Accordionist Annie Gong to perform at Lantern Festival in Auckland
24 Feb, 2021 11:53 PM
4 minutes to read
Lincoln Tan is the New Zealand Herald’s diversity, ethnic affairs and immigration senior reporter.lincoln.tan@nzherald.co.nz@LincolnTanNZH
Most won t associate jazz, classical music, pop and rock music with an accordion, but this is how China-born accordionist Annie Gong is taking the instrument to the next level. People would have heard of one-man-band, but I am a one-woman-orchestra and the only one in New Zealand, proclaimed Gong, who moved to Auckland 20 years ago and has for a most part been performing globally and on cruise ships.
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Architect Dave Strachan joins the likes of John Scott, Sir Ian Athfield, Roger Walker and Jeremy Salmond as an NZIA Gold Medal recipient. Image: Adrian Malloch 1 of 13 2 of 13 3 of 13 4 of 13 5 of 13 6 of 13 7 of 13 8 of 13 9 of 13 10 of 13 11 of 13 12 of 13 13 of 13
Auckland architect Dave Strachan of Strachan Group Architects (SGA) has been awarded the 2020 Gold Medal, New Zealand’s highest honour for an individual architect, by Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects.
Dave Stracha
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“In 1959, as a first-year student at the Auckland School, I heard Bill Wilson for the first time, talking brilliantly to a slide show of recent work by the Group. It was a revelation I have never forgotten. The intelligence, erudition and warmth of the man, and the freshness, the zest for construction, and the localism of the work were truly thrilling. It seemed New Zealand architecture had been invented.” Signature features of the Group Architects movement are much in evidence in the Vennell House. It was built from cedar, and designed to have a close connection with the outdoors. Other key Modernist features include a soaring entry with feature staircase, fluid connections between the multiple living areas, extensive timber panelling and built-in furniture.