Ingrid Culliford Flute Recital

Bringing Song to A Songless Land

Sunday 31 January, 6pm

Admission by donation.

Over a year ago, when Ingrid Culliford saw Sue Cooke’s LONG HEE LEE mural, the centrepiece of her exhibition ‘A Songless Land’, she immediately felt inspired by the idea of a solo flute recital to take place in front of this extraordinary and evocative work. The Eastern Southland Gallery is proud to be presenting this one-off concert.

 

Ingrid Culliford has been involved with the flute since the age of 10. Culliford's musical talent took her to London as an 18 year old with a scholarship to study at The Royal Academy of Music. After graduating she spent 23 years living and working in London as a free-lance flautist and teacher. During her time there she performed with the London Sinfonietta, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and the Academy of St Martin-in-the–Fields, recorded regularly for BBC Radio 3 and was professor of flute at Trinity College.

 

Since returning to NZ with her young family in 1994, Ms Culliford has given many solo and concerto performances and is a recording artist for Concert FM. She played regularly with the Auckland based contemporary music group 175 East and as a casual extra with the NZSO. In addition Culliford tutors privately and is an examiner.

 

In 2015 she was awarded the Marie Vanderwart Memorial Award for commitment to fostering the love of Chamber Music and was appointed MNZM in the 2019 New Year Honours list for service to music and education.

 

The flute is often used as musical expression of birdsong, nature and invocation and can create a magical range of colours, textures and timbres. The programme will be made up of a variety of classical and modern compositions starting with Debussy's ‘Syrinx’ which is the story of Pan and the nymph Syrinx and the creation of the reed flute, followed by NZ composer Anthony Ritchie's ‘Tui’ which directly draws on tui song recorded in Dunedin. Other pieces will include a soundscape by Japanese composer Fukushima, Jean Rivier’s ‘Oiseaux Tendres’ and Bach’s ‘Sarabande’. The 60 minute recital will end with an item by another NZ composer, Helen Fisher – ‘Te Tangi a te matui’. Written in 1986, the piece is based on a Maori karakia whose title may be translated as ‘the call of the matui’ (an extinct NZ bird). This is first sung, then blended with the sound of the flute, drawing on the sounds of the koauau. It is a very evocative and a beautiful way to finish a journey of sound through A Songless Land.