the Sun" is now published by SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music in March 2024! This project took nearly 3 months from conception (during my Asian concert tour in June 2023 so the initial organising was mostly on the planes or at hotels in between concerts, followed by my NZ concert tour -- there were so many messages and emails going back and forth) to completion (the world premiere in mid Sept 2023). This concert was part of my online Km100nz festival in Nov 2023 to celebrate the centenary of New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923).
Special thanks to my duo partner, Dunedin-based mezzo soprano Tessa Romano for her remarkable interpretations of the songs and the speed of learning all 19 new songs in such a short time! Also many thanks to Anthony Ritchie and Andrew Perkins for their support and assistance in making this concert possible, and hats off to the SOUNZ crew and Marama Hall audio engineer!
I would also like to congratulate the following 12 NZ composers who participated in this project, setting so many of Katherine Mansfield's poems to music all at once! I feel so grateful that we all shared the same vision of celebrating our very own KM in new NZ songs... and the resulting songs are all unique and very beautiful... We might be publishing recordings and the scores as a book at a later stage... and hopefully Tessa and I will get invited to perform this programme around NZ and overseas... to get NZ music heard everywhere in the world!
Peter Adams
Yvette Audain
Ross Carey
Ben Fernandez
Thomas Goss
David Hamilton
Janet Jennings, Composer
Nigel Keay
Michael Norris
Andrew Perkins
Anthony Ritchie
Kenneth Young
To make it easy, I've compiled all the links related to Child of the Sun below. Please feel free to share this post. I am taking a break from festivals this year (2024 festival plan has been postponed till 2026 for a big one to celebrate Antipodean music, and 2025 will be again spent celebrate my dear Alexander Scriabin's 110th).
https://youtu.be/vJ6KQarLmsw (Child of the Sun SOUNZ trailer)
https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/childofthesun (Concert Programme Notes)
https://youtu.be/vJ6KQarLmsw?si=9bIHvcfXjFyfzKWZ (Perfomer Intro Sherry & Tessa)
https://youtu.be/So0Qt8MO9Ws (Composer Intro 1st Half)
https://youtu.be/Ulv1k7sYA8w?si=stjF5DzbWEDQG1NB (Composer Intro 2nd Half)
https://youtu.be/eYjg9g7NLyU (World Premiere Concert 1st Half)
https://youtu.be/9FhBzUTRZaE (World Premiere Concert 2nd Half)
https://www.odt.co.nz/the-star/concerts-honour-mansfield%E2%80%99s-life-work� (Otago Daily Times The Star - Interview 1)
https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/music/concert-excuse-celebrate (Otago Daily Times - Interview 2)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/three-to-seven/audio/2018912048/sherry-grant-katherine-mansfield-and-me (RNZ Interview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Y2pd_KXgo (Vienna Live Interview)
https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/music/beauty-writing-shown-through-piano-voice� (ODT Concert Review)
This year I am taking a short break from holding festival, as I would like to give myself more time to plan the next two... Scriabin 110 (in Joe Patrych's memory and also to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Scriabin Society of America) in Nov 2025 and Alfred Hill/Edwin Carr Double Festival to celebrate Antipodean music, arts and poetry. This year I will focus on my upcoming South American concert tour of "Vio-Latino" with Dutch violist Emlyn Stam, and the world premiere of these 10 South American born composers (who are currently scattered around the world outisde of South America) will be performed at the 49th INTERNATIONAL VIOLA CONGRESS 2024 - CAMPINAS - BRAZIL in July 2024! "Vio-Latino" will be presented in a multimedia fashion, just like my Catch23 concert series!
https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/vio-latino
https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/catch23
Katherine Mansfield travelled alone from her homeland Wellington, New Zealand to London in 1908 at the young age of 19, determined to become a writer. Having...
