Yes it's time for our Spring concert! On-line booking is now open, so book today for either Rathkeale College, Masterton here or for Kuranui College Greytown here. Admission is $15 for adults, children/students free. Tickets are also available to buy at 10 O'clock Cookie Bakery Cafe, Masterton, or from orchestra members. Door sales will also be available before each concert.
WHO WE ARE | KO WAI MĀTOU
Wairarapa Community Orchestra gives orchestral players from across the region the opportunity to come together to play great music.
Our music director
The orchestra’s musical director is Ruth Eckford, who has many years’ experience in music education, conducting and accompanying.
Our players
The orchestra now has nearly 40 members. Adult members include those who have taken up instruments after a long absence or for the first time, as well as those who have played from a young age. Our student members come from local secondary schools.
The music we play
Our programmes are designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of the community. We perform 2 concerts each year in autumn and spring. Our repertoire spans a wide range of musical styles, from Baroque concertos to music from the movies. Senior students are encouraged to workshop their NCEA compositions with the orchestra and have them performed in our concerts.
Our management
The orchestra’s activities are organised by a committee of members which is supported by a number of volunteers from the orchestra.
OUR STORY | KO KŌRERO Ā HAPŪ
The Wairarapa Community Orchestra evolved from the ‘Just In Time’ orchestra set up by Justin Pearce in Masterton in 2003. When Justin left Masterton in 2004, Ruth Eckford took over the baton and the orchestra operated firstly as a night class at Makoura College, before becoming an independent orchestra.
Early concerts included the orchestra’s signature Coffee, Cake and Classics series, hosted by Ten O'Clock Cookie Bakery. With growing membership and audiences, concerts required bigger venues and Wairarapa, Rathkeale and Kuranui Colleges kindly offered their auditoriums. In 2021, the orchestra performed for the first time in the Carterton Events Centre, with a sell-out audience.
Concerts have featured soloists such as pianist Thomas Nikora, past and current members of the orchestra, and joint performances with the Cantate and Viva Camerata choirs from Wairarapa College and Trinity Schools.
The orchestra has played works by violinist Stephan Schulz and student members Daniel Hill and Nicki Schulz-Thomson. In April 2021, the orchestra gave the first performance of Frog Farm Suite, written specially for them by New Zealand composer Jonathan Berkahn while on an NZ Pacific Studio sponsored Artist Residency at Frog Farm in Gladstone, the home of our bassoonist Belinda Carey.