Orchestra Meets the Golden Age of Jazz at the APO

Paganini Variations – APN News & media Premier Series, Concert 2

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra pays tribute to the jazz age in the second of this year’s APN News & Media Premier Series concerts, at Auckland Town Hall on Thursday February 24.

APO Music Director Eckehard Stier leads the orchestra in an exuberant and evocative programme that includes Milhaud’s La création du monde, Bernstein’s On the Waterfront: Symphonic Suite and An American In Paris by Gershwin, all works that tip their berets to the syncopated rhythms of jazz music.

The concert’s centrepiece is Rachmaninov’s dazzling Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Although the composer used a 19th century violin work as the basis of his piece, the Rhapsody walks the streets of 1930s New York, inhaling the smells of Manhattan and featuring bravura piano flourishes that would not be out of place on Broadway.

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra is delighted to welcome back virtuoso pianist Ewa Kupiec as the work’s soloist.

“Since last visiting the APO in 2008, Ewa’s career has gone from strength to strength,” says Barbara Glaser, CEO of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. “Her CD releases and performances with many of the world’s leading orchestras and artists confirm her reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting pianists; we are thrilled that she is joining us once again.”

What: APN News & Media Premier Series: Paganini Variations
When: 24 February, 8:00pm
Where: Auckland Town Hall, THE EDGE
Book: THE EDGE 09 357 3355 or www.buytickets.co.nz

ENDS

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