The National Music Centre (NMC) is a landmark collaboration between the Wellington City Council, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra—Te Tira Pūoro o Aotearoa and Victoria University’s New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī. It will be anchored by the refurbished Te Whare Whakarauika | Wellington Town Hall, creating a shared vision for world-class music education and performance in the heart of Wellington.
Provost Professor Bryony James, Wellington Mayor Andrew Little, Chair of the National Music Centre fundraising campaign Dame Kerry Prendergast, NZSO Chief Executive Marc Feldman, and head of the NZSM Professor Kim Cunio shared exciting updates about what the public can expect to see in the NMC.
"This process has been about transforming the Town Hall into a modern, accessible, and innovative musical space,” said Mayor Little. “When completed, the National Music Centre will strengthen Wellington's position as the creative capital of Aotearoa and a cultural leader across the Asia-Pacific region.
"It will bring together students, professional musicians, educators, and audiences in a shared space where creativity can flourish. And it will widen access to arts and music for people across our city to ensure that culture is an experience open to all.”
Professor Cunio and Marc Feldman gave a joint presentation on the state-of-the-art facilities that will be used by the NZSO and students from Te Kōki.
“The Adam Auditorium has some of the best acoustics in the world,” Marc said. “I’ve toured the facilities many times over the last few months, and there’s no modern place like it. The combination of a concert hall with great acoustics, a fantastic orchestra, and proximity to the students from the University all in one place makes this a one-of-a-kind space to create music.”
Amongst the unique features of the refurbished space is a Disklavier piano. This high-quality acoustic grand piano is fitted with digital equipment that can faithfully reproduce any recorded piano performance as if the musician was there in the room.
“For example, we could get the piano rolls of Rachmaninoff, convert them to digital, and you could come to a concert and hear Rachmaninoff play Rachmaninoff,” said Professor Cunio. “I mean, how incredible is that? At the NMC, we want to both honour the past and find innovative ways to extend music long into the future.”
He went on to discuss the unparalleled recording quality of the teaching classrooms that will educate the next generation of world-class musicians. Not only will they record audio at an incredibly high resolution, but the cutting-edge technology allows users to isolate specific instruments or musicians in a recording and “zoom in” on that performance.
“We feel it’s very important that this is a place that actually looks to safeguard the music industries,” said Professor Cunio. “We want it to be a dynamic hub, a place that people actually want to go hang out in. We want it to be a place where musicians will make all sorts of music that they couldn't make before. We are opening the gates of the castle to our community, so we want to see the community come in here and use it as much as possible. This is only a National Music Centre if it is never dormant.”
After the presentations, the audience was treated to an arrangement of Amazing Grace by NZSM players David Johnson (trumpet) and Sebastian Dunn (horn) and NZSM MFA/NZSO interns Lena Krakowiak (trumpet), Amy Laithwaite (trombone), and Sam Zhu (tuba).
Dame Kerry Prendergast closed the evening by thanking the community of generous donors and supporters who have played a pivotal role in bringing this once-in-a-generation cultural home to life.
She extended her appreciation to those who had chosen to ‘take their seat’ in the Town Hall. This initiative gives supporters the chance to name a seat in the Town Hall’s beautifully restored Adam Auditorium, either in their own honour or in tribute to someone who has inspired their life.
All gifts received through this initiative directly support the fit-out of the state-of-the-art performance and teaching spaces occupied by the NZSO and NZSM.
Dame Kerry and her family have named a series of seats, and these will stand as a visible tribute to their dedication to the arts.
If you would like to find out more about this opportunity, visit becomeachairholder.co.nz or contact Acting Associate Director, Fundraising Corinne Barnard on 04 463 6952 or corinne.barnard@vuw.ac.nz.