Between the Lines: Language Games with Orchestra Wellington

Thursday 29 October, 5:30pm
Te Matapihi, Wellington Central Library
Level 2, Ngā Pou Ruahine
FREE

Between the Lines: The Devil’s Bargain with Orchestra Wellington

29 October, 5:30pm

Theme: Language Games

Music to be performed:
Walton – Façade

Suggested readings: TBC

Language Games explores the joy, absurdity, and musicality of words.

In the early 20th century, artists began to break language apart and rebuild it in new ways. Meaning became fluid, rhythm took centre stage, and sound itself became a kind of play. Words were no longer just vehicles for ideas, but material to be shaped, stretched, and reimagined.

This programme draws on that spirit of experimentation. Here, language slips between sense and nonsense, clarity and confusion. Familiar patterns are disrupted, and new ones emerge. The result is something playful, unpredictable, and deeply expressive.

Music and speech meet on equal terms. Rhythm becomes meaning. Timing becomes everything. Like a poem that resists easy interpretation, the experience is not about finding a single answer, but about enjoying the movement of thought as it unfolds.

In this world, language is not fixed. It dances, it misbehaves, and it invites us to listen differently.

Between the Lines is a FREE monthly early-evening chamber music series and book club that brings music and literature into conversation. Presented in the beautiful setting of Ngā Pou Ruahine in Te Matapihi, the series invites audiences to listen, think, and chat. No prior knowledge of music or literature is required, just a curious mind.

Taking place monthly from April to October on the final Thursday of each month, Between the Lines has been co-created by New Zealand String Quartet, Orchestra Wellington, and New Zealand School of Music.

Each month these organisations will take turns presenting a talented group of musicians to perform music and host discussion on a different literary theme. From devil’s bargains to language games, the obsessive tortured artist to the intimate private lives of writers and composers, this book club will delve deep into themes that span across artforms.

Each session will feature carefully selected music and a reading list highlighting the theme of the month. So, arrive solo or bring your book club to Te Matapihi for a new kind of conversation.

This event is FREE to attend, but we ask that you please register via the button below.

Between the Lines series monthly concerts will be held at 5:30pm on the final Thursday of every month from April to October. The dates for the series are:

Thursday 30 April, 5:30pm – Orchestra Wellington (first session to take place on the Bleachers, ground level) – The Art of Conversation
Thursday 28 May, 5:30pm – New Zealand String Quartet – Obsession
Thursday 25 June, 5:30pm – New Zealand String Quartet – Private Lives
Thursday 30 July, 5:30pm – Orchestra Wellington – The Devil’s Bargain
Thursday 27 August, 5:30pm – New Zealand String Quartet – Outsider
Thursday 24 September, 5:30pm – NZSM – Te Kōkī – Theme to be announced
Thursday 29 October, 5:30pm – Orchestra Wellington – Language Games

Check out the series

Upcoming events

From the enthralling performances at the prestigious Michael Fowler Centre to dynamic street concerts in iconic Wellington locations, every interaction with us is an immersive journey into the heart of live orchestral music.