The Opus Orchestra concerts in Hamilton (23 March, 8 pm, Gallagher Academy), Rotorua (24 March, 7.30 pm, Civic Theatre) and Tauranga (25 March, 3.30 pm, Graham Young Youth Theatre) were highly successful. The programme, entitled “Landscaapes” began with Douglas Lilburn’s Aotearoa Overture, and featured Opus Concertmaster, Lara Hall, as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un Lieu Cher (orchestrated by Glazunov). Ian Parsons was soloist in the Elgar Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra. The programme ends with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major (the “Pastoral”). Warwick Braithwaite, nephew of the Warwick Braithwaite who conducted the premiere of the Aotearoa Overture in 1940, reviewed the Tauranga performance for The Bay of Plenty Times, writing, “from Lilburn to Beethoven the orchestra presented a programme of artistry and excellence.”

Some of Opus’s Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival concert in January is captured in a Waikato Times interview with Dame Malvina Major.