Enjoy a cup of tea and relax to expertly curated chamber music featuring Helene and Rolf and their friends at this hidden gem - the intimate venue with the best view in Wellington! Couches, chairs, cushions… you choose your comfort level. This concert is a benefit for Arohanui Strings+.
Presenting the Wellington debut of the AMADA String Quartet: Lorna Zhang and Esther Oh, violins, Juliet Park, viola, Esther Lee, cello, with Rolf Gjelsten, cello
L van Beethoven – Quartet in F Major opus 18 no. 1
Lorna Zhang – New string quartet (world premiere)
Felix Mendelssohn - Quartet in F minor opus 80
Franz Schubert - Allegro ma non troppo from Quintet in C Major D 956
The Amada Quartet is a collaboration between students and recent graduates of the Auckland University School of Music, and the New Zealand School of Music (Te Kōkī) Victoria University of Wellington. Lorna and the Esthers hail from Auckland, and Juliet is from Christchurch. Together they perform through the Auckland Philharmonia Aspiring Musicians Programme, and have received mentorship from icons of the New Zealand chamber music scene such as Monique Lapins, Ashley Brown, Helene Pohl and Rolf Gjelsten. In June they will play in a master class for members of the Takacs Quartet.
Lorna Zhang’s 2026 winning performance of the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 at the National Concerto Competition was deemed ‘unforgettable’ and ‘world-class’ by the adjudicators. She was an Emerging Artist in the At the World’s Edge Festival in Queenstown, where she performed on tour across the Central Lake regions. Lorna was also a Royal Overseas-League Pettman scholar, which funded a 6-week career development tour around the UK and Europe. She had the privilege of performing alongside renowned artists such as violinists Benjamin Baker and Ning Feng, French horn soloist Ben Goldscheider, and clarinettist Julian Bliss. At UoA, Lorna is two-time winner of the chamber music contest, and won its concerto competition, performing with Auckland Philharmonia. She studied with Stephen Larsen for 7 years and recently completed her BMus. Lorna plans to start postgrad study in Germany.
Esther Oh was born and raised in Auckland to South Korean parents. A graduate of the Pettman National Junior Academy, Esther was twice concertmaster for NYO, and the inaugural exchange student for the 2025 Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp. They represented New Zealand at the 2024 Pacific Alliance of Music Schools Summit in Thailand. Esther has performed with Dunedin Symphony (as prize-winning soloist), NZSO, and the Thailand Philharmonic. Esther was a Young Artist at the 2025 Whakatipu Music Festival for violin and conducting, working with Dr Karen Grylls and 2017 Michael Hill winner Ioana Cristina Goicea. Esther is also a Fellow for this year’s Michael Hill International Violin Competition. 2026 is their second year of conducting workshops with CSO, and their first in the NZSO Conducting Fellowship.
Juliet Park is a violist from Otautahi. Having lived and studied at the RCM in London for a year, she is now based back in New Zealand studying at Victoria University of Wellington. She is a casual player with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and has taken part in many national NZ chamber events from the finals of the NZCT Chamber Music Competition, to the NZSQ’s Adam Summer School.
Esther Lee is active in Auckland as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator, and as a casual with Auckland Philharmonia. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma with the Dean’s Award for Excellence from Victoria University of Wellington, where she studied under Inbal Megiddo, and was Principal Cello of the NZSM Orchestra. Before her tertiary studies, she was a member of the Pettman National Junior Academy, studying with Edith Salzmann, and took part in the Melbourne Cello Festival. Esther appeared at the 2026 Adam Chamber Music Festival, and played in masterclasses for internationally renowned cellists Nicolas Altstaedt, Ramón Jaffé, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Peter Hörr, and Howard Penny. She also maintains an active teaching studio.
TIckets
$45 General Admission
$10 student
Under 5 free