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Thursday, October 24, 2019

KZN PHILHARMONIC’S 2019 SPRING SEASON


(Right: Conductor Wolfram Christ. Photo by Reiner Pfisterer)

The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2019 Spring Season, featuring a stellar line-up of international and local talent, runs in the Durban City Hall every Thursday from October 31 to November 21, 2019, each World Symphony Series concert starting at 19h30.

“As we usher in our exciting Spring Season programme, we encourage all our loyal supporters to introduce new friends, family members, peers and associates, to the wonderful experience of sharing great music with each other”, says Bongani Tembe, the Orchestra’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director. “The City of Durban is blessed with the finest acoustic venue in this country. The KZN Philharmonic is proud to have the iconic City Hall’s spacious facilities as our mainstage concert platform, enabling us to present many of the world’s leading musicians for the delight of our audience.”

(Left: Avigail Bushakevitz)

The celebrated German maestro Wolfram Christ returns to the podium to launch the season on October 31. 

An evening of Mozart concert gems opens with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, one of the best-loved of all classical compositions. 

The programme’s centerpiece is the exquisitely crafted Violin Concerto No 5 in A Major. Performed by Avigail Bushakevitz, its popular ‘Turkish’ soubriquet derives from the exotic middle section of its third movement. 

The magnificent Symphony No 39 K543 in E-flat, one of the miraculous trilogy of works that crowned the great Austrian composer’s symphonic oeuvre in 1788, concludes the programme.

(Right: Matilda Lloyd)

Daniel Boico takes the podium for the second concert of the season on November 8, with a boldly curated programme.

This juxtaposes Haydn’s brilliant Trumpet Concerto in E Flat, spotlighting the young British virtuoso Matilda Lloyd as soloist, against an eclectic mix of choral highlights which showcase the golden sounds of some of Durban’s leading choirs.

Joining forces with each other, the Clermont Community Choir, Durban Symphonic Choir; SA Singers; and Joyful Sounds perform a selection of music by Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn, alongside select musical highlights by acclaimed home-grown composers such as Koapeng, Sibisi, Moerane and Hofmeyr.

(Right: Roderick Cox)

Roderick Cox makes his bow on November 14. 

The rising young German based American conductor opens his programme with Ravel’s neo-baroque masterpiece, Le Tombeau de Couperin.




 (Left: Dmitry Shishkin)

Durban concert goers will then be introduced to one of the most dazzling gifted young pianists to come out of Russia in decades, when the multi-award winning Dmitry Shishkin takes centre-stage to perform Tchaikovsky’s B-flat minor Piano Concerto.

 After intermission, Brahms’s sublime Symphony No 4 brings the evening to a close.


(Left: Megan-Geoffrey Prins)

Rounding off the season on November 21, conductor Conrad van Alphen opens his programme on a celebratory note with Dvořák’s ebullient Carnival Overture. 

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor heralds the arrival on the Durban’s concert scene of South African pianist, Megan-Geoffrey Prins, this year’s prodigiously gifted Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, and the evening closes on a high with Dvořák’s ever-rewarding New World Symphony.

Season tickets, and bookings for individual concerts in the KZN Philharmonic’s star-studded Spring Season, are available at Computicket outlets. Call 0861 915 8000, or book online at www.computicket.com. For more information call 031-369 9438, email bookings@kznphil.org.za or visit www.kznphil.org.za

(To link direct to the KZN Philharmonic’s website click on the orchestra’s banner advert on the top of the page)