International Prize-Winning Pianist Performing

The winner of the Leonard Bernstein Award is coming to Wellington to
perform in the concert hall and on the recital stage.

Christopher Park is soloist with Orchestra Wellington in ‘The River’ on Saturday 27th October. Park is also teaming up with Orchestra Wellington’s concertmaster Amalia Hall for a special recital on Tuesday 30th October at St Andrew’s on the Terrace at 12.30pm, playing music for piano and violin by Mozart, Brahms and Philipp Scharwencka.

It’s also back to Bohemia for the orchestra, following the sell-out performance of Verdi’s Requiem last month.

On the programme for Orchestra Wellington is Dvorak’s wonderful Eighth Symphony, Smetana’s Moldau, and Bartok’s First Piano Concerto with music director Marc Taddei. The music speaks to our heart, always finding the beauty and the joy in life.

Pianist Christopher Park is performing some of Bartok’s most percussive music. The second movement is unusual because the colour is determined by the orchestra’s string section getting the movement off.

The 31-year-old German-Korean has been working with the world’s leading orchestras. The jury explained he won the Leonard Bernstein Award in 2014 by saying, “Christopher Park is a pianist who captivates
with his fascinating technical mastery, astounding musical maturity
and a particularly intense performance style.”

He’s performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the Deutsches
Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with conductor Christoph Eschenbach. Also
in Park’s diary has been the Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Paavo
Järvi, the Cologne Radio Symphony with Jukka Pekka Saraste, the Qatar
Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra.

In Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony we’ll be hearing some of the composer’s
happiest or most upbeat music, which he wrote through the sounds of an
autumn harvest. He composed the symphony at home in his beloved
Bohemian countryside amid a floodtide of inspiration so swift his pen
could hardly keep pace with it.

The waltz-like third movement recalls some of Tchaikovsky’s more
graceful inspirations. A festive solo trumpet grabs our attention at
the beginning of the last movement, like a summons to some
celebration.

Smetana’s Moldau is one of the most seductive pieces of musical
nationalism ever written as the river sweeps past the great city and
disappears from the poet’s view.

Arohanui Strings continues its relationship with Orchestra Wellington
by performing on the big stage during ‘The River’. The teaching
programme for young string players was founded in 2010 to provide
free, quality music education to all children regardless of their
financial status – based on the South American Sistema programme. This
inspired annual collaboration has become a season highlight for many.

Orchestra Wellington’s The River is at the Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday 27th October at 7:30pm

For interviews please contact Penny Miles, publicist, 021 644 800.

ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON presents THE RIVER
Saturday 27 October, 7.30pm
Michael Fowler Centre
Marc Taddei, music director
Christopher Park, piano

Smetana – The Moldau
Bartok – Piano Concerto No. 1
Dvorak – Symphony No. 8

ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON presents Amalia & Christopher

Amalia Hall, violin & Christopher Park, piano
Tuesday 30 October, 12.30pm
St Andrew’s on the Terrace
Tickets from Ticketmaster, $20 GA

W. A. Mozart - Sonata No. 17 in C, K. 296
Johannes Brahms - Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78
Philipp Scharwencka - Suite Op. 99

www.orchestrawellington.co.nz

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