Sounds of music in a beautiful marae setting

What: Mozart and More on the Marae. Who: Aratiatia String Quartet, Sergio Marshall French Horn. Where: Fairfield Community Marae, When: Sunday November 26 2023 Reviewer: Russell Armitage

I’m sure that there are many residents in this fine burgeoning, booming city of ours Kirikiriroa/hamilton, who are unaware of one of its gems: the wharenui, Te Iho Rangi, at the Fairfield College Community Marae. When I first saw it, only about three years ago, my immediate reaction was that here was a hidden Sistine Chapel right in our midst! Unknown by most. It needed fine music in it.

Fortunately, since 2021 the marae committee have presented a concert of European classical music there about once a year. Beautiful music in a beautiful building.

I was at the third concert in this special place on Sunday. Entitled Mozart and More on the Marae. The wharenui was full.

For this concert a string quartet had been especially formed, mainly from local players, and had been gifted the name of the marae to call themselves by – the Aratiatia String Quartet - so this first concert by them was a very special occasion.

Local French horn player Sergio Marshall joined the quartet to perform two works. A lovely Romance by Michael Haydn, younger brother of Joseph, a real rarity and probably its first performance in this country. Then Mozart’s Quintet for French Horn and Strings, considered the finest composition for this combination. Sergio played with great assurance and aplomb and the difficult passages just cascaded from him, filling the wharenui with his golden sound.

For the first concert in 2021 local composer Michael Williams was asked to write a short piece for string quartet as a tribute to the wharenui. The main work for the string quartet alone, which opened the concert, was Joseph Haydn’s glorious Lark Quartet. The first bars are pure magic and the lead violinist, Harris Leung spun this melody, which gives the quartet its name, with great beauty and feeling. The entire quartet played as a well-integrated ensemble with a level of musicianship of surprising excellence given how recently it had been formed. Their playing delighted the enthusiastic audience. After the concert the kaitiaki marae Eddie Nēha explained the meanings of some of the splendid carvings in the wharenui. It was a pleasure to see that many more people in the audience had had the opportunity to discover this once hidden gem here in Kirikiriroa. So I hope that these wonderful concerts in this beautiful place will become a regular event to allow more to do so.

A concert of European classical music in a traditional Māori wharenui seems a most unlikely combination. But it works so well. And it works for this simple reason - both are taonga – one from each of our cultures. Beautiful music in a beautiful building.

We are very privileged in this country, and particularly the Waikato, to be able to have the benefit of this perfect partnership. Unique to Aotearoa.

A ka mau tonu ake ake

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