Ashton International College, Ballito: Sat 3 Aug at 12 noon.
Hilton Arts Festival: Sat 3 Aug at 2pm: Wind Quintet
Hilton Arts Festival: Sun 4 Aug at 11am: Baroque is Back
Early Spring Season: Playhouse Opera: Thur 22 Aug at 7pm
Early Spring Season: Playhouse Opera: Thur 29 Aug at 7pm
To honour Women’s Month, the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra will host a two concert Early Spring Season on Thurs 22 August and Thursday 29 August, in the Playhouse Opera, each with a women conductor and a woman soloist.
This follows on from a flurry of public concerts taking place – the orchestra is performing a programme of light classical music at the Ashton Arts Festival at the Ashton International College in Ballito on Saturday 3 August at noon. The programme includes orchestral favourites from Tchaikovsky to Strauss; with Stavros Vassilatos (bass); Megan Roberts (vocals) and Weilun and Weiru Yan on piano, with the Ashton College Choir.
That same weekend is the annual Hilton Arts Festival – on Saturday 3 August at 2pm the Wind Quintet from the Orchestra will perform a diverse programme of arrangement that highlight the characteristics of each instrument – from Rossini to Gershwin in the Hilton College Chapel.
On Sunday at Hilton – the KZN Philharmonic will perform a programme entitled Baroque is Back at 11am in the Chapel. The programme includes Bach’s sparkling fourth Brandenburg Concert, Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Mozart’s 9th Symphony.
Back in Durban, two concerts comprise the early Spring Season. On Thursday 22 August, renowned Polish British conductor Ewa Strusińska is on the podium to open the Spring Season with Schumann’s enchanting Carnival Opus 9. Originally written in 1834–1835 for piano solo, and subtitled ‘Little Scenes on Four Notes’, the work consists of 21 variations on a theme by Schubert, representing masked revellers at Carnival.
Internationally celebrated Australian violinist Emily Sun takes centre stage in a performance of Samuel Barber’s highly regarded Violin Concerto. After intermission, Beethoven’s titanic Seventh Symphony is guaranteed to set the audience’s pulses racing. The work was premiered with Beethoven himself conducting in Vienna on 8 December 1813.
The internationally acclaimed Panamanian American maestra Kalena Bovell conducts the second, and closing, concert of the season. She opens her programme with Holst’s St Paul’s Suite, a popular work for string orchestra.
Indian-American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara, a popular figure with SA audiences, returns to wow her admirers performing Saint-Saëns’ glittering Piano Concerto No 2. Composed in 1868, it is the most popular of the composer’s five piano concertos. The second half of the programme comprises Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Symphony.
For those who prefer not to self-drive to town for the evening KZN Symphony Season concerts, there are buses from Caister Lodge (R60 ret / dep 18.20); Westville Senior (R80 ret / dep 18.10; St Agnes Kloof (R100 ret / dep 17.50); Grace Church Umhlanga (R100 / dep 18.10). Book through Quicket / subscribers book through KZNPO offices.
KZN Philharmonic Season tickets, and bookings for individual concerts, are available at Quicket outlets. For more information call 031-369 9438, email info@kznphil.org.za or visit www.kznphil.org.za.
Good to know:
Ashton College, Ballito
Saturday 3 August
Tickets: Quicket
Hilton Arts Festival
2 – 4 August
Tickets: Webtickets
Early Spring Season
Concert 1: Thursday 22 August @ 19.00
Conductor: Ewa Strusinska
Soloist: Emily Sun (Violin)
Programme:
Robert Schumann: Carnival Op.9
Samuel Barber: Concerto for Violin, Op.14
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.7 in A Major, Op.92
Concert Tickets: Quicket
Park and Ride Tickets: Quicket
There is NO morning rehearsal.
Early Spring Season
Concert 2: Thursday 29 August @ 19.00
Conductor: Kalena Bovell
Soloist: Pallavi Mahidhara – piano
Programme:
Gustav Holst: St Paul Suit, Op.29, No.2
Camille Saint-Saens: Concerto for Piano No. 2 in g minor, Op.22
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No.5 in D Major, Op.107 ‘Reformation’
Concert Tickets: Quicket
Park and Ride Tickets: Quicket
There is NO morning rehearsal.
