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At the World’s Edge Festival is returning to Wānaka for its fourth year of chamber music events, featuring a plethora of internationally-renowned artists performing against the spectacular backdrop we call home.
But what is chamber music, how does one go about attending an ‘At the World’s Edge’ event and what role do they play in our community?
We sat down with AWE founders Justine Cormack and Benjamin Baker to talk about the music, the festival and its connection to Wānaka.
Justine: Chamber music is an intimate conversation, the music of friends. Written specifically for small groups of musicians, chamber music is designed to be performed, heard, and experienced in a close-knit, intimate setting, with the audience just as much a shared and active part of the experience as the musicians themselves.
From duos through to octets, each musician has an individual and influential role in the direction and narrative of the music. This interaction of voices and musical gestures often creates a dialogue similar to a good discussion or debate and gives the listener’s ear the opportunity to participate and decide what to listen to and which thread to follow.
Ben: While new experiences can be challenging, I’d hope that with chamber music a first-timer might feel a sense of wonder, intrigue and curiosity.
Great masterworks of chamber music present a challenge to us, the listeners, to decide what to listen to from a multitude of imaginative avenues; do we sit back and let the rich sounds wash over us? Do we feel drawn by a beautiful melody? Or do we get involved in a more immediate dialogue?
This multi-layered complexity gives us the chance to lose ourselves in the journey of this powerful music and can possibly only be compared with the alluring power of a great novel, painting or film. Chamber music invites us to feel, be overwhelmed and inspired, all while standing in silent awe at the world’s edge, consumed by an emotive experience bigger than ourselves.
There is a deep wealth of chamber music written by inspiring people and artists living today, and reaching back more than 300 years. At the World’s Edge strives to give us a chance to connect with ourselves, others around us, and perhaps even learn and be inspired by the generations that came before us.
Ben: At the World’s Edge’s mission is to connect communities, artists and audiences through the most intimate and concentrated form of music, chamber music, in the awe-inspiring surroundings of the Queenstown Lakes district.
Our natural surroundings, a constant presence looming over us, provide a unique source of energy and inspiration that fuels our performances.
Every AWE festival brings together an intimate group of internationally-renowned musicians for a once-in-a-lifetime ensemble. Over the past three years, it’s been an absolute joy to see each and every one of them energised and excited by this stunning region.
Building on that unique natural force, AWE strives to work with that sense of wonder in every performance while giving our artists a powerful experience that will add fuel to their creative fires.
Justine: We see our role as a force for connectivity between people of all ages and stages, brought together for life-affirming experiences that inspire, challenge and nourish the soul. This happens because of the quality of the musicians and musicianship, the considered and skillful programming, and all performed in Rippon’s gorgeous hall, surrounded by our stunning mountains. The impact on people’s lives is literally awe-inspiring.
When you listen to and watch incredible performances of musicians at the top of their game, you feel things, you dream, new worlds open up. You sit quietly, within yourself, and are taken on a journey. It’s a wonderful way to connect to the here and now.
One of our audience members remarked that a performance she has just witnessed ‘made life worth living’. That life-affirming aspect is so important to us.
Another particular role we play is through our visits to schools, performing to more than two thousand students in the week following the public festival events. Seeing kids’ eyes light up with wonder, hearing new sounds, seeing our younger emerging artists performing with such skill – we hope that our visits to schools inspire kids to express their own creativity and dare to dream.
Ben: Every year we curate our programme around a central theme which leads listeners on a journey through the festival performances and around the stunning Central Lakes region through Wānaka, Cromwell, Bannockburn and Queenstown.
The 2024 theme explores the ‘prism’ of chamber music where classical and folk collide. Every performance offers a different flavour of folk-inspired music, leading us on a tour that includes Hungary and Romania, Klezmer from around the world, to the UK, USA and even the unique sounds of Chinese folk music.
Every performance also features a work by Eve de Castro-Robinson, our highly esteemed 2024 New Zealand composer in residence.
