Ben Baker and Justine Cormack

Ben and Justine opened with a piece composed for them by this year’s Composer in
Residence.

They then told us about their brainchild and passion At the Worlds Edge Festival – a new space for chamber music in the Southern Alps.

The website provides inspiration and detail https://www.worldsedgefestival.com.

They have just completed the third year of what is to be an annual event where festival participants spend over two weeks together on a structured programme of works. Emerging artists – musicians, composers and dancers are mentored to take their talents and aspirations to a new level. They performed in Wanaka Queenstown and Arrowtown and visited 15 local schools connecting with around 2000 students.

All works in the festival programme revolve around a central theme to take the lakes community on a journey and bind the works together. This year’s theme was identity. It was explored through the music looking at personal identity – related to our perspective of home and how coming back defines and deepens our understanding of who we are and where we come from. The second cultural dimension was very specific to one part of the world – the Czech nations in Eastern Europe – where countries came together to form the Czech Republic and where music played a role in this coming together. The focus was on the influential composers and the musical language of this time that helped these communities come together and find a collective identity.

Justine and Ben met when Ben was young and latterly through the Michael Hill competition when she was one of the judges. During this competition they had the opportunity to play chamber music together – clearly the beginning of a special musical partnership. When Justine moved to Wanaka they discovered they had a common dream to create a chamber music festival in the Queenstown Lakes District to contribute to developing the cultural heart of the region. They wanted to showcase New Zealand creativity and develop pathways overseas for New Zealand music and musicians. Building a musical life with New Zealand at the centre has been a long-held dream for Ben. This dream is truly becoming a reality.

We enjoyed three superb items and Ben acknowledged Raymond Faulkner and Wellington Sofitel for supporting the final two nights of the Festival – held in Wellington.