(Russian virtuoso pianist Olga Kern, who was the KZNPO's guest soloist last week)
Column by William Charlton-Perkins. (Courtesy of The Mercury)
What a memorable opening to its Summer Season the KZN Philharmonic delivered last week. Olga Kern’s legions of admirers could hardly have hoped for more from this gifted pianist than the scintillating accounts she gave of Liszt’s technically daunting Totentanz and Rachmaninoff’s ever-welcome Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Her brother Thomas Kern’s occasionally idiosyncratic but poetic podium presence gave evidence of a close rapport with his soloist, and achieved appropriately romantic accounts of the two purely orchestral items on the programme, Rachmaninoff’s The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini.
Adding to the experience, were the exemplary programme notes by the KZN Philharmonic’s new staff member, Dr David Plylar. Such engaging, informed writing and in-depth musical knowledge, lightly worn, sets a new bench mark in enhancing music appreciation. It augers well for the orchestra’s enlisting a new generation of concert-goers to swell the ranks of its existing audience base.
Dr Plylar’s recent appointment to head up the KZN Philharmonic’s New Music Programme has already gained appreciative response from several South African universities, and adds significantly to the orchestra’s high credibility.
With music by Schumann, Schubert and Chopin on the bill, a far cry from last week’s largely Russian fare, this evening’s concert sees the return of two more widely-admired guest artists, the London-based German pianist, Florian Uhlig, and the Japanese conductor, Yasuo Shinozaki.
Keenly anticipated, by this writer at least, is the introspective spin the highly individual Uhlig may well apply to Chopin’s difficult-to-pull-off debut piece for Piano and Orchestra, his Variations on La ci darem la mano based on the gorgeous ‘seduction duet’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Likewise the rare opportunity to hear Schumann’s youthful Abegg Variations, reconstructed from the composer’s sketches and completed by Joachim Draheim. Schumann’s mature Manfred Overture Opus 115 is the evening’s curtain-raiser, and Schubert’s magnum opus, the ‘Great’ C Major Symphony D944 the evening’s finale.
Next Thursday, with Maestro Shinozaki back on the podium, the spotlight falls on the KZNPO’S ace Principal Trombonist, Anthony Boorer, for a rare account of the Concertino for Trombone by the early 19th century German composer, Ferdinand David. The programme will open with Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, and close with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.
Hundreds of young musicians are expected to apply to audition for a place in the prestigious South African National Youth Orchestra. The orchestra is formed each year at the Sasol National Youth Orchestra Course and comprises the top talent of young South African musicians. Members include players from communities all over the country, and are chosen on merit through two auditions. The first of these is an anonymous recorded audition after which a live audition is played behind-screen, in front of an expert audition panel.
The South African National Youth Orchestra has supported the training and development of South Africa’s young musicians nationally through its courses and development programmes for nearly half a century. Its legacy is far reaching with representation of alumni in top professional orchestras in South Africa and across the globe.
This year the Foundation boasts a whole series of National courses and programmes for young orchestral musicians between the ages of 13 and 25 that have attained a minimum Grade 6 music level. The national courses help to prepare young people with the skills to perform in a professional musical environment, and introduce them to a necessary network of fellow musicians.
The annual Sasol National Youth Orchestra Course will take place from June 27 to July 7, 2011, in Johannesburg. This is an intensive programme filled with challenges and fun for the National Youth Orchestra and Concert Orchestra and is made possible by the loyal support of Sasol.
Gerben Grooten will conduct a programme including Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9. To make the courses open to all who wish to attend, bursaries, scholarships and payment plans are available. Applications, which close tomorrow (Friday February 18), can be completed online on their website at www.sanyo.org.za. Young musicians wishing to apply must play an orchestral instrument, be of at least Grade 6 music level and be resident in - William Charlton-Perkins
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