Friday June 19th at The Suter Theatre, 7.30pm
$30, concession $25
Tickets available through https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2020/torbay-suite/nelson
Robert Zielinski has spent 14 years living on the west coast of Ireland. He learnt to play from travelling musician Mick Doherty, has toured internationally and in the year 2000 won Ireland’s Michael Coleman Traditional Fiddle Player of the Year Award.
Roberts recently composed Torbay Suite is inspired by the pristine Torbay Inlet near where he lives on Western Australia’s remote south coast. The suite was recently recorded in the Perth Concert Hall and has been described as one of the most moving and evocative pieces in recent times. The piece comes from Torbay itself but is framed on the Celtic styles that formed Robert's upbringing. Robert will be performing on a violin he made himself with Rennie Pearson on wooden flute and guitar. The two recently met due to the travel ban by chance and instantly connected musically on many levels. This performance is a rare opportunity to hear the full 50-minute suite in its entirety.
“To me, Torbay is a very special place, where the natural world and its rhythms remain largely intact. At the time I was making my fiddle and visiting the inlet every day. When I finished the fiddle I had the suite, so it feels a bit like each was made for the other. The Torbay Suite comes from the country of the Minang people, who have lived there for thousands of generations. The suite is divided into day and night, and maps Torbay through these phases. The fiddle is the main storyteller, and represents a character that goes on a journey into the unknown. The Day piece travels from dawn to dusk at the inlet and the Nighttime piece was inspired by the realisation that although we think we can see during the day, we are blinded by the sun and the day's activities, whereas nighttime is when we really see as the day distils. The Aboriginals say that night time is the only time you can see out through the holes in the blanket (the stars).” Robert Zielinski - composer
“The Torbay Suite was a sublime music journey, the highlight of the 2019 Brave New Works Festival in Denmark, inspiring the biggest standing ovation I have ever seen at the festival.” Peter Keelan - festival director
