Welcome …
The next Martinborough Music Festival will be held over the weekend of 19-21 September 2025 at the Martinborough Town Hall.
Our aim is to bring some of New Zealand's (and the world’s) very best chamber musicians to the village of Martinborough in September each year for a series of exceptional quality concerts over three days.
We want to make the Martinborough Music Festival the best little chamber music festival in New Zealand!
Read about our journey so far below. For the full artist line-up and the concert programmes for each Festival, click on the heading for each Festival story.
We look forward to seeing you in September ...
Michael Houstoun with the Martinborough Music Festival’s Schimmel piano at the 2019 Festival. Photo by Sam Cameron. Schimmel piano gifted by Cherry van Kranen (1925-2016).
Our Story …
The idea of an annual classical music festival in Martinborough came from Ian Cresswell, the founder of Jazz In Martinborough, back in 2010. Ian wanted a classical music sister festival, but two things were missing back then—the right kind of venue, and the right kind of piano that might attract soloists of the calibre of Michael Houstoun and Diedre Irons.
The prospect of the right kind of venue came with the decision to upgrade the Martinborough Town Hall. And then … the piano!
Music teacher Cherry Van Kranen passed away in 2016, a few weeks after her 90th birthday. For the last 15 years of her life, Cherry lived in a villa at the Wharekaka Rest Home in Martinborough. Her pride and joy was her Schimmel grand piano, purchased in the 1980s. The Schimmel dwarfed her Wharekaka villa living room and she played it well into her late 80s.
It was Cherry’s wish that after her death the piano would be used by the Martinborough community.
The centrepiece of the Martinborough Music Festival is the Schimmel. For the first two years, the Festival was based at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Dublin Street but since 2019, the Festival has been based at the refurbished Martinborough Town Hall.
THE 2017 FESTIVAL …
The inaugural Martinborough Music Festival in 2017 was an artistic, critical and audience success. The Festival headliner was the celebrated concert pianist, Michael Houstoun, who gave a solo recital on the Friday night and on the Saturday played with the Zephyr Wind Quintet and the Martinborough Festival Quartet, both featuring leading NZSO players. On the Sunday, the string and wind players combined to deliver the great Schubert Octet. According to the Wairarapa Times-Age, the concerts featured “top-shelf playing from some of New Zealand's finest” and the Festival had “a lovely vibe”.
THE 2018 FESTIVAL …
The 2018 Festival was an even bigger success, with another group of exceptional musicians—Diedre Irons (piano), Wilma Smith (violin), Amalia Hall (violin), Christopher Moore (viola), Matthias Balzat (cello) and clarinet virtuoso Mark Walton. We enjoyed magic music and full houses. The programme was, in the words of Mark Walton, “heavenly”.
Our 2018 artists take a bow. From the left: Diedre Irons, Matthias Balzat, Amalia Hall, Christopher Moore, Mark Walton, Wilma Smith. Photo by Pete Monk
THE 2019 FESTIVAL
The 2019 Festival was organised by local Martinborough music enthusiasts Edward Allen (Chair), Andrew Morrison, Brendan Smyth, Marion Townend, Murray Pashby, Sharon Cuzens and Winifred Bull with artistic direction from Vicki Jones and Wilma Smith.
The 2019 sign goes up on the corner of Kitchener and Princess to welcome visitors to Martinborough. With Brendan Smyth (left) and Andrew Morrison … and thanks to Glenys Hansen for the fence. Photo by Marion Townend.
Michael Houstoun returned for the 2019 Festival, this time with soprano Jenny Wollerman, Wilma Smith, Vesa-Matti Leppänen and Yuka Eguchi (violin), Christopher Moore (viola) and Matthias Balzat and Ken Ichinose (cello) with Amy Brookman and Alan Molina (violins) brought in to mount the magnificent Mendelssohn Octet in Eb Major on the Sunday afternoon. “A festival of chamber music made in heaven” according to critic Lindis Taylor writing on the music review site, Middle C.
THE 2020 FESTIVAL …
The 2020 festival became a Covid casualty. We held out as long as we could but at the end of June—with five of our eight musicians stuck overseas—we had to pull the plug.
Instead we organised two replacement concerts held on Sunday 4 October—with two different but equally alluring programmes featuring the wonderful Diedre Irons.
