The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024 Winter Season, featuring a spectacular roster of classical music luminaries takes place in The Playhouse Opera every Thursday from 6 to 27 June, each World Symphony Series concert starting at 19h00.
‘We are delighted to invite our special community of music lovers to join us our four-concert Winter Symphony Season of 2024 – and pick up on the grand traditions of our long-running World Symphony Series, in which celebrated guest stars join our dedicated orchestral musicians in creating many hours of musical enchantment,’ ’ says Bongani Tembe, KZN Philharmonic’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director. ‘The season dovetails with our continued commitment to community engagement and skills transfer among new-generation artists and learners.’
Cape Town conductor Brandon Phillips returns to the KZNPO podium, to open the season on 6 June. His ‘curtain-raiser’, Haydn’s high-energy Symphony No. 59, dubbed the ‘Fire Symphony’, is sure to delight concert goers. Making his local debut, the distinguished Czech pianist Jan Bartoš – lauded by BBC Music Magazine as ‘an ideal interpreter, providing abundant brilliance without sacrificing poetry’ – takes centre-stage in a performance of Mendelssohn’s bravura Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor.. Beethoven’s towering Fifth Symphony, one of the cornerstones of western music, brings the evening to a rousing climax in the second half of the evening,
Japanese maestro Yasuo Shinozaki, a longstanding favourite with KZN Philharmonic audiences, takes the podium for the second concert of the season on 13 June. In the first half of his programme, he shares the spotlight with Durban born, US based lyric soprano Bronwyn Forbay in a compendium of favourites by Bizet, Gounod, Faurė and Cilea. Ms Forbay’s legions of fans will be delighted to welcome her ‘back home’ – especially perform a selection of arias superbly suited to her lovely voice. Tchaikovsky’s five-movement Symphony No 3 rounds off the evening on a high.
SA based Israeli American conductor Daniel Boico appears for the third concert of the season, on 20 June with a programme that opens with Sir Edward Elgar’s much-loved Serenade for Strings. The celebrated American oboist James Austin Smith appears as soloist in Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto, and Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, regarded by many critics as among the greatest symphonies in classical music, brings the evening to a close.
The Russian born maestro Daniel Raiskin will be on the podium for the closing concert of the season on 27 June, with an eclectic programme that opens with the rarely heard Concert Overture by the Swedish composer Elfrieda Andrėe (1841 – 1929). South African pianist Ben Schoeman appears a soloist in Beethoven’s richly nuanced Piano Concerto No 4.
Best known for his Peer Gynt and Holberg Suites, and his iconic A minor piano concerto, Edvard Grieg’s rarely performed Symphony in C minor, which closes the programme, is a work considerable mystique and vast sonic contrasts. It may well prove to be the revelation of the season.
There are buses from Caister Lodge (R60 ret / dep 18.20); Westville Senior (R80 ret / dep 18.10; St Agnes Kloof (R100 ret / dep 17.50); Grace Church Umhlanga (R100 / dep 18.10). Book through Quicket / subscribers book through KZNPO offices.
KZN Philharmonic Season tickets, and bookings for individual concerts, are available at Quicket outlets. For more information call 031-369 9438, email bookings@kznphil.org.za or visit www.kznphil.org.za.
6 June:
Conductor: Brandon Phillips
Soloist: Czech pianist Jan Bartoš
Programme: Haydn’s Symphony No. 59; Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
There will be public NO morning rehearsal for this concert.
13 June:
Conductor: Yasuo Shinozaki
Soloist: Lyric soprano Bronwyn Forbay
Programme: Bizet, Gounod, Faurė and Cilea; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 3.
There will be public NO morning rehearsal for this concert.
20 June:
Conductor: Daniel Boico
Soloist: American oboist James Austin Smith
Programme: Sir Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings; Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto; Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony.
There is a 10am morning rehearsal – tix R60. Coffee shop will be open.
27 June:
Conductor: Russian born maestro Daniel Raiskin
Soloist: South African pianist Ben Schoeman
Programme: Concert Overture by Swedish composer Elfrieda Andrėe (1841 – 1929); Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4; Edvard Grieg’s Symphony in C minor.
There is a 10am morning rehearsal – tix R60. Coffee shop will be open.
