Our 2024 Festival

We had a happy and busy Festival with all the concerts sold out or close to full. The word seems to be spreading and we welcomed people from around New Zealand and overseas. The fabulous and adventurous programme was, once again, performed by musicians with passion and amazing virtuosity.

Friendship was bit of theme in this year’s programme with several works written for, or inspired by friendships between composers and musicians. And there was also a distinct Finnish influence in our artists and repertoire. This inspired the colours and logo for the 2024 Festival, which was based on the northern lights.

We also believe 3­, possibly 4, of the works were New Zealand premieres: Bacewicz, Adès, Kuusisto and Sibelius.

Community outreach

Our community programme reached nearly 1,000 students from Wairarapa schools, as well as, for the first time, offering a day-long workshop for young string players from the Wairarapa Youth Orchestra.

We also welcomed Jenny McLeod’s biographer, Norm Meehan to Martinborough in August to give the annual Medici Lecture ahead of hearing her work Clouds in the Festival.

Mike Armour joined the Trust as our new treasurer.