Newsletter September 2024 from Lynne and Brigid
Dear members and supporters
First up, a reminder about our forthcoming concert at 4 pm on Sunday 6 October, featuring well-known Wellington baroque ensemble, The Queen’s Closet and talented high school group, The Hillbillies.
The venue is St Anne’s Anglican Church, corner of Northland and Randwick Roads in Northland, Wellington. Drinks and nibbles will be available after the concert. Please join us!
The Queen’s Closet will talk about and demonstrate their approach to performance. The Hillbillies will perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major (Movements I and IV).
This will be our last event for the year. A huge thank you to the many people who have supported our 2024 programme. It’s been a fantastic year with much talent nurtured and on show. We allocated 8 awards, provided coaching for 70 students (19 groups) in Kāpiti and Wellington during May and curated a joyful youth concert held on 26 July at St Andrew’s on The Terrace featuring 58 young musicians.
On 30 May we supported 263 primary students and their teachers from St Bernadette’s and Linden schools to attend a school’s concert at the Michael Fowler Centre, presented by the NZSO. Well-known UK animateur Rachel Leach held 1800 students spellbound for an hour while she narrated and brought alive the story of the Firebird performed by the orchestra. Truly an inspiring event.
In July, we sponsored three Wellington-based NZSO National Youth Orchestra members for the annual NYO season, which performed two concerts this year in Wellington and Palmerston North under the baton of conductor Tianyi Lu.
The committee would like to acknowledge and thank our hard-working Treasurer for the past five years, Annette Lendrum, who has recently stepped down from this role. Her replacement is Thu Phuong Truong, who is an Associate Professor in Accounting at Victoria University. She and her family are keen concert goers and supporters of music. Welcome Phuong!
A very sad note for us has been the recent passing of our Founder Valerie Rhodes. Valerie died quite suddenly on 10 August at the age of 92. Valerie founded Music Futures in 2012 along with a group of dedicated people including one of our current committee members, Brigid O’Meeghan. She was inaugural chair until 2017 when Lynne took over. Current committee members Larry Reese and Lynne Dovey paid tribute to Valerie at her funeral, held at St Andrew’s on The Terrace, where she was an active member.
Valerie had a most impressive track record of voluntary work, including Chair of Friends of NZSO, Chair of the Wellington Branch of the NZ Federation of Business and Professional Women, and Chair of the New Horizons for Women Trust. She was a formidable organiser and fundraiser for these organisations and for Music Futures.
We were thrilled that Valerie and Alan were able to attend our youth concert on 26 July where we were able to acknowledge Valerie’s contribution. She wrote the following words to Lynne immediately after the concert: ‘Congratulations to you and all the Music Futures’ team for staging such a glorious concert. Year after year, we hear such wonderful performances, and it gives me hope for the future of music in NZ’. Valerie will be much missed.
In closing we want to mention once again how important your financial support is to Music Futures. While we receive some grant funding from TG McCarthy Trust and Mokoia Masonic Trust, we rely hugely on your help to fund our annual programme.
If you wish to pay your annual member subscription, we will count that till the end of 2025. Membership is $25 per year per individual. You can also make a tax deductible donation.
Please pay direct to our bank account and send us an email with your details, especially if you would like a receipt: [email protected]
Account name: Music Futures Inc
Account number: 38 9012 0747102 00
We look forward to seeing you on 6 October.
Kind regards
Lynne Dovey and Brigid O’Meeghan
Music Futures committee
Dear members and supporters
First up, a reminder about our forthcoming concert at 4 pm on Sunday 6 October, featuring well-known Wellington baroque ensemble, The Queen’s Closet and talented high school group, The Hillbillies.
The venue is St Anne’s Anglican Church, corner of Northland and Randwick Roads in Northland, Wellington. Drinks and nibbles will be available after the concert. Please join us!
The Queen’s Closet will talk about and demonstrate their approach to performance. The Hillbillies will perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major (Movements I and IV).
This will be our last event for the year. A huge thank you to the many people who have supported our 2024 programme. It’s been a fantastic year with much talent nurtured and on show. We allocated 8 awards, provided coaching for 70 students (19 groups) in Kāpiti and Wellington during May and curated a joyful youth concert held on 26 July at St Andrew’s on The Terrace featuring 58 young musicians.
On 30 May we supported 263 primary students and their teachers from St Bernadette’s and Linden schools to attend a school’s concert at the Michael Fowler Centre, presented by the NZSO. Well-known UK animateur Rachel Leach held 1800 students spellbound for an hour while she narrated and brought alive the story of the Firebird performed by the orchestra. Truly an inspiring event.
In July, we sponsored three Wellington-based NZSO National Youth Orchestra members for the annual NYO season, which performed two concerts this year in Wellington and Palmerston North under the baton of conductor Tianyi Lu.
The committee would like to acknowledge and thank our hard-working Treasurer for the past five years, Annette Lendrum, who has recently stepped down from this role. Her replacement is Thu Phuong Truong, who is an Associate Professor in Accounting at Victoria University. She and her family are keen concert goers and supporters of music. Welcome Phuong!
A very sad note for us has been the recent passing of our Founder Valerie Rhodes. Valerie died quite suddenly on 10 August at the age of 92. Valerie founded Music Futures in 2012 along with a group of dedicated people including one of our current committee members, Brigid O’Meeghan. She was inaugural chair until 2017 when Lynne took over. Current committee members Larry Reese and Lynne Dovey paid tribute to Valerie at her funeral, held at St Andrew’s on The Terrace, where she was an active member.
Valerie had a most impressive track record of voluntary work, including Chair of Friends of NZSO, Chair of the Wellington Branch of the NZ Federation of Business and Professional Women, and Chair of the New Horizons for Women Trust. She was a formidable organiser and fundraiser for these organisations and for Music Futures.
We were thrilled that Valerie and Alan were able to attend our youth concert on 26 July where we were able to acknowledge Valerie’s contribution. She wrote the following words to Lynne immediately after the concert: ‘Congratulations to you and all the Music Futures’ team for staging such a glorious concert. Year after year, we hear such wonderful performances, and it gives me hope for the future of music in NZ’. Valerie will be much missed.
In closing we want to mention once again how important your financial support is to Music Futures. While we receive some grant funding from TG McCarthy Trust and Mokoia Masonic Trust, we rely hugely on your help to fund our annual programme.
If you wish to pay your annual member subscription, we will count that till the end of 2025. Membership is $25 per year per individual. You can also make a tax deductible donation.
Please pay direct to our bank account and send us an email with your details, especially if you would like a receipt: [email protected]
Account name: Music Futures Inc
Account number: 38 9012 0747102 00
We look forward to seeing you on 6 October.
Kind regards
Lynne Dovey and Brigid O’Meeghan
Music Futures committee
