The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s two-concert 2026
Winter Season runs in The Playhouse Opera on Thursdays 11 and 18 June, starting
at 19h00.
Message from Bongani Tembe, KZN Philharmonic’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director: “A warm welcome to our music lovers in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and beyond. Our World Symphony Series has been an emblem of musical excellence for more than 30 years. This year’s two-concert Winter Season will continue to carry the flag high.”
FIRST CONCERT
KZN Philharmonic concertgoers will welcome the return of resident conductor, Daniel Boico to open the Winter Season with music by Beethoven, Dvořák and Mendelssohn.
Beethoven’s Egmont Overture was the opening item to incidental music for an 1810 revival of Goethe’s drama about the 16th-century Count Egmont’s campaign to liberate the Netherlands from Spanish oppression. Beethoven’s mighty overture, embraced by posterity as a symbol of defiance against oppression, swiftly took its place in the international concert repertoire.
Written in 1879, Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, is considered one of the masterpieces of Dvořák’s Slavic period, celebrated for its integration of soloist and orchestra, sweeping melodies, and demanding, rhapsodic passages. The piece is one of Dvořák’s most popular and most frequently performed works and is today an essential part of the international violin repertoire. Soloist for the evening is Turkish born concert violinist Elvin Hoxha Ganiyev.
The swift gestation of Brahms’ Third Symphony took place in the idyllic Rhine valley. Composed in the Summer of 1883, it is widely regarded as a masterpiece of late Romantic music. It is admired for its distilled clarity, intense melodic beauty, and its seamless melding of personal reflection with classical structure.
The second and final concert opens with a curtain raiser by the KZN Youth Orchestra under the baton of maestro Lykele Temmingh. First up is James Curnow’s spectacular Fanfare and Flourishes; Mozart’s ‘Little G Minor Symphony’ First Movement which was the opening music in Miloš Forman’s 1984 film Amadeus; Brahms’s exhilarating Hungarian Dance No 5; and Mark Lortz’s A Matador’s Tale conjures the teaming energy of a bullfight.
Fabulous Brazilian-born maestra Alexandra Arrieche then takes the podium with mainstream repertoire by Schumann and Mendelssohn. Schumann’s A Minor Piano Concerto is the perfect blending of solo instrument and orchestra. This principle of fusion gives the concerto a decidedly symphonic character. Soloist is Italian classical pianist Federico Colli.
The 20-year old Mendelssohn visited Scotland in 1829, and was deeply moved by the wild landscapes, romantic ruins, and dramatic history. While his travels heavily inspire the work, it is not a literal musical travelogue, but rather, a piece of absolute music that evokes the atmosphere of the North, a ‘sombre and moody’ recollection of his Scottish journey.
Season Tickets available through the KZNPO office on 031 369 9438 or info@kznphil.org.za and individual tickets through Quicket.
PARK AND BUS RIDE
SERVICE
For those preferring not to self-drive to the concerts,
there is a park-and-ride bus service offered from major arterial points: Upper
Highway (St Agnes Church, dep 17h50) North Coast (Grace Family Church, dep
18h10); Westville (Westville Senior Primary, dep 18h10) and Berea (Caister
Lodge, dep 18h20). Bus tickets though 031 369 9438 or info@kznphil.org.za and
individual tickets through Quicket.
GOOD TO KNOW:
Date: Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 19h00
Venue: Playhouse Opera Theatre, 231 Anton Lembede Street,
Durban
Conductor: Daniel Boico
Soloist: Elvin Ganiyev – Violin
-Beethoven: Egmont Overture Dvořák: Violin Concerto, Op. 53
in a minor
-Brahms: Symphony No. 3, Op. 90 in F Major
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 19h00
Venue: Playhouse Opera Theatre, 231 Anton Lembede Street,
Durban
Conductor: KZNYO - Lykele Temmingh.
Conductor: KZN Phil - Alexandra Arrieche
Soloist: Federico Colli – Piano
-KZNYO - Curnow: Fanfare
and Flourishes; Mozart: Symphony No 25 1st Movement; Brahms: Hungarian
Dances No. 5; Lortz. A Matador’s Tale
-Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
-Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 Scottish
NB: To link direct to
the KZNPO website, click on the advert at the top right hand side of this page.