Featured Activities
AWE FESTIVAL 2024 | Chamber Music Festival in the Southern Alps
QUEENSTOWN LAKES | 5-18 October
At the World’s Edge is a chamber music festival inspired by its roots in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Exploring the prism of our collective identity, this year’s festival spans seven programmes across Queenstown, Wānaka, Bannockburn and Cromwell, with folk music at its core and additional free events and experiences throughout.
With spectacular sounds against majestic scapes, experience the power of chamber music in New Zealand alongside internationally renowned musicians, lifelong enthusiasts, and curious adventurers alike. More than a series of live music events, we are a platform for the arts in our region and a spark for creativity to come.
1 | DISPERSION Sat 5 Oct | 4pm & 7pm Te Atamira, Queenstown Adults $70 | Students $25
AWE 2024 opens with Dispersion, an eclectic programme that delves into the colourful intersection where folk music and classical music meet.
Sergei Prokofiev String Quartet No.2 “Kabardinian”
Bright Sheng Concertino for clarinet and string quartet
Eve de Castro-Robinson This liquid drift of light for solo piano
Béla Bartók Piano Quintet
2 | FANTAZI Sun 6 Oct | 2pm & 5pm Coronation Hall, Bannockburn Adults $70 | Students $25
A programme inspired by Klezmer music, or Jewish folk music, presenting a deeply expressive musical language. Featuring everything from thought-provoking introspective pieces to toe-tapping tunes.
Paul Schoenfeld Trio for clarinet, violin and piano
Eve de Castro-Robinson Split the Lark for violin and piano
Osvaldo Golijov The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for clarinet and string quartet
Sergei Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Melodies for clarinet, string quartet and piano
3 | OUT OF DOORS Mon 7 Oct | 7:30pm Te Atamira, Queenstown Adults $70 | Students $25
A special piano-focused programme with Hungarian Festival Artist Daniel Lebhardt bringing a piece of his heritage to AWE. This launches us on a journey across Europe, starting in Hungary and looking westwards with folk melodies, ancient and contemporary, from England to the USA.
Béla Bartók Three Rondos on Slovak Folk Tunes
Béla Bartók Out of Doors, interspersed with selections of Eve de Castro-Robinson’s a zigzagged gaze
Béla Bartók Rhapsody No.1 for violin and piano
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (arr. Maud Powell) Deep River from 24 Negro Melodies, op.59 for violin and piano
Thomas Tomkins A Sad Pavan for These Distracted Tymes
Percy Grainger Walking Tune, Spoon River and Shepherd’s Hey
4 | EQUINOX Thur 10 Oct | 6pm Cloudy Bay Shed, Cromwell Limited Release | $135
AWE’s special evening with music and wine, Equinox explores folk influences in classical music and the natural opposition of light and dark. This is realised through performances that transition between daylight, twilight, and nighttime within the stunning surrounds of the Cloudy Bay Shed in Cromwell.
Johannes Brahms Hymne zur Verherrlichung des großen Joachim (Hymne for the great Joachim) for two violins and cello
Salina Fisher Hikari for solo violin
Sergei Prokofiev Sonata for two violins, op.56
Eve de Castro-Robinson Commemoration for solo cello
Huw Watkins String trio, AWE co-commission, NZ Premiere
Ernő Dohnányi Serenade for String Trio, op.10
During the evening, Festival Director Justine Cormack will also host a Q&A with this year’s Composer in Residence, Eve de Castro-Robinson.
5 | REFRACTION Fri 11 Oct | 7:30pm Te Atamira, Queenstown Adults $70 | Students $25
Our third Queenstown programme is a playful exploration of Eastern and Western folk influences. Set at Te Atamira, the creative confluence of the Queenstown community, we explore the composer and their musical creation as a prism, a conduit for us to connect with both ourselves and the richly cultured world around us.
Witold Lutosławski Subito for violin and piano
Estella Wallace, AWE 2024 Emerging Composer New Work
Eve de Castro-Robinson Undercurrents for solo clarinet
Béla Bartók Contrasts for violin, clarinet, and piano
Johannes Brahms Clarinet Quintet in b minor, Op.115
6 | ÆNGLES Sat 12 Oct | 4pm & 7pm Rippon, Wānaka Adults $70 | Students $25
Our Wānaka weekend opens in the Rippon Hall with Ængles, a programme exploring the melting pot of folk influences that came to define the sounds of the United Kingdom in the 20th century.
Benjamin Britten String Quartet No.1
Eve de Castro-Robinson Tumbling Strains for violin and cello
Percy Grainger Molly on the Shore for string quartet
Frank Bridge An Irish Melody ‘The Londonderry Air’ for string quartet
Peter Maxwell-Davies A Sad Pavan for These Distracted Tymes for string quartet
Vaughan Williams Phantasy Quintet for strings
7 | PRISM Sun 13 Oct | 2pm & 5:30pm Rippon, Wānaka Adults $80 | Students $35
The closing concert of AWE 2024 features the world premiere of Composer in Residence, Eve de Castro-Robinson’s Earth’s Eye. The programme takes inspiration from a famous connecting point for artists in 19th century Vienna – the Gasthaus Zum Roten Igel (The Red Hedgehog), celebrated with tasty morsels from the Gasthaus itself (included in ticket price).
Felix Mendelssohn Four Pieces for String Quartet, op.110
Eve de Castro-Robinson Earth’s Eye for clarinet, violin, viola and cello, AWE 2024 Commission, World Premiere
Franz Schubert String Quintet in C Major, D.956
AWE 2024 Festival Artists: Benjamin Baker (NZ/UK), Violin Justine Cormack (NZ), Violin Alexi Kenney (USA), Violin Marike Krupp (Estonia/UK), Violin Lorna Zhang (NZ), VIolin Bryony Gibson Cornish (NZ/UK), Viola Serenity Thrulow (NZ), Viola Sterling Elliott (USA), Cello Ian Greenberg (USA/NZ), Cello Julian Bliss (UK), Clarinet Daniel Lebhardt (Hungary/UK), Piano Madeleine Xiao (NZ), Piano Morgan Pearse (NZ/UK), Baritone Deborah Wai Kapohe (NZ), Soprano.
AWE 2024 Composer in Residence is Eve de Castro-Robinson (NZ)
Visit www.worldsedgefestival.com for further programme details, full artist information, multiple free performances and events to deepen the AWE experience.
