On Saturday 2 August, the Auckland Town Hall will host the 60th gathering of the country's finest secondary school classical musicians in the 2025 edition of the NZCT Chamber Music Contest.
RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump spoke with one of the winners of the first ever contest back in 1965.
Violinist Miles Golding was one third of The Bear Trio, along with fellow Wellington College students Mark Jackson (cello) and Christopher Beckett (piano). The ensemble took out the top prize playing Haydn's "Gypsy Trio".
Haydn's 'Gypsy' Trio, third movement. Photo: Supplied
The Bear Trio, 1965 Photo: Supplied / Miles Golding
The Bear Trio was one of ten secondary school chamber groups from around the country that made it to the final, and all of them impressed judge Alfred Boskovsky, a clarinettist with the visiting Vienna Octet.
"He expressed deep admiration at the musical and technical skills displayed by so many young musicians from such a young (and remote in those days) country that lacks such cultural wealth."
Part of the Programme for the first secondary schools' chamber music competition. Photo: Supplied / CMNZ
And did the trio think they'd done well enough to win?
"We didn't have a clue," says Golding. "Everyone seemed older than us. We were titches. We were just so terribly innocent."
Something not lost on the reviewer, none other than the great New Zealand playwright Bruce Mason, who wrote:
"Perhaps only the very young or the very mature can achieve the unforced purity of style achieved by these charming little bears."
Speaking of which, how did the trio get its name?
"I think it could have been Chris Beckett's mum. None of us could think of a name, and she said, 'Well, here you are - you're the three bears. There's the big bear the piano, the middle-sized bear the cello, and the baby bear the violin'."
Despite his early success with the Bears, Golding took a while to settle on music as a career, finally doing so when he moved to the UK.
He regrets maybe not immersing himself in classical music sooner. Mind you, Golding's professional detours lead him via Auckland University where he met Brian (Tim) Finn and Phil Judd and (as a fiddler) became one of the original members of Split Enz.
Golding must have been okay, because he features on a Tim Finn solo track, Forever Thursday, released in 2008.
Miles Golding, now a professional musician in the UK. Photo: Supplied / Miles Golding
Sixty years after winning the inaugural chamber music contest, Golding is still in touch with the other two Bears. Golding lives north of London, Chris Beckett lives on a house-boat near Paris, while Mark Jackson is based in Wellington.
Golding caught up with Jackson when he was last in New Zealand, and the cellist suggested next time he comes out they could get at least two-thirds of the band together again.
It'd be nice if Chris could come out too, Golding says. They could crank up the old Haydn again.
