Tongan violinist's latest play weaves in Voltaire and Vanuatu

​A Tongan musician is linking violin and Voltaire in an upcoming French play premiering at Auckland's Q Theatre this month.

ÉMILIE is a comedy-drama set in 18th-century Paris, telling the story of French mathematician and natural philosopher Émilie du Châtelet.

The production features violinist and music director Peau Halapua, who plays the violin onstage during the show.

Speaking with Tapuala Malo Toe on Pacific Days, Halapua says she’s drawn to stories that challenge the norm.

“She is a very special person, Émilie du Châtelet, but I’m not so interested in creating another hero. I’m interested in expanding our understandings and remembering more people that have contributed to how we are today.

“Even though it’s not overtly Pasifika, it’s not situated in New Zealand, we have to include more stories in our understandings to become better memory keepers, not just focusing on the few.”

Du Châtelet is understood to have translated Isaac Newton’s Principia from Latin to French, containing the laws of motion and gravity, but is mainly recognised as the mistress of Voltaire, one of France’s most revered philosophers and writers.

​The original music is composed by writer and director Sophie Lindsay, who grew up lived in Port Vila, Vanuatu before returning to New Zealand.

“She’s got a great sensibility that I can relate to," says Halapua. "There’s a bit of an ‘outsider’ feeling. It's coming from the west, but it reminds me of working in South Auckland with young kids in orchestras.

"You hear this amazing music making when they're all together ... they're contributing to the overall sound, but they're not there to be a hero."​

A storytelling legacy

Halapua says the influence of music and storytelling have been woven throughout her life. After finishing her master's in Classical Violin Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music, she ended up working alongside her father, the late Tongan MP Dr Sitiveni Halapua.

“I worked with him as he did his talanoa in the Pacific, I edited his works in English, I talked with him for many, many years about his ideas and how he could present them to the world in a way that as many people as possible could understand his vision.

“With talanoa being about storytelling, it made so much sense for me to be focussed on it in different ways, in ways that can really make an impact, practically speaking. In music, it’s more in its purest, abstract form, just the heart, the emotions.”

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Halapua's work include performances with TEEKS, The Black Quartet, L.A.B and Six60 and Hinewehi Mohi​.

She has also worked with Sistema Aotearoa, which uses orchestral music making as a model for social development in Auckland's Ōtara. She hopes more Pacific people are enabled to explore classical music and instruments.

“I feel our people have an incredible natural talent, and it’s just about finding a way for it to be our story as well.

“It's like a sense of foreignness, ‘Why would I play your music? Why would I tell your story?’, and I think that our young people are finding a way to make it their own and that is the key to making it relevant and making it something we'll see more of.”

Her advice to aspiring musicians and artists?

“Be curious, and listen to yourself. There's so much joy in listening to your own heart, your own way of looking at the world.

“Only you can hear that voice and I feel like it's almost like your duty, it’s your contribution to the world to listen to your voice and share it.”

ÉMILIE​ runs from 19-23 September at Q Theatre. Tickets are from $39 - $45​.

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