Okta Goes to Europe

A concert by Okta, the University's specialist contemporary music ensemble, has been selected for sending to the European Broadcasting Union by Radio New Zealand Concert.

The concert took place in the Gallagher Concert Chamber at the WEL Academy of Performing Arts in May 2006, and was recorded live by Radio NZ Concert for later broadcast on its New Zealand network.

It was a very international concert, involving guest performers Timothy Deighton, a violist from Pennsylvania, Carrie Koffman, a saxophonist from Boston, and Richard Nunns, a specialist performer on traditional Maori instruments, who is based in Nelson. Works performed came from the United States and Europe. But of key interest were two new pieces written especially for the event by Hamilton composers Martin Lodge and Michael Williams. Both of these works called for the live manipulation of the music by laptop computer, with the resulting sound being projected into the concert chamber where it mixed with the live sounds coming directly from the players.

In May this year Martin Lodge, artistic co-director of Okta was contacted by Kate Mead, Production Manager for Radio NZ Concert. She was seeking permission to offer the whole concert to the European Broadcasting Union as part of an international exchange programme. 'We were very impressed with the programming and performances and pleased with the recording as a whole', she said. 'To date date we've only offered recordings to the EBU of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia and Chamber Music NZ, but this year one or two other events have been suggested'.

Martin Lodge is delighted the Okta concert recording will find a wide and discerning international audience. 'It's brilliant exposure for New Zealand music, for the superb Gallagher Concert Chamber, for Hamilton city and for Waikato University' he says. He notes that the concert was made possible by a combination of support from Waikato University, Penn State University, the Fulbright Foundation and Radio New Zealand.

Now in its fifth year of mounting innovative and surprising concerts of new music, Okta has moved onto the international stage.