Final major Mozart celebration

Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

19 October 2006

Final major Mozart celebration

Over three concerts in November, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra presents the SPLENDOUR OF MOZART, the final major Mozart celebration in Auckland during the 250th anniversary year of the great composer’s birth.

The three concerts feature an innovative exploration of Mozart’s musical genius in pianoforte, voice and orchestra, with an impressive line-up of local and international guest artists performing alongside the APO.

The first concert in the series, on Thursday 16 November, is in the hands of the great Italian maestro Piero Bellugi. This programme features Henry Wong Doe, one of New Zealand’s leading young pianists, in one of the young Mozart’s greatest concertos, the sprightly Piano Concerto No.9, the so called Jeunehomme Concerto. The vivacious Symphony No.29 will be the centerpiece of the second half, along with a moving tribute to the spirit and memory of Mozart – Italian romantic composer Luciani’s Le Tombeau Perdu, a beautiful, elegiac piece written to commemorate the “tombeau perdu”, “the lost grave” of Mozart.

Friday 24 November’s concert is the gala centerpiece to the series, again with conductor Piero Bellugi. The concert is devoted to some of Mozart’s sublime writing for the voice, including the great Exsultate Jubilate for soprano and orchestra and Andante, a small gem composed when Mozart was only 9 years old. After interval, two sopranos, Australian Rachelle Durkin and New Zealander Rebecca Ryan, vie with each other in a concert performance of Mozart’s neglected comic opera Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), the story of a hapless promoter trying to put together an opera company. This will also star the great New Zealand singers Richard Greager and Conal Coad.

The final concert in the series, on Thursday 30 November, is conducted by Wolfram Christ, star viola player and director of the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra in Germany and promises to be a unique event. As well as Mozart’s immortal final symphony, the

Jupiter Symphony, and the iconic Eine kleine Nachtmusik, there will be a special treat in store. Mozart’s father Leopold wrote a symphony for orchestra and toy instruments, fittingly called the Toy Symphony – during this piece various New Zealand celebrities turn up in unlikely places…

AUCKLAND PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA – THE SPLENDOUR OF MOZART

Auckland Town Hall THE EDGE® – 8:00pm

Concert 1: Thursday 16 November

Presented by the APO in acknowledgement of Auckland City Council and Creative New Zealand

Concert 2: Friday 24 November

Presented by the APO in acknowledgement of the ASB Community Trust

Concert 3: Thursday 30 November

Presented by the APO in acknowledgement of Qantas

BOOKINGS: phone Ticketek Orchestra Hotline on (09) 307 5139 or visit www.ticketek.co.nz

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra receives major funding from Creative New Zealand and major grants from Auckland City and the ASB Community Trust.

ENDS

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