Fly my pretties

A diamond anniversary for the NZCT Chamber Music Contest.

- RICHARD BETTS

You know, they didn't play Grażyna Bacewicz in my day. The NZCT Chamber Music Contest for high school students celebrates its 60th birthday this year, and over that time some things have changed, not least the repertoire. When I was a high schooler back in the late Jurassic era, you'd hear Haydn quartets and Mozart quintets. If a school's music teacher was particularly adventurous, you might get a Shostakovich piano trio.