From Bach To Bowie – NZSO Festival Has Music For Everyone

International stars and local music legends join with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Association with New Zealand Listener for three diverse and exhilarating concerts from 30 September.

The line-up for the NZSO’s Immerse 2022 festival features the NZSO debut of acclaimed Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, renowned British-Australian organist Joseph Nolan and a special collaboration with singer-songwriter Shayne Carter of seminal bands Straitjacket Fits and Dimmer.

Award-winning New Zealand singer Whirimako Black joins the NZSO for performances of American composer Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 12 Lodger, inspired by David Bowie’s 1979 album.

The NZSO concert Legacy, featuring Montero, is performed in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Bright Sparks with Carter and Nolan and Fantastic Voyage with Nolan and Black are exclusively in Christchurch and Dunedin.

For all concert performances the NZSO will be led by celebrated English conductor Alexander Shelley.

Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositional gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. The New York Times declared that the Grammy Award nominee’s playing “had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power… soulful lyricism… unsentimental expressivity.”

With the NZSO she will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, one of the composer’s most striking works. Legacy also features Brahms’ triumphant First Symphony and the world premiere of New Zealand composer Gillian Whitehead’s retrieving the fragility of peace.

Montero, who performed at Barack Obama’s Inauguration, will also perform free recitals in Christchurch and Dunedin of her favourite piano works and improvisations.

Nolan has been hailed by Australia’s Limelight magazine “as indisputably one of the world’s finest organists”. Gramophone magazine has praised his “towering technique, vivid virtuosity and inspired interpretive insight” as an organist.

With the NZSO Nolan will perform one of the best-known works for organ, Bach’s instantly recognisable Toccata and Fugue and Glass’ Symphony No. 12 Lodger for the Fantastic Voyage concerts.

Described by ABC Classic as “an extraordinary musician”, Nolan will also contribute to Bright Sparks. Carter (Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Brockville, Ōtepoti), a multi–Aotearoa Music Award winner and New Zealand Music Hall of Fame member, will weave his favourite moments from classical music with reimagined orchestral versions of songs from his extensive catalogue, arranged by composer Tane Upjohn-Beatson.

A veteran of eight solo albums, Black is a champion of te reo Māori, producing many of her albums in her native tongue, as well as a number of bilingual efforts. She has been featured on numerous collaboration albums alongside some of world music's biggest names. In recent years, Black has moved effortlessly into the sultry stylings of the great jazz standards to which she added her uniquely Māori interpretation.

Her awards include Best Māori Album and Best Jazz Album at the Aotearoa Music Awards and a coveted Silver Scroll award in song writing for Best Māori Composition.

Tickets to Legacy in Auckland and Wellington, and Legacy, Bright Sparks and Fantastic Voyage in Dunedin are available via tickmaster.co.nz. Tickets to Legacy, Bright Sparks and Fantastic Voyage in Christchurch are available via ticketek.co.nz.

Legacy

In Association with New Zealand Listener

ALEXANDER SHELLEY Conductor

GABRIELA MONTERO Piano

GILLIAN WHITEHEAD retrieving the fragility of peace

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466

BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68

TĀMAKI MAKAURAU AUCKLAND | Town Hall|Friday 30 September| 7.30pm

TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre|Saturday 1 October| 7.30pm

ŌTAUTAHI CHRISTCHURCH | Town Hall|Friday 7 October| 7.30pm

ŌTEPOTI DUNEDIN | Town Hall|Friday 14 October| 7.30pm

Piano Recital

GABRIELA MONTERO Piano

R. SCHUMANN Kreisleriana Op. 16

STRAVINSKY Piano Sonata

GABRIELA MONTERO Improvisations

ŌTAUTAHI CHRISTCHURCH | James Hay Theatre|Saturday 8 October| 4.00pm

ŌTEPOTI DUNEDIN | Glenroy Auditorium|Saturday 15 October| 4.00pm

Bright Sparks – Shayne Carter and the NZSO

In Association with New Zealand Listener

ALEXANDER SHELLEY Conductor

SHAYNE CARTER Singer-Songwriter

JOSEPH NOLAN Organ

KIRSTEN ROBERTSON Piano

ROBERT TUCKER Baritone

ŌTAUTAHI CHRISTCHURCH | Town Hall|Saturday 8 October| 7.30pm

ŌTEPOTI DUNEDIN | Town Hall|Saturday 15 October| 7.30pm

Fantastic Voyage

In Association with New Zealand Listener

ALEXANDER SHELLEY Conductor

WHIRIMAKO BLACK Alto

JOSEPH NOLAN Organ

BACH Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565

PHILIP GLASS Symphony No.12 Lodger

ŌTAUTAHI CHRISTCHURCH | Town Hall|Sunday 9 October| 2pm

ŌTEPOTI DUNEDIN | Town Hall|Sunday 16 October| 2pm

© Scoop Media