The 12 young artists were selected through a national audition process for the 2025 festival — they’ll rehearse and perform chamber music together and participate in career-development workshops to hone their professional skills, receiving coaching from world-class festival artists.
The selected musicians are Sarah Lee (violin), Esther Oh (violin and conducting), Tal Amoore and Yuxin Chen (viola), Damon Herlihy-O’Brien (cello), Marlon Sullivan (clarinet), Wellington’s Otis Prescott-Mason and Yixuan ‘William’ Sun (piano), Felicity Tompkins (soprano), Austin Haynes (countertenor), Reuben Brown and Euan Safety (conductor).
Next year’s festival artists are Dr Karen Grylls (conductor), Julian Smiles (cello), Bernadette Harvey and Stephen de Pledge (piano) and winner of the 2017 Michael Hill International Violin Competition Ioana Cristina Goicea.
They’ll also perform live public concerts, from Friday, April 18, running throughout the Easter long weekend.
Additionally, there are 12 paid apprenticeships available as part of the festival’s unique ‘Training Ground Programme’, aimed at early-career music and event industry professionals.
The apprentices will be responsible for delivering the festival, overseen byexperienced industry professionals, which will help develop their professional skills and bolster their CVs. Applications are due by February 7 for that programme — see shorturl.at/ogoBP for more information.
The Whakatipu Music Festival’s the brainchild of the Hill Family Foundation for Arts and Music, resulting from Covid and the closure of many much-loved festivals.
It aims to encourage promising young Kiwi artists, invigorate local communities’ burgeoning creative industries, and bring economic benefits through cultural tourism.
Foundation executive director Anne Rodda says it weaves together the local community, alongside world-class luminaries and emerging artists, to deliver an "exhilarating event for every taste and ability".
There’ll also be free workshops available for the public throughout the festival, with a focus on choral development for singers and conductors, culminating in a gala choral workshop.
Tickets for the festival, running from April 14 to 21, will go on sale in early February.
