11 March 2010 - 0 Comments

From matching wine with music to triggering the forces that rumble beneath the volcanic region, a diverse programme for ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival 2010 was announced this evening in Taupo.

The programme launch at ERUPT epicenter, The Great Lake Centre, featured a welcome from Ngati Tuwharetoa and performances from two of this years festival artists, soul diva Whirimako Black and Adagio circus.

The 8th biennial ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival is the largest cultural event staged in the Taupo region. ERUPT 2010 will rumble for 11 action packed days, encompassing 60 performances in music, theatre, circus and dance, visual arts exhibitions and installations, writers and school performances and workshops.

ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival Chair Nicola Williams believes the festival is a massive feat for a small town. She said ERUPT is privileged that new Principal Sponsor, Unison, the Powerlines People, loyal sponsors and the Taupo community support ERUPT, ensuring a high calibre programme that attracts locals and national visitors from Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Wellington.

PROGRAMME BRIEF

While much has been written on the art of matching wine with food, the influence music has on wine is only starting to be explored. Wine and Music Tasting by Jo Burzynska, wine judge, writer and DJ, will pair six wines with a selection of musical tracks, allowing the taster to experience how certain wine and music bring out different nuances in both.

In the guise of artist Stanier Black-Five, the wine writer is also presenting Oenomatopoeia a sound installation using wine production and consumption as rich sources of sound. The work will be staged in the Scenic Cellars, New Zealand’s largest underground wine cellar.

Another first at ERUPT 2010 is Jazz by the Lake headlined by diva Whirimako Black and presented at Little Waihi at the southern end of Lake Taupo. ERUPT music picks include sultry French bohemian roots, Pacifica dub and electro-Oriental-jazz mix of The Mamaku Project, crowd favourites Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, saxophone ensemble Saxcess and classical ensemble New Zealand String Quartet performing two shows including a Music for Mothers’ Day special.

People In Your Neighbourhood is a street-wise urban collaboration mixing contemporary UK talent and emerging New Zealand musicians. PIYN narrator, UK street poet and creative guru Charlie Dark (Attica Blues, Blacktronic) and UK string collective Urban Soul Orchestra (Soul to Soul, Groove Armada) will unite with young performers from Auckland's culturally diverse communities.

Káren Hunter and The Scrapyard Cabaret features song, scats and speech from the Auckland based singer songwriter in a brand new cabaret created especially for ERUPT. La Belle Jaqueline aka Jackie Clarke is unleashing a no-holds-barred array of songs with her trademark warmth, wickedness and spontaneous glee.

ERUPT theatre includes SALON the latest work from the creators of hit play HOTEL. The site-specific work, especially commissioned for ERUPT 2010, is being staged among the hot rollers and hairspray of Hair Mechanix Salon in Taupo. Political satire Le Sud explores the idea that the South Island was colonised by the French in 1840 and Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland is a gun-toting, comic production, inspired by the writers Australasian lecture tour and set amidst the saloons of Whanganui 1895.

Live New Zealand circus Adagio takes the circus out of the big top tent and into the theatre, fusing dance, comedy, illusion and cool fluid jazz with death defying acrobatics. The group will also host a hands-on workshop for children to try out their circus skills.

Dance show Tama Ma, the profound tale of real love, life and joy by renowned dancers and choreographers Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete will grace the stage at ERUPT, as will cultural group Whitireia Performing Arts who combine the drama, energy and sensual rhythms of Maori, Samoan and Cook Islands cultures.

ERUPT is pleased to bring back its popular Lahaha Comedy Series. The belly laughs start with Joel Salom’s Gadgets, a high-tech, rollercoaster ride of circus feats and beats and improvisation from Australian comedian Joel Salom. He’s joined on stage by a smooth talking tin terrier that will bring audiences to their paws with his antics.

Eating the Dog, by comedian, documentary maker and satirist, Te Radar, celebrates our countries ‘non champions’, bumblers and ‘near well doers’ in a hilarious romp through the pages of New Zealand history. Saddle Sore stars laconic cowboy singer Wilson Dixon, dispensing pearls of home-knitted wisdom and campfire tunes. The big wheels of The Cadbury Crunchie Convoy roll into Taupo for one night of cracker comedy, featuring comedians Steve Wrigley (NZ), Chris Brain (NZ) Hannah Gadsby (AUS), Eddie Lift (USA) and Josh Thomas (AUS).

Visual arts highlights at ERUPT include Magpie – New adventures in jewellery featuring works by jewellers who are redefining contemporary jewellery with the use of everyday materials, from cockle shells to postage stamps to $2 shop goods. International stars Lisa Walker and Pauline Bern feature in the extraordinary and vibrant exhibition curated by Tim Walker, former director of The NewDowse. Bringing knitting to the public is Knitterati – Out the Back presented by the Auckland based Knitterati group who will literally be knitting out the back of Taupo Museum and Art Gallery throughout ERUPT 2010.

Artist James Voller is transforming the Starlight Arcade in Taupo as part of Artery (Heart Bypass) a sitespecific installation that will challenge passers-by to think about what they see, what is real and what is an illusion. The award winning artists previous installations include placing a 'state house' on a skip bin.

Writers ERUPT features a strong line up led by New York based Michael Otterman, human rights consultant, author and advocate. The co-author of Erasing Iraq: The Human Costs of Carnage and author of American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Gharib and Beyond will be joined in conversation with New Zealand journalist Ingrid Leary.

UK poet and musician Charlie Dark (Attica Blues, PIYN) will discuss the ways in which music and text collide. Jo Bursynska, wine writer and author of Wine Class: Everything you need to know about wine in New Zealand will share her knowledge of wine. The Italian Cellar Dinner with Nicky Pellegrino at the Scenic Cellars features great food and wine with guest speaker Nicky Pellegrino, author of bestselling novel The Italian Wedding and just released Recipe for Life. For the last laugh, ERUPT presents Writing for Laughs with two of New Zealand’s funniest writers Te Radar and Dave Armstrong.

Moana Ataahua: Beautiful Lake is a massive free event especially commissioned by ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival. The spectacular mix of symphonic, choral and percussive elements by Auckland composer Ryan Youens imagines what Taupo would sound like if it was a piece of music. Staged in the Unison Amphitheatre on the banks of the Waikato River the outdoor show has lyrics by local writers and an ensemble of over 100 local musicians.

The other major free event commissioned by ERUPT is Underland Domain an interactive installation that lets visitors experience the rumbles that simmer deep in the volcanic plateau. Underland Domain is a unique collaboration between choreographer, director and interactive artist Shona McCullagh and multimedia artist Michael Hodgson. Joined by award-winning composer John Gibson, the pair has created a series of interactive spaces using the elements of light, sound and movement. Visitors will see their body transform into a magma-like amorphous being or can move around the living interactive musical score and hear the sounds their body generates from the mountain’s underbelly.

The Unison Schools ERUPT Programme coordinated by REAP (Rural Education Activities Programme) is jam packed with special performances and workshops for schools featuring ERUPT artists. Festival Director Drew James said Unison's support is particularly important for the success of the ERUPT Schools programme that wowed over 5,000 students from 27 schools in 2008.

Thanks to www.erupt.co.nz for this story.

Comments

Return to News Archive