Celebrate the Life, Times and Works of Frances Hodgkins

The Southern Sinfonia has been invited by Wanaka's Festival of Colour to tour one of its commissioned works to their 2015 Festival, and the subject of this commission is the life and works of Frances Hodgkins, the New Zealandly-acclaimed New Zealand painter.

The performance combines the dramatised narration of a script by NZ author Catherine Chidgey delivered by the outstanding New Zealand actress Rima te Wiata, and orchestral music composed by Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie performed by the Southern Sinfonia.

Opening the concert will be an illustrated introduction to Frances Hodgkins' life, her works, and the times and the countries that she lived in, with a selection of her paintings projected onto a screen.  This talk will be delivered by Jodie Dalgleish, a New Zealand arts curator who has studied the letters and works of Frances Hodgkins.

After the 2009 performance in Dunedin, the Otago Daily Times reviewer summed the experience up as follows:  "This work must be repeated soon."  The Festival of Colour provides a most appropriate opportunity and this will be the Southern Sinfonia's first performance in the Festival.

Why donate?

To enable us to celebrate the life and works of Frances Hodgkins and to bring this unique experience to life in Wanaka in 2015, we need to reach our target of $10,000 in 30 days. You can help us achieve this by donating now!

About us

Southern Sinfonia is one of New Zealand's four city-based professional orchestras, and we're based in Dunedin.

Annually the Southern Sinfonia presents a series of concerts, a wide range of educational projects, undertakes some touring, and accompanies organisations such as the Royal New Zealand Ballet and City Choir Dunedin.  We have also presented a range of unusual commissioned works which highlight the unique artistic talent of southern South Island.  These commissions involve not only orchestral music but also other artforms, being film, fiction, poetry, and painting.  Many of these projects have toured to other NZ centres, and even overseas.