PAST CONCERTS

REVIEW OF OCTOBER 2024 CONCERT

A Little Pastoral Serenade

This concert was played to a capacity audience – the loyal following of the orchestra and some possibly drawn by the opportunity to see and hear harpist Ingrid Bauer perform the Rodrigo Concierto Serenata. They might well become regulars.

REVIEW OF SEPTEMBER 2024 CONCERT

Mozart Larks

Performing to an enthusiastic audience & full house created a great “Vibe” at the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra Concert on Sunday. Michael Joel conducted, with violinist Lara Hall performing Mozart’s 4th Violin Concerto and Vaughan Williams' A Lark Ascending, as well as conducting the first movement of Lilburn Diversions for String Orchestra

REVIEW OF AUGUST 2024 CONCERT

Franz Meets Wolfgang

On a squally Auckland Winters Day, the brave who ventured out were rewarded at St Matthew’s in the City. St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra, along with soloist Sylvia Jiang & conductor Euan Safey, transported us on a journey starting in the 1950’s NZ, with the Dorothy Freed Suite for String Orchestra, through Mozart's Piano Concerto No 25 and culminating in Schubert's Symphony No 5

REVIEW OF JUNE 2024 CONCERT

Brilliant Beethoven and Thrilling Tchaikovsky

A programme of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky was likely to attract a sizeable audience, but the reputation of Matthias Balzat as soloist and David Sharp as conductor guaranteed it.

REVIEW OF MAY 2024 CONCERT

Diedre's Beethoven

What a magical trio of works which made up the second of St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra’s 2024 Subscription series. Conductor Michael Joel, always popular with the orchestra and audience, was at his very best. Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with Diedre Irons as soloist was riveting. The orchestra continues to amaze with its responsiveness, sensitivity and technical skill

REVIEW OF MARCH 2024 CONCERT

A Stunning Afternoon

The near-capacity audience at The Dancing Violin, the first concert in the 2024 season, were treated to a stunning afternoon. Harris Leung was a superb concert master and David Kay, conducted with a brisk beat, his warm rapport with the players, very obvious. Edouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole Op. 21 brought Martin Riseley, one of New Zealand’s greatest violin talents, to the podium. It was a tour de force and received with rapturous applause

REVIEW OF OCTOBER 2023 CONCERT

Beethoven’s Triple

St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra’s 2023 Subscription series has been a memorable one, and without detracting from the wonders we have heard in the first five in the series, this final concert will remain vivid in the mind for a long time.

REVIEW OF SEPTEMBER 2023 CONCERT

Sweet Sadness

While the concert was titled Sweet Sadness, the latest SMCO concert conducted by Michael Joel, had plenty of jollity and light in a very varied programme.

REVIEW OF AUGUST 2023 CONCERT

Oboe Brilliance

A highly successful concert, featuring a SMCO-commissioned work by Louise Webster, played with brilliance by NZ oboist Thomas Hutchinson. Conducted by Michael Joel, the orchestra also played a lively early Mozart symphony, and Mendelssohn's jubilant Italian symphony.

REVIEW OF JUNE 2023 CONCERT

Classical Grace and Elegance

St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra’s previous concert saw its audience and players well entrenched in 20th century jazz idioms. In this, their latest performance, we were back in the late-eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century. Michael Joel, the orchestra’s musical director, is a great favourite with musicians and audience, and brought all the grace and charm of Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Schubert to a very appreciative audience.