More classical highs with the Joburg Philly
Oh yes the Joburg Philly is back again – this time round there’s a child-prodigy pianist of only 24, there’s a hot SA trumpeter and a very popular young conductor – sounds like fun. Unwind from a hectic Wed or Thursday next week with some qulity classical music.
The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra performs Haydn, Shostakovich and Mozart
The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s S…
econd Symphony Season fourth week programme will be performed on Wednesday 7 June and Thursday 8 June.
Sponsored by Anglo American, the performances feature Haydn’s dramatic Symphony No. 83 (“La Poule”), Mozart’s popular Concerto No.21 and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto Con Tromba and Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 (“The Prague”).
Haydn’s Symphony No. 83, one of Haydn’s Paris Symphonies composed in 1784, has become known as “The Hen” because of a curious clucking effect from the strings and oboes in the first movement.
One of Mozart’s most popular piano concertos – Concerto No. 21 is the performance that follows. This C Major concerto has captured the hearts of millions of people over the years. Mozart is in his famous “trumpets and drums” mood in this concerto and dazzles us with his humour.
The magnificent Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto Con Tromba follows Mozart’s composition. Shostakovitch was such a fine pianist as a young student and he won numerous competitions, his technique was said to be brilliant. However, the astonishing success of his First Symphony, when he was only 20, convinced him that his future lay in composing.
Shostakovitch decided to write some piano music to play himself and in 1933 wrote his First Piano Concerto and scored it for piano, string orchestra and the unusual addition of the trumpet as a solo instrument alongside the piano. The very fact that these two instruments are not normally paired clearly gave Shostakovitch an impish urge and allowed his sardonic wit to prevail, especially in the finale where piano and trumpet battle for supremacy.
Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 (“The Prague”) ends the memorable performances. Mozart wrote and completed this symphony in Vienna in 1786 and the first performance took place in Prague in January 1787. Two features of this magnificent symphony make it distinctively identifiable – the three movement design and a long, slow introduction.
Popular conductor Bernhard Gueller will lead the orchestra. Music director of both Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada, and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany, Bernhard Gueller is well known to South African audiences where he has been conducting since 1994.
He has been acclaimed as one of Germany’s most talented young conductors and many of his concerts have been broadcast nationally and internationally. Bernhard has extraordinary musicianship, marvellous ability to communicate with the musicians, and a charismatic impact on the audience.
Mariangela Vacatello from Italy is one of the talented soloists featured in these performances. Born in Napels in 1982, Mariangela started the Yamaha piano courses at age four. She was admitted in 1993, at age eleven, to the prestigious Accademia di Imola and she completed her studies cum laude at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan in 1999.
Mariangela won many first prizes at a very young age and this trend continues throughout her career. In September 2004 she visited South Africa by public demand and gave five concerts in five consecutive days in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Mariangela has been accepted at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London where she will pursue her studies under Prof. Christopher Elton as from September 2006.
South African Robin Finlay, principal trumpet player of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, will also feature as soloist in this week’s performances. Robin was born in Durban and was the Principal trumpet player and soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa, of which he was a member for twelve years. Prior to this he held the position of principal trumpet and soloist with the Natal Philharmonic for just over two years.
Robin has held teaching positions at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Johannesburg Symphonic School of Music and the National School of the Arts and teaches privately. Currently he is Head of Brass at St Johns College in Houghton. Robin is busy as a freelance artist in SA playing for television and radio and can be heard on many adverts.
Performances start at 8pm and take place at the Linder Auditorium, Wits Education Campus, St Andrews Road, Parktown (formerly JCE). Pre-concert talks take place from 7.15pm.
Tickets are on sale at Computicket. Season tickets are available from the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and there are special prices for pensioners and students. For any further information call 011 789 2733, or email info@jpo.co.za.
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November ’05
UPDATE
The curtain lifts on the Standard Bank Symphony Season of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra on Wednesday, October 19 with a scintillating opening volley to the five week’s of concerts.
The ten performances will showcase the work of 18 respected composers and present a diverse appreciation of classical music.
The season’s first submission is presented on October 19 and 20 when conductor Emmanuel Siffert guides the orchestra through Weber’s admired opera Der Freischutz (The Marksman), the brilliant Erich Korngold’s violin concerto and Rachmaninov’s second symphony.
A week later, Siffert again wields the baton and opens the performance with a superb curtain-raiser: Von Suppe’s Light Cavalry Overture. Local composer Hendrik Hofmeyr’s award-winning Raptus for Violin and Orchestra follows, before renditions of Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and Chausson’s Symphony in B Flat round off the programme.
On November 2 and 3, the orchestra presents Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, a companion piece by Frederick Delius and Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite. Michael Hankinson conducts and soloists Shannon Armer and Nicholas Nikolaides feature.
The penultimate offering on November 9 and 10 includes a double bill of French composer Camille Saint Saens. The spectacular orchestral showpiece Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah precedes his cello concerto in D Minor, with Cesar Franck’s only symphony bringing down the curtain.
In the final week, on November 16 and 17, the orchestra performs John Williams’ Cowboy Overture, On the Town by Leonard Bernstein, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and both Copland’s Rodeo Suite, and his piano concerto. Conductor Mariusz Smolij takes charge of the final two weeks of performances.
Many celebrated soloists including Wolfgang David, Zanta Hofmeyr, Jerome Pernoo and Nina Schumann perform during the season. Performances start at 8pm and take place at the Linder Auditorium, Wits Education Campus, St Andrews Road, Parktown. Pre-concert talks take place from 7.15pm.
Tickets are on sale at Computicket. Season tickets are available from the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. For any further information call 011 789 2723, or EMAIL
Wed 19 & Thurs 20 October
Weber – Der Freischutz
Korngold – Violin Concerto
Rachmaninov – Symphony No. 2
Soloist: Wolfgang David
Conductor: Emmanuel Siffert
Wed 26 & Thurs 27 October
Von Suppý – The Light Cavalry Overture
Hofmeyr – Raptus
Bruch – Scottish Fantasy Opus 46
Chausson – Symphony Opus 20 in B flat major
Soloist: Zanta Hofmeyr
Conductor: Emmanuel Siffert
Wed 2 & Thurs 3 November
Vaughn Williams – Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis Britten – Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Delius – On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and Summer Night on the River
Copland – Appalachian Spring Suite
Soloist: Shannon Armer & Nicholas Nikolaides
Conductor: Michael Hankinson
Wed 9 & Thurs 10 November
Saint Saýns – Bacchanalia from Samson and Delilah
Saint Saýns – Cello Concerto No. 2
Franck – Symphony in D minor
Soloist: Jerome Pernoo
Conductor: Mariusz Smolij
Wed 16 & Thurs 17 November
Williams – Cowboy Overture
Bernstein – On the Town
Copland – Piano Concerto
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Copland – Rodeo Suite
Soloist: Nina Schumann
Conductor: Mariusz Smolij
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22 August
This week it is all about the CELLO – go on a journey of the ‘life of the lower classes in Russia with all its dissoluteness, barbarity, tragedy and misery’. Take your tissues.
Wednesday 17 August & Thursday 18 August
Linder Auditorium, JCE, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown,
8pm (pre-concert talks 7.15pm)
Dvorak – Cello Concerto in B minor
Stravinsky – Petrushka 1947 vers
Soloist: Cobus Swanepoel
Conductor: Conrad van Alphen
The third offering of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s season promises to be a treat for fans of classical music with the undisputed king of cello concertos and perhaps Stravinsky’s most innovative ballet on show.
The evening commences with Dvorak’s last fully symphonic work – his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor.
Dvorak had not initially been very fond of the cello, complaining its high notes sounded too nasal and that it “grumbled and rumbled” in the lower register.
That was until cellist and conductor Victor Herbert insisted Dvorak was present at his own Cello Concerto, when Dvorak admitted to being impressed at the magnificent sonority the cello could produce when written for properly.
Acclaimed South African cellist Cobus Swanepoel, who completed his studies at the Robert Schumann-Hochschule fur Musik in Dusseldorf, Germany, features in this nostalgic, soulful solo.
Stravinsky’s Petrushka is probably the most innovative of his ballets from an orchestral colour, playfulness and lightness point of view.
The story of a sawdust puppet, Petrushka “depicts the life of the lower classes in Russia with all its dissoluteness, barbarity, tragedy and misery,” said Phillip Hale.
Finished in 1911, various suites have been arranged from the original score, and this 1947 version has four main sections covering most of the action of the ballet.
Conrad van Alphen is artistic director and conductor of the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, and he will wield the baton on 17 to 18 August.
Performances are held at 8pm at the Linder Auditorium, JCE, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown, with pre-concert talks scheduled for 7.15pm.
Tickets per performance range from R75 to R140 from Computicket. Season tickets range from R60 to R115 per performance and can be obtained from the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra by calling (011) 789-2733. Students and pensioners qualify for discounts.
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7 August
Take two with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Mozart – Concerto for 2 Pianos K365
Poulenc – Concerto for 2 Pianos
Sibelius – Symphony No. 2 in D major
Soloist: Christopher Duigan & Anneke Lamont
Conductor: Conrad van Alphen
Wed 10 August
Thurs 11 August
Linder Auditorium,
JCE,
27 St Andrews Road,
Parktown,
7h15pm
The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra contrasts two-piano concertos in the second week of its performances at the Linder Auditorium on Wednesday 10 to Thursday 11 August.
Award-winning South African pianists Anneke Lamont and Christopher Duigan have performed extensively together at one and two pianos since 1997, and they are entrusted with portraying both Mozart’s and Francis Poulenc’s concertos for two pianos.
There is a world of difference between the two, not least because they were written 153 years apart.
Mozart wrote his double piano concerto for his sister Nannerl upon his return to Salzburg in 1779 and his piece reflects a sense of domestic bliss.
French composer Poulenc by contrast wrote his work in 1932 and used it to impress the modern school at a festival of contemporary music, yet it is hardly modern in the avant garde sense and there are even a few hints of Mozart in the work’s slow movement.
The evening is rounded off with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major – arguably his most popular and widely performed symphony.
While his first symphony owes a huge debt to Sibelius’ admiration of Tchaikovsky, the second offers a flavour of another of Sibelius’ heroes – Beethoven.
The combination of Tchaikovsky’s lush orchestration, Beethoven’s power and severity and the unique sound world of Sibelius combine to achieve music of extraordinary earthiness.
South African-born conductor Conrad van Alphen will direct the orchestra for the second week of performances. After moving to Holland in 1989, Van Alphen played with nearly all the major orchestras before helping to found the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra – of which he is both artistic director and conductor.
Performances are held at 8pm at the Linder Auditorium, JCE, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown, with pre-concert talks scheduled for 7.15pm.
Performances are held at 8pm at the Linder Auditorium, JCE, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown, with pre-concert talks scheduled for 7.15pm.
Tickets per performance range from R75 to R140 from Computicket. Season tickets range from R60 to R115 per performance and can be obtained from the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra by calling (011) 789-2733. Students and pensioners qualify for discounts.
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