The Taranaki Symphony Orchestra is hosting Australian violinist Emmalena Huning who is making her international debut this weekend.
The 18-year-old Perth based violinist first picked up the instrument at age 4. It started as a hobby but moved beyond that when she was part of the West Australian Youth Orchestra.
Emmalena Huning Photo: Supplied
At 14 she decided she wanted to pursue music as a career. She was performing Nimrod from the Enigma Variations when her conductor shared the importance of the piece with the orchestra.
“He said that movement made him realise he wanted to become a musician and he wanted to do music for the rest of his life,” she says. “At that moment it didn’t really flip a switch or anything instantly. But… it stuck with me… and a couple of years later I did realise that moment was the moment that shaped me.”
This weekend she’s performing Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, one of her favourite pieces to perform. “I think it hits a spot with me,” she says. “The opening of the first movement. The serenity and the ethereal [nature].
“[It’s] perfection to me. Especially the four lines where the violin just hovers over the orchestra.”
This is Emmalena’s first international performance and in the next few months she’ll get to play abroad a lot more when she takes up a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
She’s hoping the audience, and orchestra, will enjoy her performance this weekend. “The biggest thing is being able to physically actualise how I hear the music. The way I want to express what I feel and how I feel it should sound is most important to me.
“Everyone has a different interpretation of how it should sound and be expressed. For me I just want to be able to make the sound exactly how I want it to sound, even if other people don’t like it.”
Emmalena Huning will perform with the Taranaki Symphony Orchestra on Saturday 6th April. Also, on the programme is Sibelius’ Karelia Suite and Nielsen’s Symphony No 2 ‘Four Temperaments’.
