JPO announces 2020 season line-up

The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) announced details for its 2020 summer season programme.

“We are proud to showcase our 2020 World Symphony Series with a spectacular line-up of international talent and leading South African soloists who will join us in taking the experience of concert going in the City of Johannesburg ever onwards and upwards,” said JPO artistic director and chief executive, Bongani Tembe.

“While we are deeply appreciative of the support we enjoy from our family of regular concert goers, we urge each of you to introduce the wonder of music to as many more members of your family, colleagues and peers, as possible. Encourage and empower them to share your experience. Music in our lives matters on so many levels.”

The JPO Summer Season kicks off on a heady note with a special Valentine’s Variety Gala programme on February 12 to 14. American conductor William Eddins shares the spotlight with two guest soloists, the Montenegrin guitarist Goran Krivokapiæ and the gifted young South African soprano Zandile Mzazi who join the orchestra in performing a richly curated programme of concert bon-bons by Berlioz, Rodrigo, Mascagni, Massenet, Khachaturian, Verdi, Lehar and Tchaikovsky.

Perennially popular Japanese maestro Yasuo Shinozaki returns to the JPO podium on February 19 and 20, putting his players through their paces in three concert staples of widely different character: Ravel’s hugely popular Bolero and his fiercely taxing Left Hand Piano Concerto (soloist the prize-winning French pianist Maxime Zecchini) and concluding with a show-stopping outing for Mussorgsky’s masterly Pictures at an Exhibition.

The Netherlands-born conductor Arjan Tien, taking the podium on February 26 and 27 salutes the 250th Beethoven anniversary year with performances of two Beethoven favourites, the Leonore Overture No 1 and the Triple Concerto, played by pianist Malcolm Nay, violinist Tai Murray and cellist Aristide du Plessis.

The evening closes with Bizet’s delightful Symphony in C.

The dynamic Israeli-American conductor Daniel Boico is at the helm for the Summer Season’s final concerts on March 4, 5 and 7 with a two-piece programme featuring Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, soloist Jan Jiracek von Arnim, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4.

For more information go to visit www.jpo.co.za