KZN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON SYMPHONY 1
Thu Jun 8, 19:00 - Thu Jun 8, 21:30
Playhouse Opera Theatre
ABOUT
KZN PHILHARMONIC WSS 2023 WINTER SEASON
Playhouse Opera Theatre ~ Thursday 8 June ~ 19h00
Conductor: Anna Sulkowska-Migon
Soloist: Rosanne Philippens, violin
MAHLER Blumine
CHAUSSON Poème for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 25
DE SARASATE Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20, “Gypsy Airs”
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Op. 56 in a minor, “Scottish”
Anna Sulkowska-Migon, the brilliant young Polish conductor who won last year’s prestigious La Maestra competition in Paris, makes her South African debut on the KZN Philharmonic’s Winter Season podium.
She opens her superbly curated programme with Mahler’s Blumine. It f irst appeared as the second movement of his first symphony.
After three performances the composer removed it. Originally written as part of incidental music for a play by von Scheffel, it evokes lovers exchanging their tender feelings in the stillness of night. At the time, Mahler, infatuated with a blonde soprano Johanna Richter, described it as a “loveepisode.”
This charming curtain opener to the KZN Philharmonic’s Winter season is perfectly match by Ernest Chausson’s delightful Poème for Violin and Orchestra.
Composed in 1896, the latter concert staple has long been regarded as its composer’s best loved work. This serves as a graceful debut vehicle to introduce our opening concert’s soloist, the gifted young violin virtuoso, Rosanne Philippens to audience.
Following this, the multi-award-winning Ms Philippens remains in the evening’s spotlight to perform Sarasate’s flamboyant Zigeunerweisen. This bravura Spanish showstopper which dates from 1878 completes first half of the evening’s programme on an exhilarating note.
Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, subtitled “Scottish”, brings the evening to a close. The work was initially sparked during the young composer’s first visit to Britain in 1829.
After a series of successful performances in London, he embarked on a walking tour of Scotland, where the wild northern landscape made a deep impression on his imagination. Many years elapsed however, while the composer set the piece aside, finally completing it for the première in Leipzig in 1842.