Hi everyone! I am Corrina Connor. I am 16 years old and I live in Wellington, New Zealand, which as you may (or may not) know is the Capital City of New Zealand. New Zealand is a great place to live and holiday, so I would suggest that you look up NZ on the net and make it your next holiday destination! There are beautiful beaches, native forests, glaciers, mountains, thermal wonders and and unique flora and fauna. You may have heard about such towns and cities as Queenstown, Rotorua, Taupo, Auckland and Napier, to name just a few places with special interest features.

Aside from the patriotism, I am a homeschooler, and a member of the Wellington Homeschoolers Association, which recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary. My family is one of the 'founding families' of the Association. I also enjoy riding, swimming, reading and talking, as well as music (of course) I hope to be accepted into Victoria University as a music performance student on cello and violin in 2001.

MUSIC

Cello: I have been playing the cello for nearly three years. At the time of this going to print I am studying the minuet of the first Bach Suite, Sonata No. 5 by Antonio Vivaldi, and the third movement of Concerto No. 4 by G. Goltermann.

I have had several teachers since I began to play cello, mainly because they have all been somewhat itinerant, and have now gone to study/work overseas.

I started with Kate Tringham - after 6 months she left to work in Japan. I then had lessons with Anne Werry, but she had a full studio. For an entire year I had lessons with Heidi Baillie, but she stopped teaching in 1999 as she was saving up for study in Scandanavia and had to work at a 'proper job'!

After a 6-month hiatus I began to study with David Chickering, the principal cellist in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. I think that we are working well together.

As a person involved with Suzuki Method I have also been fortunate enough to go to camps and conferences and have been able to have lessons with other very skilled, enthusiastic and talanted teachers, including Sally Anne Brown and Margaret Cook, who is a member of the Early Music Groups Extempore and Restoration.

I have not yet been able to play in many orchestras or ensembles yet, but this year I have been playing the London Trios by Haydn, a Trio Sonata by Roseingrave, and was the 2nd cellist in the Battalia Suite by Biber, which was a lot of fun.

Next year I intend to audition for a place in the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra, which celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 1999.

I recently bought a new book. It is called Beautiful Music for Two String Instruments [in this case cellos], by Samuel Applebaum. It is published by Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp, and all rights are held by Warner Bros. Publications U.S. Inc. The pieces also sound lovely with more than two stringed instruments. Six cellos playing together is the most wonderful thing! All teachers: try to get hold of this book. It is also published for other combinations, violin/violin, violin/viola, violin/cello, cello/viola, violin/bass. . . .

Violin:

I have played the violin since the age of 9, when my mother discovered that there was a Suzuki Teacher with a Studio five minutes walk from our house! I stayed with Mary Taylor (nee White) for 5 years, until she moved to Auckland at the end of 1997.

After about six months with no teacher, I was accepted by Gillian Ansell, who is the violist in the New Zealand String Quartet and a tutor in violin and viola performance and chamber music at the School of Music at Victoria University.

We are currently working on Scales, Sevcik for double stopping and shifting, Mozart Concerto No. 5 in A major, Dvorak Sonatine and Franck Sonata in A.

This year I have been a member of the New Zealand Post Wellington Youth Orchestra, Massey University Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra, The Bach Choir of Wellington Chamber Orchestra and I am the leader of the Wellington Youth Sinfonietta.

As a guest of the Wellington Chamber Orchestra I will be playing in Handel's Messiah.
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The New Zealand Post Wellington Youth Orchestra

The NZPWYO celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 1999, with a three-concert season.

Concert 1: Hungarian March from Damnation of Faust - Berlioz

Cello Concerto - Elgar

Symphony no. 6 'Pathatique' - Tchaikovsky

soloist Heidi Baillie, Principal Cellist of the NZPWYO in 1999.

Concert 2: Passacgalia - Webern

Piano Concerto No. 4 - Beethoven

Symphony No. 1 - Brahms

soloist Anna Bull, winner of the inaugaral NZPWYO Concerto Competition.

Anna Bull is also the Associate Principal cellist in the WYO. She is studying piano and cello performance at Victoria University.

Concert 3 Birthday Greeting - Stravinsky

Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection' - Mahler

soloists Jenny Wollerman (soprano) and Melissa Crennan (alto)

All performances were conducted by Marc Taddei, the Orchestra's Musical Director since 1998.

Some Comments from Wellington Critiques. . .

[Concert 2, 1999] ". . .a performance to be passionate about, and I doubt if any present could have failed to be moved by the very different performances of the three very different works lovingly presented." - The Dominion 1999

[on the Orchestra's performance of Bruckner Symphony No. 8 in 1998] ". . .it was a performance that was often touching in its simplicity, and earth-shattering in its youthful

exuberance. . ." - City Voice 1998
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During 1999 the Orchestra also 'starred' in a TV special - Baby Proms!

Entry to this orchestra is by audition in early March each year. For further details about auditions, concerts, subscriptions and sponsorship: NZPWYO@atrix.gen.nz At present the Orchestra is developing its WebSite - will keep you posted!
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The Wellington Youth Sinfonietta is a training orchestra for musicians planning to audition for the NZPWYO. In 1999 it performed Mozart Symphony No. 9, Sebelius Valse Triste and Bartok Mikrokosmos among other works. Entry is by Audition. Contact NZPWYO@atrix.gen.nz for more information - they will put you in contact with the WYS manager.

Some of My Favourite Websites

http://www.suzuki.org.nz
http://www.frontiernet.net/~sboerner/mozart/biography
http://www.znso.co.nz
http://www.musicyellowpages.com
http://www.uwsp.edu/acad/music/suzuki/asi/-html

If you can't get hold of the NZSO, try typing New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Musical Amusements and Trivia into your trusty search engine for the best jokes/musical idiocy/fun to be found anywhere!
And of course the Internet Cello Society - everyone knows the address!

While I am talking about the aformentioned society I would like to thank all involved for working so hard to make it such a wonderful site for all musicans! Thank you all a thousand times!

The Other Pleasures in My Life

As well as music, music, music I enjoy reading biographies and historical books. Last year I studied and wrote a lot on the inhumanities of World War II, including the Holocaust, POWs and Racism.
I also enjoy Latin and studying classics.
I go to lots and lots of concerts, NZSO, NZSQ, Recitals - you name it, I'm there.
I especially enjoy the NZSO, as one day it is my ambition to be a member of either the cello section or the first violin section (I would however be happy just to be a member!)
My favourite music is that of the late Romantic Symphonic genre. I love Bruckner, Mahler, Dvorak, Brahms - their symphonies thrill me to the core.
I also enjoy Early Music, and would one day like to study Baroque cello.

I would like to contact people who enjoy similar things - mainly people my age - but let that not be a barrier - genuine replies only please. Use the 'Net, don't Abuse it, PLEASE!?!
email: keith.connor@paradise.net.nz

Please send email to

keith.connor@paradise.net.nz,

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