Packing out the hall - the orchestra and audience during a performance at the 1906 Christchurch Exhibition. Photo:
Dr Inge van Rij is one of those rare things in New Zealand cultural life: a musicologist.
Dr Inge van Rij Photo: Supplied
Her research into the music behind the 1906 Christchurch Exhibition recently won her an H. Colin Slim award, which is to musicology what the Oscars are to film making.
She spoke to RNZ Concert about the orchestra set up to perform at the exhibition and the debate that raged over whether women should be allowed to play it in.
Dr van Rij also talked about the role Māori culture played in influencing the music pioneer New Zealand composer Alfred Hill wrote especially for the Exhibition Orchestra - an early attempt at setting up a national orchestral ensemble in Aotearoa.