Joining Diedre for these two concert treats were some of New Zealand’s finest (resident) string players—Monique Lapins and Vesa-Matti Leppänen (violin), Nicholas Hancox and Gillian Ansell (viola) and Andrew Joyce and Ken Ichinose (cello).
The concerts were, again, a triumph. One of the audience posted on Facebook, “… multiple shivers down my spine”. “Stylish, passionate and thrilling chamber music” posted another.
Every year, the Martinborough Music Festival organises schools visits as part of our education outreach programme. In 2020, we brought together a group of young string players from the Victoria University School of Music who visited Martinborough School, Kuranui College in Greytown and Wairarapa College in Masterton on 19 October to introduce the pupils to chamber music and classical music conventions in an engaging and interactive way.
THE 2021 FESTIVAL …
In 2021, we used a stylised dark skies logo, by A+M Creative. It took its cue from the campaign to declare the Wairarapa a dark sky reserve … a swirl of purples, blues and silver with a bit of milky way in the middle.
The Festival was due to be held 17-19 September, but lockdowns in Australia meant several of our featured artists were unable to make it. Further changes had to be made when New Zealand started moving between lockdown levels.
New Festival dates—29-31 October—and a revised line-up of artists meant we could go ahead: Michael Houstoun (persuaded out of retirement), Zephyr Wills and Gillian Ansell (Viola), Alexandra Partridge and Andrew Joyce (cello), Wilma Smith and Monique Lapins (violin) and Bridget Douglas (flute).
Audience numbers were a little down because of the change in dates, but we were delighted to be able to produce another stunning weekend of chamber music.
Left to right standing: Brendan Smyth, Alexandra Partridge (cello), Marion Townend, Zephyr Wills (viola), Michael Houstoun (piano), Vicki Jones, Wilma Smith (violin), Ed Allen, Andrew Morrison. Front: Sharon Cuzens, Winifred Bull, Gillian Ansell (viola), Monique Lapins (violin), Bridget Douglas (flute). Missing: Andrew Joyce (cello). Photos: Pete Monk
THE 2022 FESTIVAL…
For our fifth full Festival in six years (after the cancelled 2020 Festival) we planned to do something special.
We commissioned Alex Hutchings of ASH Studio in Greytown to do a celebratory take on the logo, taking its cue from the ancient Hindu Holi Festival which, among other things, marks the arrival of Spring.
We also presented five concerts instead of the usual four, and commissioned Wellington composer Tabea Squire to write a piano quintet to mark the occasion. Tabea’s quintet—Behind The Stars, A Dark Sky—was a nod to Martinborough’s bid to be declared a dark sky sanctuary. This was premiered on the Saturday afternoon and was recorded and filmed on the Monday after the Festival by RNZ Concert and SOUNZ, the Centre for New Zealand Music for broadcast on air and online.
We put 15 wonderful artists on stage across the three days, including New York-based New Zealand lyric bass, Paul Whelan and two of this country's legendary pianists—Diedre Irons and Michael Houstoun—in concert together for the first time in the Wairarapa.
We also featured stunning teenage piano prodigy Benjamin Carter with Australians Harry Bennetts (violin), Thibaud Pavlovic-Hobba (violin), Christopher Moore (viola) and Phoebe Russell (double bass). We had Wilma Smith (violin) with Virtuoso Strings alumnus, Toloa Faraimo (violin) and fellow New Zealanders Gillian Ansell (viola) and Matthias Balzat (cello) who returned from Düsseldorf for the Festival.
And finally, we were lucky to bring in Douglas Mews (harpsichord), Michael Austin (oboe) and Damien Eckersley (double bass).
It was a fabulous fifth Festival. “The best yet … !” said one of our loyal patrons in our annual audience survey. The survey singled out Michael and Diedre on the Friday night for special mention along with the Bottesini Gran Duo Concertante on Sunday morning with stellar performances by Phoebe Russell and Harry Bennetts; and the Shostakovich Piano Trio on the Saturday afternoon with the extraordinary 17-year old Wellington College student, Benjamin Carter.
