Opus Orchestra celebrates its coming of age with concerts in Hamilton (20 July at 8 pm in the Gallagher Concert Chamebr), Tauranga (21 July, 7.30 pm) and Rotorua (22 July, 3 pm Civic Theatre). Diedre Irons is soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“The Emperor”). Peter will conduct Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and a new piece by Andrew Buchanan-Smart, who founded the orchestra in 1991.

From 1 July, HSC (the Health Sponsorship Council) and the Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC) become absorbed into the larger Health Promotion Agency (HPA), established through the Crown Entities Reform Act. Peter has been on the board of HSC since 2008 and has valued this opportunity to help promote healthy lifestyles in New Zealand. Together with his HSC colleagues, he wishes those at HPA every success in continuing and expanding this important activity.

Peter will be chairing seminars on Wagner’s Die Walkure in Auckland (4 July), Christchurch (6 July) and Wellington (9 July). He will be joined by Aidan Lang, the General Director of NBR New Zealand Opera and by several of the “Val-kiwis” – the New Zealanders performing as Valkyries in the upcoming performances of the opera by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with their Music Director, Pietari Inkinen. The cast includes Simon O’Neill, Edith Heller, Christine Goerke, John Wegner, Jonathan Lemalu and Margaret Medlyn. For details of these performances and the seminars, click here.

Peter will present a talk about Mozart’s Requiem at 6.30 pm on 6 June – immediately before the performance of this masterpiece in Wellington Cathedral by the Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the Vector Wellington Orchestra conducted by Karen Grylls.

Peter has just accepted a one-year appointment as a part-time Professorial Teaching Fellow at The New Zealand School of Music (a joint venture between Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University).