WELCOME TO THE PETTMAN NATIONAL JUNIOR ACADEMY OF MUSIC
The Academy is New Zealand’s finest music school. Our uncompromising focus on excellence is informed by our awareness that excellence in performance is no simple matter. It is not enough merely to work hard. It is not enough merely to be talented. Our teachers are inspirational figures dedicated to bringing the best international methods and ideas to New Zealand students, surrounding them with like-minded people of outstanding musical talent, and helping them achieve the full realisation of their potential.
Music is one of the greatest and most demanding human arts. Its demands are exacting and its rewards are vast: we aim to take our students on a journey through both sides of this equation. We are all experienced professional performers and long-time teachers. (The skillsets are not the same. Students must have access to both.) We expect our students to apply themselves, and we also want to make sure they have fun.
We make no assumption about career choice, but we strive to equip all our students with the skills and experience required for success at tertiary level and beyond. We are confident that whatever field they enter, their lives will be richer for their time with us.
The Pettman National Junior Academy is mourning the loss of Prof. Barrie Pettman, Baron of Bombie, Kircudbrightshire, who died suddenly on Friday 2nd of June 2017 in Yorkshire, Great Britain.
Some of you will remember the Pettmans from the many summers they spent in Akaroa, faithfully attending every festival event. Barrie Pettman was a philanthropist who believed in helping musically gifted children to reach their full potential. He and his wife Maureen have been sponsoring the Pettman National Junior Academy since 2006. Through their generous donations, the Pettman National Junior Academy was able to help more than 200 gifted music New Zealand students to achieve their career goals.
Barrie Pettman was a publisher, editor of several academic journals as well as the editor of Burke’s Peerage. He and his wife Maureen spent European summers in their home in Yorkshire and, until 2014, New Zealand summers in their home in Akaroa.
The Pettman National Junior Academy and the International Akaroa Music Festival were and are very important to Barrie and Maureen Pettman, and the support for the programme will be ongoing.
A public commemoration of Prof. Pettman’s many contribution to music life in New Zealand will be held later in the year.
We send our deepest condolences to his family and many friends.
Sincerely
Wolfgang Kraemer and Edith Salzmann
“In art, the best is the standard. When you hear a new violinist, you do not compare him to the kid next door; you compare him to Sternand Heifetz.”
Ursula K Le Guin
