THE KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2023 World Winter Symphony Season, featuring a superb line-up of international and local talent, runs in The Playhouse Opera every Thursday from June 8 to 29, each World Symphony Series concert starting at 19h00.
“We are delighted to link up once again with our loyal community of music lovers for our four-concert Winter Symphony Season,” says Bongani Tembe, KZN Philharmonic’s chief executive and artistic director. “As ever, we have honoured the longstanding traditions of our World Symphony Series by assembling a guest roster of A-list artists, who join our dedicated orchestral musicians to bring our audience hours of musical enrichment. The season goes hand-in-glove with our commitment to community engagement and skills transfer among new-generation artists and learners.”
Anna Su’kowska-Migo’, the brilliant young Polish conductor who won last year’s prestigious La Maestra competition in Paris, opens the season with Gustav Mahler’s Blumine, which first appeared as the second movement of his first symphony. After three performances, the composer removed it. Originally written as part of incidental music for a play by Von Scheffel, it evokes lovers exchanging their tender feelings in the stillness of night. At the time, Mahler, infatuated with a blonde soprano Johanna Richter, described it as a ‘love episode’. This charming curtain opener is perfectly matched by Chausson’s delightful Poème for Violin and Orchestra, a graceful debut vehicle to introduce our opening concert’s soloist, the gifted young Dutch violinist, Rosanne Philippens, to the audience. Philippens remains the spotlight to perform Sarasate’s flamboyant Zigeunerweisen. Mendelssohn’s much-loved Symphony No 3 ‘Scottish’ makes for a rousing second half to the evening’s musical fare.
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The renowned Japanese maestro, Yasuo Shinozaki, makes a welcome return to the podium for the second concert on June 15. He opens his programme with one of the world’s concert warhorses, Vltava from Smetana’s Má Vlast (My Fatherland). Vltava, one of the world’s most graphically descriptive works, evokes the mighty Moldau River in all its tumultuous energy and majesty. The dazzling young Bulgarian virtuoso, Emmanuel Ivanov, winner of the Busoni Piano Competition, takes centre stage to perform Rachmaninoff’s iconic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as the evening’s centrepiece. The second half of the evening is given over to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4 – a staple of the orchestral repertoire and one of the most frequently performed symphonies of the late 19th century. It is ranked as one of the best of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies.
Daniel Boico takes the podium for the third concert on June 22. Boico opens with Liszt’s First Mephisto Waltz, known for its passion, sensuality and powerful emotional impact. Liszt’s ferociously taxing Piano Concerto No 1 is the evening’s centrepiece, showcasing the virtuosic prowess of South Korea’s keyboard wizard, Yeon-Min Park. The evening closes in an uplifting mood with Dvozák’s joyous Symphony No 8, who’s cheery and lyrical ethos draws its inspiration from the Bohemian folk music the composer loved.
KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s resident conductor Lykele Temmingh brings the curtain down on the Winter Season with a programme that is bookended by two concert favourites, while offering listeners a rare encounter – a major composition by his brother, the renowned South African composer, Roelof Temmingh. Beethoven’s rugged Egmont Overture needs no introduction as the evening’s curtain raiser. The ‘discovery’ of the evening is Roelof Temmingh’s exquisitely scored Clarinet Concerto expressly written for Maria du Toit, South Africa’s foremost clarinetist of her generation. The programme closes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 1, ‘Winter Dreams’ as a touching and appropriate final salute to the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s Winter Season audience.
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KZN Philharmonic Season tickets, and bookings for individual concerts, are available at Quicket outlets. There will be Tea and Symphony concerts for the final rehearsal every Thursday morning at 10:00 at the Playhouse Opera. Tickets are R50 for adults, and pensioners or children five years and older are R30. The bars are no longer open at the Playhouse, however, tea and coffee can be purchased prior to concerts and during interval. For more information, call 031 369 9438 or email [email protected] or visit www.kznphil.org.za.
Caxton Local Media is giving away tickets to the last three shows in the series. Fill out the entry form below and we could be calling you!
KZN Philharmonic Winter Season 2023
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