


Ensemble Aaru
Saturday 5 April
Ensemble Aaru is a reed quintet (oboe, bassoon, clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone), with truly international experience formed in 2023. Made up of principal players from the Auckland Philharmonia and some of Aotearoa’s leading freelance players, they have performed as featured artists at the Hamilton Arts Festival and commissioned new works, to great acclaim.
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Programme - Winds to the Fore
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Percy Grainger | Colonial Song
Jeff Scott | Homage to Paradise Valley I, II, III, IV
Claude Debussy | Six Epigraphes antiques I, II, III, IV, V, VI
James Bevin (NZ) | A Rhapsody of Snow
–Interval–
Antonio Vivaldi | Bassoon Concerto in G major
Rosie Langabeer (NZ) | As the mountain folds itself to sleep
George Gershwin | An American in Paris

Their story
​An ensemble with truly international experience, members of the group have played with Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Sweden) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Manchester), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Netherlands) and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra amongst others, as well as all the major New Zealand orchestras.
Competition solo successes include the National Concerto Competition (NZ), Buffet North American Clarinet Competition, Royal Overseas League (London) alongside numerous awards from New Zealand and overseas. Members of the group are active leaders in national music societies including the New Zealand Double Reed Society and NZ Saxophone Society and teach at the University of Auckland and schools throughout Auckland.
The group are graduates of music schools all over the world including Royal Academy of Music (London), Messiaen Academy (Netherlands), Northwestern University (Chicago), Hochschule für Musik Trossingen (Germany), Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester), Hochschule für Musik Mannheim (Germany) University of Auckland and Victoria University, New Zealand School of Music.
Collectively they have appeared at festivals throughout Europe, Asia, North
America, Australia and New Zealand.
The reed quintet was established as a new line up of wind instruments in one ensemble 40 years ago by Calefax Ensemble who toured New Zealand in spring 2024. The group has available to it all the sounds of the symphonic repertoire and beyond. Ensemble Aaru combines what has come before with brand new sounds, reimagining the great repertoire of the past and forging new sounds and music from and of New Zealand. ​