WELLINGTON 9 - 16 May 2009

AUCKLAND 28 May - 6 June 2009

'Eugene Onegin'

AUCKLAND 17 - 26 September 2009

WELLINGTON 10 - 17 October 2009

1. TJIBAOU

Howard Smith visits the Centre Culturel Tjibaou, [Noumea], dedicated to Jean-Marie Tjibaou who died in 1989 while leading the fight for his country’s autonomy from the French government, is devoted to the cultural origins and search for identity of the native Kanak people of New Caledonia and the South Pacific. The iconic centre is the work of Renzo Piano's Building Workshop [1998].

2. VINTAGE AIRCRAFT

Small vintage wartime aircraft take proudly to the open skies in rural New Zealand.

3. NEW CALEDONIA

A tale of tourists and nickel in the exotic, French-speaking, tropical west Pacific.

4. FROM KHARKOV WITH LOVE

Inna and Sasha Ptildi leave the troubled Ukraine for an easier, more settled life in faraway New Zealand.

5. TORREY HILTON

A young 'church-planter' sews seeds of Christian community in the South-west Pacific.

6. BUSHKOV SPEAKS

Russian musicians feel the winds of change as 74-years of Soviet Communist rule come to an end.

7. ANGLICAN MISCHIEF

Oil ousts art in Moscow [Anglican] church.

8. ALEXANDER.

Legendary soprano Maria Tanase [1913-1963] and present Alexander Balenescu strings in mesmerising Balkan folk CD.

9. OUT OF AFRICA.

South Africa's 'Apartheid' past comes alive in Red Dust, a BBC movie thriller centered on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [Covering 1969 to 1994].

10. RUSSIAN MESSIAH.

Tragedy, hope, praise, and inspiration co-mingled when international musicians assembled in Yuhzno-Sakhalinsk [Pacific Russia], to rehearse and perform the first-ever Messiah east of the Urals.

Howard Smith assesses the revolutionary 2nd International Violin Competition in Uralsk, Kazakhstan and observes the Uralsk (Chamber) Philharmonic Orchestra. Article

The story of 'Stroma'; an ensemble of Wellington musicians formed to present world premieres of Kiwi music and first New Zealand performances of new overseas composition.
Full story (This is an external link)

King's flower may bloom again.
Reprinted from New Zealand Deer Farming Annual 2002

Kazakhstan's City of Music
A brief but exotic musical journey in Central Asia.
Page 45, STRINGS (Volume XVII, Number 4 - Issue 106), Nov./Dec. 2002.

A story telling how the string orchestra, Ensemble XXI Moscow, was banned from Bolshoi Hall at Moscow's 'Tchaikovsky' Conservatory, when it dared to propose a programme with 20th Century music only. Full story (This is an external link).

Howard Smith profiles Bridget Douglas, Principal Flute with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra – North and South Magazine. Article

Marat Bisengaliev with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
40th Birthday Anniversary Concert (illustrated); Almaty,

Kazakhstan, May 11th, 2002. Howard Smith attended the RPO/Bisengaliev concert while in Almaty at the invitation of the Kazakh State Philharmonic
Orchestra (This is an external link).

Strad magazine article. New Zealand String Quartet world premiere (Oct. 2000).

Bartok & Zoltan Szekely topics / The Press (Chch) : Dominion (Wgtn) - 2001"....During the intervening 56 years, the story of Bartok's Viola Concerto has developed like a work of fiction, and today three completed versions are in circulation, each one claiming to mirror the composer's intentions. Hungarian violist Csaba Erdelyi was in New Zealand in July this year to record his own edition of the viola concerto with the NZSO and conductor Marc Taddei. This version is banned throughout the northern hemisphere, although widely regarded as the truest summation of Bartok's original." Full story.

Full NZSQ/Szekely story was published by the New Zealand Herald (Auckland) on Monday, 8 January 2001 (This is an external link).

When prize-winning horsewoman Catriona Williams (nee McLeod) broke her neck while riding at New Zealand's Mitavite Horse Trials in November 2002 she eventually decided to attend Project Walk, a non-traditional American spinal therapy centre (Carlsbad, California); endorsed by former Superman actor Christopher Reeve. Before her life-changing accident this remarkable Martinborough woman spoke to HOWARD SMITH of APN NEWS AND MEDIA. Catriona had met the standards demanded by Olympic Games officials and awaited the New Zealand selectors to decide whether she and her horse NRM Falcon would compete in the Sydney games. (Full Story)

For the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE (USA) freelance journalist HOWARD SMITH sums up Harrison Salisbury's account of cataclysmic forest fires in Northern China.

In June 1890, newspaper editor Mr W.C.Nation, suggested an annual Arbor Day at a meeting of Greytown. Borough Council. Eighteen years earlier (1872) in faraway Omaha editor, J.Sterling Morton of the Nebraska City News proposed the 1st ever Arbor Day. Howard Smith tells how the American initiative began in New Zealand with Greytown as its epicentre. (Story attached)

Howard Smith has written the sleeve notes of these well known classical music CDs. (67 K.)

An update on recent song cycles, stage works, and cabaret opera, 'Barnum's Bird' (regarding legendary soprano, Jenny Lind); works by the prolific, widely-praised American composer, Libby Larsen. (This is an external link).

Excerpts of CD reviews and travel writing/photography by Howard Smith.Excerpts of programme notes by Howard Smith.

A selection (front covers only) of just some of the many publications Howard Smith has written for (these are PDF files).

A selection of photographs (119 k.) by Howard Smith that have been published alongside his travel writings and destination stories.