About us
About the Martinborough Music Festival Trust
The Martinborough Music Festival Trust Board is a registered charitable trust under the Charities Act 2005 (CC57607). We have 6 volunteer trustees: Mike Armour (Chair and Treasurer), Andrew Morrison, Marion Townend, Mike Armour, Rosemary Brown, Sharon Cuzens and Scilla Askew ONZM. Our Artistic Directors are Wilma Smith MNZM and Donald Armstrong.
About the Festival
Our main activity is the Martinborough Music Festival which brings the very best chamber musicians from New Zealand and around the world to the village of Martinborough in September each year for a series of exceptional concerts over 3 days in the Martinborough Town Hall. Our aim is to make the Martinborough Music Festival the best little chamber music festival in New Zealand.
How we started
The idea of an annual classical music festival in Martinborough came from Ian Cresswell, the founder of Jazz in Martinborough, back in 2010. Ian wanted a sister festival featuring classical music, but 2 things were missing back then: the right kind of venue, and a piano that might attract soloists of the highest calibre.
The problem of a venue was solved with the upgrade of the Martinborough Town Hall, although for the first 2 years (2017 and 2018), the Festival was based at St Andrew’s Church Hall. Since 2019 the Festival has been presented in the lovely acoustic of the Martinborough Town Hall. When music teacher, Cherry Van Kranen passed away in 2016, a few weeks after her 90th birthday, we were pleased to be able to fulfill her wish that her cherished Schimmel piano be used by the Martinborough community. Purchased in the 1980s, it was her pride and joy, and she played it well into her late 80s.
Our community outreach
Every year we organise other activities in our community including concerts in schools, workshops for young musicians, and, most years, a talk hosted by Medici Café about an aspect of the Festival programming. We collaborate with other organisations in the Wairarapa to encourage wider engagement with the arts.
We are also guardians of the Schimmel grand piano which was gifted to the Martinborough community by Cherry van Kranen (1925–2016). It features in every Festival.
