An aural Italian feast

COLIN SMITH

KEYED UP: Conductor Mick Dowrick and violinist John Thomson prepare for The Italian Job

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Prepare yourself for the sounds of Italy in a concert by the Nelson Symphony Orchestra this weekend. Charles Anderson reports.

It will be a typical day in 19th-century Italy at the Nelson School of Music come Saturday night.

Female temptresses, male braggarts and tragic lovers – "You know, all the stuff you would usually see," says Nelson Symphony Orchestra conductor Mick Dowrick.

The Italian Job will feature arias and duets from composers such as Puccini, Verdi, Tosti and Donizetti.

"It is a real journey through Italian life," Dowrick says. "I would have thought if you were to arrive by ship in 1800 to a place like Genoa, it would sound much like this, the chattering sounds and sights. That is what we are trying to recreate."

Concert master John Thomson says all Italian music is vocal in nature even if there is nobody singing. "It always just sounds like a beautiful melody you want to sing. Italians do it better than anybody else."

Even if one of the composers is not Italian. Part of the evening will feature Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. Thompson says the piece sounds like a letter home to Northern Europe from Italy. "You can hear his fascination with the culture of Italy and how he was falling in love with it."

Love, of course, is very Italian, and the orchestra has brought up two bright stars from Christchurch.

Soprano Polly Ott has an honours music degree from the University of Canterbury, majoring in performance voice under the tuition of Dame Malvina Major. She says her recent highlights were being named as a 2009-10 Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist for New Zealand Opera, and being a finalist in this year's Lexus Song Quest.

Tenor Oliver Sewell is in his second year at Canterbury, studying voice performance. Last year he was a Godley Scholar with the Christchurch Cathedral Choir, and is a current member of the New Zealand Youth Choir. It will be a special night for him, as his older brother Nicholas will join him on French horn as part of the orchestra.

Dowrick says he has tried to put the arias and duets in an order that makes some sort of musical sense and adds to the drama attached to each song.

He recently emigrated to Nelson after spending almost 30 years in Britain's Royal Marines Band. He joined at 16, was employed as a fulltime musician and tried his hand at a wide range of music, from big band to brass to orchestras. The first time he came to New Zealand was on the royal yacht in the 1980s.

"I thought it would be a wonderful place to live but it took me a while to finally come out here."

Thomson recently returned to New Zealand after 25 years teaching violin in the United States.

"It's wonderful to be home back with Kiwis. It's a really enthusiastic atmosphere for music."

The pair say they are looking forward to the concert, which will celebrate Italy in all its forms.

"So if you want to go out and get some Italian food beforehand, it would make a great evening," Thomson says.

• The Italian Job by the Nelson Symphony Orchestra and guests, Saturday, November 28, 8pm at the Nelson School of Music, tickets $20/25, bookings 5489477.