(Speech given by Lloyd Morrison, Morrison Music Trust Chairman, at the 2002 New Zealand Festival media launch).

25 February 2002

I am pleased to announce the release of a live recording of Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra, which was the highlight of the fantastic New Zealand Festival 2000.

This is the first in a projected series of co-operative recording projects with the New Zealand Festival. The centrepiece of every Festival is always the production of an opera, and it is wholly appropriate that the Trust should commence this exciting relationship with New Zealand's most prestigious arts event by making available to posterity this wonderful production of Simon Boccanegra.

So, today is the launch of this exciting CD and that is memorable in itself. It is a major opera and it has been produced to the highest level of international quality – I am not sure whether an opera of this length has ever been produced on CD in New Zealand previously. Certainly, there has never been a production with an accompanying 68-page booklet including synopsis, full libretto in Italian and translation to English!

So … why do it? Or, why hasn’t it been done before? I would like to ponder that a little.

When, a few months ago, we launched Gareth Farr’s CD, Warriors from Pluto, I said at the time, that I believed that there is a strong potential role for the arts in monetising New Zealand’s cultural intellectual capital and playing a big part in helping New Zealand become a successful country again. That, rather than being an indulgent drag economically, the arts can provide both direct economic output domestically and in export. They also provide inspiration and leadership – they give us a vision of what is achievable.

So, rather than reflect solely on how good it is that we have worked closely with the Festival to produce an excellent recording of a very fine opera, I would like to question why we do not already have a better recorded legacy of our cultural successes and to challenge us all to make sure our past record is improved upon.

The opera is the highlight of every Festival! When I think of the best opera I have seen in New Zealand I inevitably come back, with the exception of one, to the Festival operas. They are world class – meeting the highest of international standards, inspirational, uplifting, performances of which we can be proud. Why then, have we not captured these and other Festival moments in published recordings? It is a good thing to have radio recordings, but is is not enough - we all know the benefits and leverage which can be gained by being able to re-live such moments through CDs, video or photography.

It is not peculiar to Festival performances, but they stand out as great examples. How sad that the memories of such achievement and pinnacles of cultural success can only be shared by those lucky enough to have attended and even then, with not the same recollection they would have, had they been able to refresh it with a recording. We are a small country – we have a great arts community – we need to treasure and preserve all our highlights as a foundation from which to build and grow to greater achievements.

Simon Boccanegra is a very fine recording of a great moment in New Zealand’s cultural history. In releasing it I would like to pay special thanks to:

• Diana Cable, Carla van Zon and Alex Reedijk for their vision, dedication and help with this project and making sure that the opera was recorded;

• Stephen Lawless and Joseph Seelig for overseeing the production of the opera;

• Murray Khouri and Neil Maddever for their work in creating the recording, removing stage and audience noise;

• Roger Wilson for his wonderful notes about Verdi and this opera, and Roger Flury (National Library) who helped us to make sense of both the Italian and English versions of the libretti;

• the great artists, musicians – including the NZSO – and the many many people involved in the production of this opera.

Thank you.