Suffrage album features local pianist

Noelle Dannenbring (at piano) consults composer Janet Jennings during the recording of Voices of Women. Photo/Supplied

Rotorua pianist Noelle Dannenbring, one of New Zealand's leading female musicians, is to feature on a new album celebrating Suffrage Day.

As we approach Suffrage Day on September 19, composer Janet Jennings has released an album of new music - Voices of Women – celebrating the leading figures and the successful struggle made by women in New Zealand to gain the vote.

The title piece sets to music the words of some of New Zealand's most well-known female leaders, writers and activists including, Kate Sheppard and our current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Described by one reviewer as 'an exemplary performance, by and of women, full of sound and pleasure,” the album is available now from Marbeck's online store.

In creating Voices of Women, composer Janet Jennings has brought together a stellar line-up of vocalists including Stephanie Acraman, Mere Boynton, Catrin Johnsson, Jayne Tankersley and Felicity Tomkins, in an ensemble conducted by Rachael Griffiths-Hughes.

The vocalists are accompanied by a team of exceptional female musicians including one of New Zealand's few professional marimba players, Tauranga resident Yoshiko Tsuruta, well-known percussionist Rachel Thomas, violinist Maia Dean Martin, and leading pianists Katherine Austin, Rachel Fuller, Maria Mo and Rotorua's Noelle Dannenbring.

Noelle completed her Master of Music in 2018 with First Class Honours, majoring in classical piano under Katherine Austin at the University of Waikato.

In 2017 she was a semifinalist in the National Wallace piano competition and National Concerto Competition and in 2016 won the University of Waikato Concerto Competition.

She has a strong passion for playing chamber music and in 2015 was amongst the finalists for the Pettman/Royal Over-Seas League Arts Chamber Music Scholarship.

Living in Rotorua, Noelle is a regular performer in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region and has performed concertos with the Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra and Bay of Plenty Symphonia. She serves as both a piano accompanist and assistant piano tutor at the University of Waikato.

The album contains songs reflecting the experience of women, especially in New Zealand. It opens with a new musical setting of The Magnificat, a text attributed to a woman, but written by a man.

Songs from poetry by Christina Rossetti, Ursula Bethell and Jean Alison Bartlett form the body of the album and it is completed by the title work, Voices of Women, in which Janet sets to music texts by Kate Sheppard, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ākenehi Tōmoana and Jacinda Ardern.

Dr Janet Jennings is one of New Zealand's leading composers for voice, and also writes for a wide range of instrumental groups. Her music is played internationally and throughout New Zealand, and her works often air on Radio NZ's concert programme.

Voices of Women is available now at Marbeck's Auckland store online at www.marbecks.co.nz.

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