One of my personal favourites from this year is our AWE 2024 festival finale in Wanaka’s Rippon Hall on Sunday 13 October, with a programme inspired by a 19th century tavern, The Red Hedgehog (Gasthaus Zum Roten Igel) – a favourite for musicians around central Europe.
Alongside the world premiere of AWE’s 2024 commission by Eve de Castro-Robinson and works inspired by this creative meeting point, we are looking forward to offering a literal taste of The Red Hedgehog by Rhyme and Reason Brewery.
Justine: At the World’s Edge will be performing at Wānaka’s Rippon Hall on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October, with two programmes offering very different flavours of folk, alongside a free AWE+ event in between. I recommend attending one performance of each programme, then sticking around or coming early for the AWE+ event.
Grab a bite to eat beforehand at one of our delicious cafes or restaurants in town, and if you’re the adventurous type, hire an e-bike to ride along the lakefront to Rippon Winery. Between events, take your time tasting Rippon’s selection of delicious biodynamic wines and wandering around their stunning grounds.
On Saturday 12th October AWE’s programme, Ængles, features a taste of the many folk influences that came to define British folk music in the 20th century with melodies dating back to the 1600s, reimagined through 20th century ears. In between the 4pm & 7pm performances is a special AWE+ free event at 6pm with superstar Kiwi architect Fred van Brandenburg sharing his insights into the powerful link between music and architecture.
To close AWE’s 2024 Festival programme, on Sunday 13 October, Prism, curated around the famous meeting point for classical and folk musicians in 19th century Vienna, The Red Hedgehog Tavern (Gasthaus Zum Roten Igel), offers a world premiere by AWE 2024 composer in residence, Eve de Castro-Robinson and culminates with one of the most powerful and beloved works of chamber music ever written, Schubert’s String Quintet.
A literal taste of The Red Hedgehog Tavern (a favourite dish of Brahms’) will be offered in the interval, and in between the 2pm & 5:30pm performances of Prism there will be a AWE+ free event at 4:30pm featuring our wonderfully inspiring and quirky 2024 composer in residence, Eve de Castro-Robinson. A rare opportunity to get a close and personal insight into this amazing artist.
Justine: My husband and I moved to Wānaka in 2017, fulfilling our dream to live in this stunning part of NZ. My absolute favourite part in fact, having had many summer and winter holidays in Central Otago throughout my life.
We are both performing classical musicians, and we travel a lot for our work, but creating AWE has meant that the focus of my professional life is very much centred here – which is a dream come true.
We both feel so incredibly lucky to live within the gorgeous mountains and landscapes of the area – and without a doubt, we are inspired in our own creativity and self-expression as a result. We love being connected to the seasons, to the weather, to the rhythms of day and night – all things we feel so much more strongly living here, more connected to nature than when we lived in big cities.
We love to visit those cities now, and do so regularly, but feel so incredibly blessed to return home to Wānaka and connect with the calm and inspiring energy of this place. I love the idea that we can share this wonderful place, and the creativity within it, with our audiences at AWE.
Ben: I first came to the Queenstown Lakes to perform in 2013 and was fortunate to return fairly regularly to Wānaka or Queenstown nearly every year since. I was born in Wellington, but left to study music in the UK at a young age. Aotearoa has always felt like home and a dream developed early to start something that showcased NZ’s incredible creativity to the world through music, not just the All Blacks!
Through my touring performances here and the friends made on those trips, I noted that there was a phenomenal opportunity to add to the culture of Wānaka. Justine and I met playing together in the 2017 Michael Hill Violin Competition finals in Auckland, a matter of days before she moved to Central Otago, and we quickly realised that we had a similar dream and vision.
We started chatting after that and in 2018 we began building AWE together, and have spoken on FaceTime (wherever in the world we might both be) for several hours nearly every week since then!
Alongside the events at Rippon in Wānaka, At the World’s Edge will be performing at Te Atamira in Queenstown, Coronation Hall in Bannockburn and Cloudy Bay in Cromwell, as well as throughout our region’s schools. Head to their website to explore the full programme, book your tickets and discover your unique experience of chamber music At the World’s Edge.
