These Rough Notes...

These Rough Notes...
an evocation of our relationship with Antarctica acknowledging the tragedies of the ill-fated Robert Scott expedition and Erebus air disaster.

Bill Manhire (poet); Anne Noble (photographer); Norman Meehan and Hannah Griffin (musicians)

The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his fellow polar explorers were found on the Antarctic ice 100 years ago this November. Among the last words written in his diary were these…

'Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale...’: – Scott’s journal, 29 March 1912

Bill Manhire and Anne Noble have each visited Antarctica and experienced the reality of human interaction with the harsh, unforgiving environment ‘on the Ice’. Through poetry and photography they each sought to express our relationship with Antarctica over the last century, including Scott’s polar expedition of 1912 and the crash of NZ901 into Mt Erebus in 1979. Composer/pianist Norman Meehan and singer Hannah Grffin have taken the mood expressed in these poems and photographs and created a musical setting of austere and crystalline beauty that celebrates the human spirit and our will to explore, to endure and – ultimately – to accept.

The concerts consist of these songs alongside projections of Anne’s photographs and a reading of several of the poems.Through this concert performance audiences will participate in the extraordinary power of Art to transmute personal experience into shared perspectives that take us beyond physical realities into the realm of human spirit and endeavour.

The concerts will also be the Wellington launch of a publication by Victoria University Press with the same title: 'These Rough Notes'. The book aligns Anne’s photographs and Bill’s poems and contains a CD of the songs – a beautiful and poignant record of this very special collaboration between artists. The book and CD will be available for sale at the venue.

The concerts will also be the Wellington launch of a publication by Victoria University Press with the same title: 'These Rough Notes'. The book aligns Anne’s photographs and Bill’s poems and contains a CD of the songs – a beautiful and poignant record of this very special collaboration between artists. The book and CD will be available for sale at the venue.

A special concession is available to staff of Victoria and Massey Universities. A family ticket (for two adults and two school age children) can be purchased for $38 – this is an online offer only.

Remaining tickets will be sold at the door: Adults $25, Students / Seniors $12

The concerts are presented with the support of Te Kōkī, New Zealand School of Music (NZSM), a joint initiative of Massey University of New Zealand and Victoria University of Wellington.
Professor Bill Manhire is retiring head of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University.

Professor Anne Noble is in the School of Fine Arts at Massey University of New Zealand
Associate Professor Norman Meehan is Head of the Jazz Programme at NZSM.
Hannah Griffin, graduate of NZSM, is working for Radio New Zealand.

Performance in the Soundings Theatre, Te Papa.