Born in the UK and now based in New Zealand, internationally award-winning classical guitarist Jane Curry is Senior Lecturer in Music at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington. Jane balances a demanding schedule of solo and chamber music engagements with the coordination of the largest classical guitar programme in New Zealand and is highly sought after as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Her committed teaching ethos has resulted in her students regularly achieving high honours in their studies, winning competition prizes and scholarships as they develop their professional careers.
Recent concert engagements include concertos with the Orkiestra Ars Longa (Krakow Music Academy, Poland) the Aorangi Symphony (New Zealand), the Capital Concert Orchestra (Canberra) the Nelson Symphony Orchestra and the Kapiti Concert Orchestra (New Zealand). Her chamber music collaborations include Archi d’Amore Zelanda, and the New Zealand Guitar Quartet (NZGQ). In 2016 Archi D’Amore Zelanda, featuring Donald Maurice (viola d’amore), recently returned from concerts in Malaysia, Thailand and Poland. The trio were visiting artists at the International Viola d’amore Congress held at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music (Poland). While in Poland the group recorded several Vivaldi and Graupner concertos with the Polish record company Acte Prealable. NZGQ highlights include concerts in Beijing (December 2016), at Centennial Hall, Peking University and the Sunrise Concert Hall, Beihang University. Both groups are committed to commissioning and recording new works and have several CD releases in 2016/2017.
After successfully auditioning to study postgraduate performance at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the University of Southern California, Jane chose to study with Scott Tennant at USC. She was subsequently offered a full scholarship to study towards a Master’s and Doctorate degree with Professor Thomas Patterson (University of Arizona). David Russell and Sergio and Odair Assad both hold annual artist residencies at the University of Arizona which has given Jane the opportunity to study closely with these Grammy winning musicians.
Current research
Jane is interested in the development of solo and chamber music for classical guitar through live performance, commissions (by both New Zealand and international composers) and CD publications. She is also enthusiastic about collaborating on research interests with colleagues from other institutions in both national and international settings. Recent collaborations include concerts with the New Zealand Guitar Quartet, Archi d’Amore Zelanda, Continental Drift (guitar trio) and Marek Pasieczny (programme of Polish and New Zealand music for two guitars). These collaborations included concerts in the UK, Beijing, Poland (Kalisz, Poznan, Luslawice, Krakow and Warsaw) including the Bielany Chamber Music Festival (Warsaw) and the International Viola d’Amore Congress in Luslawice. Repertoire features world premieres of pieces written specifically for Archi d’Amore Zelanda and the New Zealand Guitar Quartet