Vector Wellington Orchestra 2010 Season

Thu, 19 Nov 2009
Vector Wellington Orchestra announces 2010 Season

Vector Wellington Orchestra 2010 Season

In 2010 the Vector Wellington Orchestra will celebrate 300 years of wonderful music by presenting great works connected with the years 1710, 1810, 1910 and 2010. This allows the VWO to explore a truly fascinating terrain of music ranging from Rameau’s Glorious Temple to the world premiere of a new work by John Psathas, says VWO Music Director Marc Taddei.

“Music is our greatest cultural treasure and the orchestral tradition is the grandest part of this constantly evolving art,” Taddei says. “It’s a vital, powerful, inspirational mirror of our changing world through the centuries,” he says.

It’s a century since Stravinsky dazzled the world with the Firebird and Elgar wrote his great Violin Concerto, so it’s timely to play those works for the VWO’s “1910” concert, as well the gorgeous Adagio for Strings, by Samuel Barber, born in 1910. The VWO will follow a Stravinsky theme elsewhere in the year, presenting two of his delightful neo- classical scores – Jeu de Cartes, and Danses Concertantes.

The 2010 season brings back two great soloists who already have links to New Zealand audiences: Paganini and Michael Hill competition winner Feng Ning, to play the great Elgar violin concerto, and Portuguese percussion virtuoso Pedro Carneiro, premiering John Psathas’ marimba concerto, Djinn.

Following on the success of its complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos, the VWO continues its relationship with Michael Houstoun, who will return to play the lovely, romantic Schumann piano concerto. The VWO is also excited to present one of New Zealand’s rising stars, Donald Nicholson, to play Poulenc’s witty Harpsichord Concerto.

The Town Hall Organ will be called into service for the orchestra’s grand finale in November, playing Saint-Saëns’ terrific Organ Symphony, and as usual Taddei has scoured the vaults to seek out unusual or unjustly forgotten treasures such as Poulenc’s Harpsichord Concerto or Rameau’s Temple of Glory.

On the jazzier side of things, the orchestra is thrilled to perform with the great Diana Krall in February, a month which also sees the orchestra travel to Nelson for the BioPaint Opera in the Park. In April, thousands will no doubt hear the orchestra when it accompanies a season of Miss Saigon.

And for families, the ever-popular Baby Pops series continues in May with “All Aboard!” – a must for every child who loves machines that move!

Every year the orchestra plays for over 100,000 people, including its work with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the NBR New Zealand Opera, and the Orpheus Choir.

Musical life in the Wellington region is unthinkable without the Vector Wellington Orchestra.

We are the Vector Wellington Orchestra – playing for you!

THE VWO 2010 SEASON

Sub 1 Saturday 17 APRIL "2010"

Stravinsky Danses Concertantes PsathasConcerto for Marimba and Small Orchestra “Djinn” (world premiere) * Beethoven Symphony No 3 in E flat major Op 55, “Eroica”

Soloist Pedro Carneiro

*Commissioned by VWO with funding from Creative NZ.

Stravinsky’s Danses Concertantes offer a lively opening to the orchestra’s concert season. Imagine Haydn dancing with a Russian bear for this short, tuneful piece of Neoclassical fun. Audiences were dazzled by percussionist Pedro Carneiro’s virtuosic technique in John Psathas’ View from Olympus; he returns to perform the world premiere of Djinn, a new Psathas concerto written for him. Beethoven’s powerful Third Symphony, the Eroica, never outwears its welcome. Here Beethoven forges a new landscape of Romantic music, filled with drama and emotional intensity.

“Marimba player Pedro Carneiro … appeared to be a superman from another galaxy.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)

"An amazing display of virtuosity ... When master Carneiro performs, any composer would be tempted to throw himself immediately into writing a piece for him... An astounding success at the end of every work in the program." Eduardo Rincón, El Punt

Sub 2 Saturday 24 JULY "1810"

Beethoven Egmont Overture Op 84 Rossini Barber of Seville Overture Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 54 Stravinsky Jeu de Cartes

Michael Houston, soloist

Beethoven’s noble Egmont overture premiered in 1810. Highly Romantic, the music reflects the heroic ideals of the Goethe tragedy for which it was written. In complete contrast, Rossini’s overture to The Barber of Seville bubbles with barely-suppressed laughter at the human foibles that season his great comic opera. 1810 is the year of Schumann’s birth; his piano concerto is an extended love-poem to his wife Clara. Stravinsky in his most amiably Neoclassical mood sets the orchestra dancing lightly with the Queens and Jokers of the pack in his Jeu de Cartes, a “Ballet in Three Deals”.

“Poetry and temperament in perfect balance, inflected, relaxed, yet crisply stylish playing.” John Button, The Dominion Post

Sub 3 Saturday 11 SEPTEMBER "1910"

Samuel Barber Adagio for strings Stravinsky Firebird (1910) Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor, Op 61

Soloist Feng Ning

Born in 1910, Samuel Barber will be forever associated with his achingly beautiful Adagio for Strings - one of the most loved works of the 20th century. The other two masterpieces on this programme were premiered 100 years ago - giving us a taste of the extraordinary profusion of inspiration that occurred in 1910. Stravinsky’s marvelously colourful Firebird, written for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, also premiered in 1910. Feng Ning has dazzled Wellington audiences since winning the Michael Hill Violin Competition in 2005. His fiery virtuosity and glowing tone have won him many accolades including first prize in the Paganini Violin Competiton. He returns to perform Elgar’s 1910 Violin Concerto, an expansive, deeply felt work.

“The young violinist … is able to change virtuosity into a pure desire for life.” – Isabel Herzfeld, Department: Berlin Culture

An extraordinary powerhouse of a performer with an unforgettably dazzling technique..." – Graham Strahle, The Australian

Sub 4 Saturday 13 NOVEMBER “1710”

Rameau Overture from Le Temple de la Gloire WF Bach Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, F.41 Poulenc Harpsichord Concerto “Concert Champêtre” Saint-Saëns Symphony No 3 in C minor, "Organ”

Soloist Donald Nicholson

French style and zest dominate this concert. Rameau’s overture to Le Temple de la Gloire is a magnificently strutting concoction of string flourishes and joyfully trilling horns and trumpets. In a similarly boisterous vein comes a harpsichord concerto by Bach’s oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, born in 1710. Poulenc borrows Bach’s harpsichord and some Baroque sensibilities and creates a witty neo-Baroque confection in his Concert Champêtre. Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony calls in the thrilling power of the Town Hall Organ to crown its celebration of gorgeous melody.

ENDS

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