We’ve enjoyed a musical treat over Easter, living beside the St Andrews church hall where some of the best Australasian horn players have been rehearsing for concerts at the Martinborough Wine Centre and Ata Rangi vineyard. The church hall is between our house and where Ed Allen, principal horn in the NZ Symphony Orchestra, lives.

The Trans-Tasman Horns playing in the outside courtyard at Martinborough’s Wine Centre. Ed is on the left.

Ed’s partner Vicky Jones (a double bass player in the NZSO), told us Ed’s been having a great Easter with his fellow horn players – four from NZSO, three from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and one from the University of Victoria in Melbourne. There’s been a lot of socialising and enjoying sunny Martinborough. But they’ve practiced hard as well and we’ve enjoyed listening, particularly outside in our garden. Probably because their instruments are all the same, the sound came through clear and undistorted. The Wine Centre concert was great and as I write, they’ll be blowing up a storm in the vineyard.

Below is a clip from the concert: an excerpt from Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, by Handel.

Four of the musicians played excerpts from St Hubert’s Mass on ancient hunting horns. St Hubert is the patron saint of hunters and there is a tradition in Europe of hunting horns playing in churches on St Hubert’s Day on 3 November. More information here: