New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Announces 2010 Season
Date: 25 Jan 10
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is delighted to announce a line-up of top-billing artists, new initiatives and a cornucopia of fantastic performances for the 2010 Season.
The Season features more than a dozen soloists and conductors who can boast familiarity with the world’s greatest concert halls from Covent Garden to Carnegie Hall. These names include first rank musicians Hilary Hahn, one of the greatest young violinists in the world today, British piano star Freddy Kempf, world-renowned cellist Li-Wei and English violinist Anthony Marwood.
Pietari Inkinen’s international appearances conducting the world’s elite orchestras, his highly acclaimed recordings with the NZSO and the 2008 concerts for the Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival continue to draw international acclaim to the NZSO.
The Orchestra also renews its relationships with artists who have formed a terrific rapport with audiences and orchestra alike, including conductors Alexander Lazarev and Alexander Shelley and New Zealand’s iconic singer Dame Malvina Major.
In 2010 the NZSO collaborates with the New Zealand International Arts Festival for two spectacular concerts – on opening night of the Festival Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts Mahler 8 and a week later the NZSO presents a magnificent Wagner Gala starring tenor Simon O’Neill. Hailed as one of the leading Wagnerian tenors of his generation, Simon O’Neill recently spent a week with Pietari Inkinen and the NZSO recording a selection of Wagner arias to be released on CD by EMI in conjunction with the Festival performance.
New Zealand’s top artists feature strongly in 2010, whether as performers or composers. In addition to Simon O’Neill’s appearances, there will be a national tour with Dame Malvina Major. New Zealander Tecwyn Evans returns from Europe to conduct this tour in May for the annual Made in New Zealand concert.
A number of New Zealand composers will have their works premiered by the NZSO in 2010: Ross Harris’ Three Pieces for Orchestra Vienna (Mahler), his symphonic version of The Floating Bride, The Crimson Village and Lyell Cresswell’s Landscapes of the Soul.
In a new initiative for 2010, NZSO Soloists is a newly formed ensemble under the direction of NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen, giving the NZSO’s principal musicians a chance to shine as soloists. In October 2010, NZSO Soloists made up of musicians from the NZSO’s string section, will present an intriguingly varied programme of musical gems in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin and Invercargill, featuring works from the 18th to 20th Centuries.
The NZSO offers an evening devoted to the delights of the waltz, a shot of West End glamour in its “Rodgers and Hammerstein” tour, and a tour of Christmas music ancient and modern to finish the year.
In 2010 the NZSO extends its touring presenting Dame Malvina Major in Palmerston North and NZSO Soloists in Invercargill, as well as expanding its availability to the nation’s music lovers in other ways.
Saturday 3pm matinees continue in Auckland and Wellington, serviced by matinee concert buses conveying audiences from outlying centres; and to make concerts more accessible to younger listeners and families, the NZSO offers new initiatives in “30-down”: $26 seats for the under 30s as well as the “Family Ticket”: allowing concertgoers to take advantage of a $60 family ticket for an adult and two young people aged 18 and under.
The NZSO is close to revealing its plans for an international tour in 2010. The Orchestra has received numerous invitations to play at a number of the world’s leading concert halls and festivals and in March next year the Orchestra hopes to accept some of those invitations.
The NZSO is developing a reputation as a bold, fresh voice among orchestras internationally which has grown even stronger since the tour to China in 2008 and the outstanding recordings released with Music Director Pietari Inkinen.
For more information visit www.nzso.co.nz