Beethoven Dance, full of NoNos
What have the Haka, Beethoven Sonatas, Dance and Visual arts in common? “Very little”, you may say, but Art Zegelaar and Alys Hughes think differently. It is not the first time the two have come together. Two years ago they worked together in an Evening filling programme around ‘a Journey to the Midsummer Garden’ to the music of Chanson de Geste, by Whangarei based teacher and composer Art Zegelaar and Choreographer and Teacher Alys Hughes.
Even a third party to that production Eva Matthews has co-operated again, but this time she has produced the visual arts, which will be projected on stage.
Beethoven himself sought to push further boundaries and in his symphonies he looked for ever more means of expression. Art therefore assumes that if someone has a problem with the Beethoven Dance production of Sunday 6th and Monday 7th March 2011 it surely would not have been Beethoven.
“It has been an exiting period”, says Art who has worked the full range of Piano Sonatas by Beethoven over the past one and a half year, “Beethoven’s development is so exiting to follow and Beethoven really has done it all, from traditional clean Sonata form to a free ‘leit-motiv’ based form of composition. But always the music is dance- like with ever longer musical lines.
Alys Hughes, who creates exiting modern choreographies, has the same idea. “Give me a piece of music and I will set to work”. For example, she found an excellent vehicle for her exiting box choreography in the last movement of Beethoven’s Theresa Sonata, for no reason not known very well.
When the dancers are not on the stage, visual arts will be projected behind some of Beethoven’s movements and at other times it is only the piano, which will draw the attention to many of the most beautiful movements of Sonatas like Moonlight, Pathetique, Tempest, Appassionata and Waldstein.
Because Beethoven is Dance, but then it isn’t.
Beethoven concert set to break all the rules
A live performance of some of Beethoven’s most loved piano sonatas by Whangarei-based composer, teacher and concert pianist, Art Zigelaar, will feature some interesting twists.
For one thing, the early-evening concert on January 16 will take place in the garden of Pompallier Mission, the NZ Historic Places Trust property in Russell.
The second twist is that one of the sonatas will be performed with accompaniment from the Russell Primary School kapa haka group.
“I’ll be playing the second movement of Beethoven’s Sonata, opus 101 at the concert – which is quite a fierce, warlike piece of music,” says Art.
“This piece provides the perfect musical backdrop for the kapa haka group to bring a completely new perspective to this sonata for the audience. The kids are tremendous performers in their own right, so the result is sure to be very exciting,” he says.
The Netherlands-born musician studied composition and performance at Liverpool University, and has an impressive recording history. Proceeds from the Picnic will go towards his Northland students’ studies.Art is looking forward to playing at Pompallier Mission once again, and is keen for the open-air performance to be a celebration of some of Beethoven’s finest works.
“We want people to make an evening of it and – literally – picnic with Beethoven at Pompallier Mission,” he says.
Tickets to Picnic With Beethoven are available from Pompallier Mission or the tourist Information Centres in Russell and Paihia. Bookings can also be made through Pompallier Mission (Ph 09-403-9015 or email pompallier@historic.org.nz). Tickets cost $40 per adult and $5 for students and children. An alternative wet weather venue will be arranged if required on the day.
Pompallier Mission is open daily except Christmas Day. The Strand, Russell, Bay of Islands, Ph 09-403-9015
