KZNPO hosts symphony series

THE KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2019 Early Spring Season runs on Thursdays from 22 August to 12 September, with World Symphony Series concerts performed in the Durban City Hall on 22 August and on 5 and 12 September, and in The Playhouse Opera on 29 August, at 7.30pm.

The celebrated Russian maestro Daniel Raiskin makes a welcome return to Durban on 22 August to launch the season with a richly curated programme of French, German and Czech masterworks. This opens with Gabriel Fauré’s atmospheric Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, before the gifted young Chinese soloist, Susanne Hou, takes centre-stage to put her stamp on Max Bruch’s highly Romantic Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire. The evening climaxes on a joyous note with a rendering of Dvo?ák’s sunny Eighth Symphony.

Principal guest conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Laureate of Symphony Nova Scotia in Canada, Bernhard Gueller takes the Playhouse Opera podium on 29 August. He kicks off the programme with one of the great showpieces for orchestra, Saint-Saëns’s unforgettable La Danse Macabre, before 21-year-old Russian virtuoso Daniel Kharitonov steps into the spotlight to pit his skills against the daunting demands of Frantz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 1. Brahms’s deeply rewarding Symphony No 2 brings the evening to a rousing close.

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Back in the Durban City Hall for the third programme of the season on 5 September, Daniel Boico, the KZN Philharmonic’s popular Associate Guest Conductor, will lead the evening’s proceedings. He will share the guest roster with soloist, Gary Hoffman, one of the outstanding cellists of our time. The programme includes: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, Gabriel Fauré’s enticing Élégie; Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme; and ends with his Symphony No 2, affectionately known as the “Little Russian”.

The Early Spring Season ends in traditional style on 12 September with the KZN Philharmonic’s Resident Conductor, Lykele Temmingh on the Durban City Hall podium for the annual National Youth Concerto Festival, which showcases the cream of young South African talent taking the stage to perform with seasoned professionals.

Season tickets and bookings for individual concerts are through Computicket on 0861 915 8000, or online at www.computicket.com. Contact 031 369 9438, email: bookings@kznphil.org.za or visit: www.kznphil.org.za.

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