KZN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA WINTER SEASON SYMPHONY 2
Thu Jun 15, 19:00 - Thu Jun 15, 21:30
Playhouse Opera Theatre
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World Symphony Series Winter Season Concert 2
Playhouse Opera Theatre ~ 15 June 2023 ~ 19h00
Conductor: Yasuo Shinozaki
Soloist: Emanuil Ivanov, piano
SMETANA: Vltava (The Moldau) from Má vlast
RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4, Op. 36 in f minor, “Fate”
The renowned Japanese maestro Yasuo Shinozaki makes a welcome return to the KZN Philharmonic’s podium for the second concert of the Winter Season. He opens his programme with one of the world’s concert warhorses, Vltava from Smetana’s six-piece suite of symphonic-poems, Má vlast, also known as My Fatherland. The six pieces, conceived as individual works, are often presented as a single work in six movements. They premiered separately between 1875 and 1880. Each poem depicts an aspect of Bohemia's countryside, history, or legends. Vltava, the second in the famous set, is one of the world’s most graphically penned descriptive works, evoking the mighty Moldau River in all its tumultuous energy and majesty.
The dazzling young Bulgarian virtuoso Emmanuel Ivanov, winner of the Busoni Piano Competition, takes centre stage to perform Rachmaninoff’s iconic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as the evening’s centrepiece. Written in July and August 1934, Rachmaninoff himself played the piano part at the piece's premiere on 7 November 1934, at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.
The second half of the evening is given over to Tchaikovsky symphony no 4 - a staple of the orchestral repertoire and one of the most frequently performed symphonies of the late 19th century. It is ranked as one of the best of Tchaikovsky's symphonies.