Aroha Music Society – Duo Col Legno

Yoshiko Tsuruta (marimba), Heleen du Plessis (cello)

Duo Col Legno was formed in 2014 to perform the NZ premiere of Peter Klatzow’s “A Sense of place” at the Adam Concert Room, Te Kōkī: New Zealand School of Music, which Heleen had commissioned for her project “Cello for Africa” which explored the notion of music, people and place and a sense of belonging/place.

The matching warm sonorities of their instruments inspired both players to explore further repertoire, leading to the creation of this programme celebrating a huge variety of musical styles from all over the world (NZ, South Africa, Russia, France, Japan, Estonia, USA (Klezmer) and Australia(Balkan). Both players are popular soloists and chamber musicians and their individual strengths form together a dynamic, charismatic duo.

Dr Heleen du Plessis, with her international experience as soloist, chamber musician, and cellist in orchestras, has established herself as one of the leading cellists and teachers in both South Africa and her adopted home, New Zealand. Heleen has postgraduate qualifications from Conservatory of Geneva in Switzerland; the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA; and the University of Otago where she was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA).

Heleen lectured in cello in Pretoria for 15 years before taking up a position at Otago University in Dunedin which is the base from which she has a busy career.

Yoshiko Tsuruta began playing the marimba as a primary school student growing up in Japan. After relocating to New Zealand, she graduated from the New Zealand School of Music before studying in Europe. She moved to Austria and completed her Masters Degree at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz. Since returning home to Aotearoa she has won several competitions and performed concertos on marimba with many regional orchestras. Yoshiko plays in the percussion section of orchestras regularly.

This concert is presented in association with Chamber Music New Zealand.