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Ensembles with scenery
New Zealand Listener
|September 20-26, 2025
A Southern Alps music festival branches out globally.
Benjamin Baker and I have a beef. I first tried to interview the violinist in 2011. At the time, he was a student at the Royal College of Music and about to compete in the final of the Andrea Postacchini international violin competition in Italy. His agent wouldn't put me in touch; he came second. Draw your own conclusions.
More recently, he stood me up for a Zoom date. So Baker, what do you have to say for yourself?
"I'm so sorry about yesterday," the London-based Kiwi says when we finally make contact, clearly trying to charm his way out of it. "I'm just on the uptick from Covid." A likely story.
This story is from the September 20-26, 2025 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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