Cellist Inbal Megiddo on premièring Anthony Ritchie’s new 'Cello Concerto'

To give the world première of a work written for you is one of the greatest honours a performer can receive. It carries with it both privilege and responsibility. You are the first to give the music a voice, and everything you bring to it shapes how it enters the world. The work arrives with no performance history, no established interpretation, no map, only what the composer has imagined and the possibility of bringing it into sound for the first time. That sense of discovery is one of the things I love most about being a musician. Anthony Ritchie has been a friend and a source of inspiration since I made Aotearoa my home. I was drawn to his music immediately: its humanity, its accessibility, and the way it can hold beauty and wit in the same breath. Many years ago, I asked whether he might one day write a cello concerto. I could never have imagined that conversation would lead to this.

This concerto is deeply personal and carries traces of Anthony's own life within it. Preparing it has been a genuine journey of discovery: four movements, each with its own character, from exuberance and humour to moments of profound lyricism, and a cadenza that is thrillingly alive. Mstislav Rostropovich, my teacher, devoted his life to expanding the cello repertoire and championing the music of his time alongside the great classics. That sense of responsibility has always guided me, and nowhere do I feel it more strongly than in championing the music of this country. But the discovery does not belong only to me. When we gather in Dunedin for the première, every person in the hall will be hearing this music for the very first time, encountering something entirely new. We will discover it together. I cannot wait to collaborate with my colleagues and friends in the Dunedin Symphony and with Maestro Brent Stewart, and together bring this concerto to life. Above all, I look forward to sharing that journey of discovery with you.