The MMF22 Cast & Crew. Back: Brendan Smyth and Christopher Moore (viola). Next row: Marion Townend, Amelia Townend, Andrew Morrison, Paul Whelan (lyric bass). Next row: Phoebe Russell (double bass), Vicki Jones (Co-Artistic Director), Toloa Faraimo (violin), Thibaud Pavlovich-Hobba (violin), Winifred Bull, Gillian Ansell (viola). Front row: Harry Bennetts (violin), Wilma Smith (violin & Co-Artistic Director), Sharon Cuzens, Matthias Balzat (cello), Benjamin Carter (piano & cello), Ed Allen. Missing: Diedre Irons, Michael Houstoun, Douglas Mews, Michael Austin, Damien Eckersley. Photos by Pete Monk.
We also expanded our schools programme, presenting six concerts to students from 11 Wairarapa schools … double the number of concerts and nearly four times the number of schools compared to our inaugural year. The concerts were presented by students from the New Zealand School of Music at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. We toured a brass quintet and a string quartet with music from Vivaldi, Mozart and Shostakovich through to John Williams’ movie music and a bit of rap featuring a volunteer from the primary school audience!
THE 2023 FESTIVAL …
We had a gentler take on the celebratory logo with a blush of sage, nectarine, apricot and rose and a hint of wispy wind to reflect the year’s programme focus on the oboe and the bassoon.
What distinguished this Festival from previous offerings was that wind instruments—the bassoon and the oboe—featured prominently, with New Zealand-born, Sydney-resident, Todd Gibson-Cornish playing all four concerts and NZSO Principal Oboe, Robert Orr playing two.
Here's what our Artistic Directors said about our 2023 Festival:
“We are very excited about this year's programme which, in addition to the luscious line-up of strings and piano you’ve come to expect, features two amazing double-reed superstars. One is probably well-known to most of you, NZSO’s magnificent Principal Oboe, Robert Orr, and the other is Todd Gibson-Cornish, a young Kiwi making his mark across the ditch as Principal Bassoon of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a hotly-contested position he won in 2016 at the ripe old age of 2!."
Todd Gibson-Cornish, Bassoon
The 2023 Festival was another resounding success, by every measure. Fabulous music, 97% houses, record fundraising support from the community and from generous donors and we came out of it all with a prudent surplus so that we could do it all again the following year.
The MMF23 Cast & Crew. Left to right above: Salina Fisher, Composer; Scilla Askew, MMF; Rosie Brown, MMF; Ed Allen, MMF; Marion Townend, MMF; Amelia Townend, Helper; Wilma Smith, Violin; Donald Armstrong, Violin; Anthony Ritchie, Composer; Winifred Bull, MMF; Benjamin Baker, Violin; Matthias Balzat, Cello; Wenhong Luo, Viola; Laurence Matheson, Piano; Andrew Morrison, MMF; Todd Gibson-Cornish, Bassoon; Amanda Verner, Viola. Missing: Robert Orr, Oboe; Ashley Brown, Cello; Brendan Smyth, MMF; Sharon Cuzens, MMF. Photos by Pete Monk.
In a first for the Festival, our 2023 concerts were recorded by RNZ Concert for subsequent national broadcast. They are still available via the RNZ website (here).
The work commissioned for our fifth anniversary 2022 Festival from Wellington composer, Tabea Squire was released in December 2023 to cap our multi-media year! RNZ Concert and SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music made the film with Benjamin Carter (piano), Harry Bennetts and Wilma Smith (violins), Christopher Moore (viola) and Matthias Balzat (cello) with Vicki Jones turning the pages.
A bit about us …
The Martinborough Music Festival, its annual September concert series and its schools programme is run by the Martinborough Music Festival Trust Board, a registered charitable trust under the Charities Act 2005. Our Registered Number is CC57607.
We have six Trustees: Andrew Morrison, Marion Townend, Mike Armour, Rosemary Brown, Scilla Askew and Sharon Cuzens, supported by our two Artistic Directors, Wilma Smith and Donald Armstrong (who took over from founding co-Artistic Director, Vicki Jones, in 2023).
If you would like to support the work of the Martinborough Music Festival Trust Board by making a financial contribution to help us in our quest to build “the best little chamber music festival in New Zealand”, please contact Andrew Morrison below and he will tell you how you can help. Any donations are tax deductible.