HORIZON MUSIC COLLECTIVE

The Horizont Musik-Kollektiv [Horizon Music Collective] is a Berlin-based music group, bringing together the best of NZ's expat orchestral musicians and singers to perform the music of our most talented composers. We aim to be a platform for celebrating and integrating NZ music with masterpieces of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and to provide paid work for brilliant kiwi musicians living in Europe. Eventually, the plan is to grow this into an annual concert series, with the aim of bringing as much NZ music, and as many kiwi musicians, to the Berlin stage as possible.

At the heart of the HMK's activities will be a resident orchestra, Rata Ensemble. The Ensemble takes its name from our beautiful native tree, which starts life as an epiphyte, or passenger, perched on an established tree. Without taking sustenance from its host, the tiny Rata eventually reaches down and takes root, merging with the host and gaining incredible height and girth. The ensemble's genesis and mission echoes this non-threatening sharing of resources. It provides a European landing-base for musicians from NZ and the wider Pacific, allowing them to collaborate with colleagues in one of the world's great musical centres, helping their New Zealand careers to take root and mature, and challenging them to expand their horizons.

The potential for this to grow is huge. European tours, hosting an annual NZ music festival in Germany, collaborations with kiwi dancers, artists, choreographers, designers... Anything is possible. But I need to persuade some major financial patrons to come on board for the bigger plan. So I'm asking for your help to raise NZ$7500 to help me pay the players' fees, music hire, venue hire and marketing for an initial launch concert in Berlin. I will invite potential patrons and donors, and let the music speak for itself in persuading them to come on board and help us grow. Your support will form the foundation of the project going forward, and will further show to major arts foundations and new supporters that NZ music deserves a place at the heart of the music world.

Migration is one of the few constants in a classical musician's life, enabling us to make our living, broadening our horizons and, ultimately, enriching our music. In return for the privilege of participating in the ancient trade of musical exchange, I believe we should always give something of ourselves back creatively to the communities we visit. So, I'm incredibly excited about providing a European platform for NZ's composers, and sharing our great art with German audiences, and I hope you'll feel as passionately as I do that this project deserves as much support as possible to take root!

A huge thank you to the NZ Arts Foundation for hosting my project on Boosted, and to photographer Swami Hansa for generously donating his knowledge and time to help me put this video together.

For more information on the project, please visit us at www.horizontm-k.com