Past Projects

Sonnets Unplugged

In 2010 the NZSO performed an exciting new concert for students. Sonnets Unplugged was a project exploring Shakespeare’s Sonnets featuring a newly commissioned symphonic work This Holy Fire of Love by New Zealand composer Gareth Farr which set 20 of Shakespeares sonnets to original music.

The concert featured acclaimed kiwi actors Rima Te Wiata and Kristian Lavercombe. Accompanying the Sonnets Unplugged concert is a teaching resource for years 9 – 13 exploring the history of the relationship between Shakespeare and Music through an exploration of programmatic music, opera and film. It also includes a module for Drama and English teachers. The production of this resource was made possible by the outstanding support of the Wellington Friends.

School Concerts 2011 – The Composer is Dead

In 2011 there was something ‘deadly’ happening in the concert hall…. our annual Schools Concerts were sell out events and featured the musical murder mystery The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket, with music by Nathaniel Stookey. The question everyone was asking was whodunit?!