(Maestro Bernhard Gueller)
Africa
is perhaps the most diverse continent in the world. The countless number of
ethnic communities creates a broad rainbow of art and culture that have spread
rays of light to every corner of the Earth.
On May 21
as part of the Africa Month
festivities, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic celebrates diversity and honours
Africa as it opens the Winter Season of the World Symphony Series with a
concert that features locally-sourced music combined with works that embody
shared ideas and cultures.
Conducted
by Cape Town based maestro Bernhard Gueller, the concert opens with the first
four of Antonín Dvořák’s
Slavonic Dances. Dvořák was a composer who often paid homage to the
traditional art that surrounded him. While living in America, he was influenced
heavily by African-American spiritual music, and wrote numerous chamber and
symphonic works using these themes as a form of homage. His Slavonic Dances,
although not based on actual Slavonic themes, were created as completely
original works that evoke his Czech homeland through the use of rhythmic and
melodic features of traditional music.
The
evening that celebrates Africa and multiculturalism closes with Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from
West Side Story. This suite of dances from the musical comprises all of the
elements of music that Bernstein was exposed to, living in New York City. From
African American jazz to Latin sambas to Rock and Roll, this work represents
the combination of musical cultures from around the world.
The concert
takes place in the Durban City Hall at 19h30, Subscriptions are available from the
KZN Philharmonic offices at 031 369 9438 and all single tickets from
Computicket.
For more information click on
the orchestra’s banner ad at the top of this page or go to www.kznphil.org.za
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