Ensemble Aaru
Saturday 5 April
Gemma Pilchen, oboe
Jaeyong Nam, clarinet
Bridget Miles, bass clarinet
Michael Jamieson, saxophone
Sam Brough, bassoon
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Ensemble Aaru is a new reed quintet with truly international experience made up of principal players from the Auckland Philharmonia and some of Aotearoa’s leading freelance players. Their repertoire includes both orchestral and contemporary music rerecreated through the many different tones and colours of their instruments.
Programme - Winds to the Fore​
Robert Schumann | Waldszenen (selectiona)
Philip Norman | A Short Suite
George Gershwin | An American in Paris
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–Interval–
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Percy Grainger | Colonial Song
Claude Debussy | Six Epigraphes Antiques (selection)
Rosie Langabeer (NZ) | As the mountain folds itself to sleep
Nina Simone | For All We Know
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. ​