Conducted by Lykele Temmingh, the final
concert of the 2013 Winter Symphony Season features a young cellist who, while
still in his teens, won more awards and accolades than many seasoned performers
twice his age.
Santiago Cañon Valencia was already performing as an
orchestra concerto soloist at the age of six and his passion and ability have only
blossomed since that tender age. In this appearance with the KZN Philharmonic,
he will perform Robert Schumann’s Concerto
for Violoncello, a piece which showcases the tender beauty and vocal
quality of the cello’s tone.
The
young musicians of the Bochabela String Orchestra will also be featured in this
concert.
Bochabela
String Orchestra is part of the Mangaung String Project, an extraordinarily exciting
music education programme that has taken root in South Africa. The goal of the
project is to provide opportunities for young people to learn classical music
regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. In the short time since its
founding, the Mangaung String project has blossomed, already impacting on the
lives of young people and their communities. Where the potential of young
people was once limited by apartheid, a new generation is making headway and
showing how their talent can thrive when it is nurtured.
The
concert opens with Le Carnaval Romain by Hector Berlioz.
Berlioz’s talent for programmatic music is on full display as this festive
piece transports us from the concert hall into a world of Berlioz’s
imagination. The cello concerto follows, after which the Bochabela String Orchestra will
join forces with the KZN Philharmonic for Vaughan-Williams’
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis which
has the unusual distinction of being written for antiphonal orchestras as well
as string quartet.
The concert will conclude with Leonard Bernstein’s
Symphony Dances from West Side Story, an orchestral rendition
of the most stirring tunes from the uniquely American retelling of Romeo and Juliet that became a beloved
Broadway classic.
The concert takes place tonight (June 6) at
19h30 in the Durban City Hall. Tickets R150 booked through Computicket. Santiago
Valencia will have CD’s available for sale.
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