A bumper season
As one of the oldest symphonies in the world, banging its first gong in 1947, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra continues as strong as ever into the 21st Century.
The courageous creatives beyond the music have just kicked off the 2023 season with an excellent range of events for the year ahead.
In early March, Mozart & Salieri is set to bring two magnificent works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri to audiences. The six-date tour from 10 March also features exhilarating music by their contemporaries Franz Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel.
Led by NZSO Concertmaster and violinist Vesa-Matti Leppänen, the concerts stop by Wellington, Palmerston North, Invercargill, Dunedin, Ōamaru and, for Canterbury, the Ashburton Trusts Event Centre.
Also highlighted will be mesmerising performances by NZSO Section Principal Oboe Robert Orr, Associate Principal Bassoon Justin Sun, and Section Principal Horn Samuel Jacobs with the orchestra.
Shortly after, and touching down in Christchurch on 11 March, the city’s Piano will resonate with the sounds of Baroque giants Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, and George Frideric Handel in the NZSO’s Brandenburg tour.
Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, one of six stunning pieces he presented to the Margrave of Brandenburg in Berlin in 1721, is a thrilling and innovative work. Such is its energy and depth; music scholars regard No.5 as the blueprint for many flamboyant Romantic piano concertos written 100 years later.
Today Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 continues to mesmerise listeners for its timeless beauty and boldness. A highlight of the orchestra’s performances will be soloist NZSO Section Principal Flute Bridget Douglas.
Telemann’s Viola Concerto is one of his most famous compositions and one of the first known concertos explicitly written for viola. In the talented hands of NZSO Associate Principal Alexander McFarlane, this groundbreaking work for the instrument is sure to be an unforgettable experience.
Brandenburg also features another Telemann orchestral work, his Overture Suite La Changeante.
Handel’s Concerto Grosso No.1 is the first of his ‘Twelve Grand Concertos’ and among some of the finest examples of Baroque concerto grosso, written for a small group of soloists and orchestra.
As the year progresses, Ōtautahi will play host to a rare occurrence: all five Beethoven Piano Concertos performed over three consecutive days.
Acclaimed English pianist Paul Lewis will play three back-to-back concerts in Christchurch with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in May at the city’s Town Hall: Orpheus, Reverence, and Emperor.
He first performed with the NZSO in 2022, joining the orchestra directly from the United States just days after performing the Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle at the prestigious Tanglewood festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a separate solo recital at the Aspen Music Festival.
Lewis knows these works inside and out and is highly regarded for his interpretations of Beethoven’s piano works.
“There’s definitely some kind of journey from the first to the last piano concerto,” Lewis has said. “I think it tells us very specific and valuable things about Beethoven. Each piece is completely unique.”
Reverence, the second of the three concerts, will also feature WA Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture. Emperor, the third concert, also features R Schumann’s masterpiece Symphony No. 2.
The country is set to be transported by the talents of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra this season as its legacy continues for the next 75 years and beyond.