This is a one-hour concert without interval followed by a three-course dinner. Doors open at 6:00 for drinks, concert starts at 6:30pm. We serve a set menu on the evening. We can cater for vegetarians, vegans and allergies. Please let us know during the booking process whether you have any dietary restrictions or preferences. We will not be able to accomodate any requests on the night. Any guest not specifying dietary preferences will receive the non-vegetarian set menu. Menus are announced two weeks before the concerts.

Since its launch in 2021, the AWE Festival has connected musicians and listeners of all ages through the most powerful and intimate form of music. Taking place every October in New Zealand’s stunning Queenstown Lakes region, AWE combines the best of local and international musicians with the raw beauty of the Southern Alps to celebrate chamber music in intimate, unique and atmospheric venues.

After the successful preview in 2022, music director Benjamin Baker brings to Fidelio Cafe the preview for this year’s festival featuring commissions by AWE composers in residence Selina Fisher and Gareth Farr.

The concept of this evening’s programme was inspired by a programme of long ago, which Mozart curated and performed on 22 March 1783 in Vienna. The programme looks more like a modern playlist, with some complete pieces and some single movements of concertos and arias. The lynchpin of this programme was Mozart’s Haffner Symphony, where Mozart programmed the first movement to open the concert and the final movement to mark the end of the programme.
With this as the starting point, this programme uses Mendelssohn’s distinctive outer movements in String Quartet in A Minor to build an arc journeying through a selection of powerful works. Each is connected by a range of threads: from geography, to the musical expression of world challenges, to music’s ability to transcend borders and generations.

Programme:

Mendelssohn String Quartet in a minor, op.13 (1st and second movements)
Salina Fisher: Mata-Au
Barber: Dover Beach
Gareth Farr: Wakatipu
Mendelssohn String Quartet in a minor, op.13 (3rd and 4th movements)

Benjamin Baker, violin
Daniel Roberts, violin
Brett Dean, viola
Tim Posner, cello

Menu: to follow

Drink tickets are unassigned seats in the mezzanine area including a glass of wine, a beer or a soft drink. Seating is first come first serve. All other tickets include the three course meal which is served after the concert is over at around 8:00pm in the ground floor restaurant area.