A concert of hope This year’s Kristallnacht concert in memory of the Nazi attack on the Jews of Germany on November 9, 1938 will have Hope as its underlying theme. Young Israeli violinist, Tal First and Inbal Megiddo of the NZ School of Music will perform Violins of Hope by Israeli composer, Ohad ben Ari … Find out more >>
The Moldau is one of a suite of six pieces entitled Ma Vlast, or My Homeland. It follows the course of the Moldau River from its origins to the sea. Musicologist Paul Stefan says Smetana’s music “sings to us today of the Bohemia of old; its woods and cultivated plains, its villages, its romantic hills … Find out more >>
Verdi wrote his Requiem in 1873 when he was at the height of his powers as an operatic composer. By then, he was also a national hero, his works a symbol and expression of the Italians’ quest for unity and self-rule. This Requiem, so filled with dramatic power and unforgettable melodies, is also a monument … Find out more >>
This season’s Bohemian theme is continued with Janáček’s 1918 orchestral rhapsody, Taras Bulba, loosely inspired by a novella by Gogol about a Cossack war leader. Janáček’s dramatic score matches the intensity, if not the narrative, of Gogol’s tale of love, betrayal and the struggle for freedom. The orchestra is delighted to welcome back pianist Jian … Find out more >>
Mozart’s Prague symphony makes a perfect curtain-raiser to the orchestra’s 2018 season, from its dramatic opening chords to the crackling energy of its main themes. Seldom has a work expressed the clear light of reason with such a sense of joy. Mozart counted the day he presented this symphony to the public, in 1787, as … Find out more >>
This, another dance-centred programme, begins and ends with Ravel’s evolving ideas on the waltz. The first waltzes look backwards, modelled on Schubert’s delightful essays in the form. But Ravel’s later work La Valse reflects its postwar world: written for Diaghilev in 1919, it is danced on the edge of a precipice; the beautiful ballrooms of … Find out more >>
Diaghilev’s magic touches this concert too, in the form of Debussy’s commission for the Ballets Russes: Jeux. Premiering within two weeks of The Rite of Spring, and likewise scored for a huge orchestra, this was Debussy’s final masterpiece for orchestra and was one of the most in uential scores of the 20th century – an … Find out more >>
In this concert we’ll hear two geniuses announce themselves to the world, Beethoven’s 1st symphony shows he had already mastered the symphonic form and even hints at how he would one day revolutionise it. Then we have the young Stravinsky, one of the greatest composers to be launched into worldwide fame by the impresario Diaghilev. … Find out more >>