Descending Muse: Katherine Mansfield in music, 5 October

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries

Martin Griffiths and Polly Sussex (cellos) and Sherry Grant (piano) combine their substantial literary knowledge with musical interpretations of depth and intrigue in celebration of Katherine Mansfield's Centenary year. In 1908 Garnet Trowell, an aspiring violinist from Wellington, became the lover of Katherine Mansfield, who studied cello with his twin brother Arnold Trowell. Together they played Chopin and discussed poetry while living together in London, the home-away-from-home for colonial New Zealanders. Their collaborations inspired Mansfield to take up writing as a full time career. In turn she inspired generations of artists, including those represented in this performance, entirely made up of musical responses to Katherine's poetry and stories. Music inspired by Katherine Mansfield's poems: Voices of the air (1916) music composed by Nigel Keay To L.H.B. (1916) music composed by Michael Bell (originally for voice and piano) I was a bird (1908) music composed by Michelle Velvin The Opal dream cave (1910) music composed by Joshua Dawson.