Four world premieres in all-star Kiwi line-up

19 April 2011 - NZSO Media Release

Four world premieres in all-star Kiwi line-up

Four world premieres, a new spin on Shakespeare and a guest appearance by pop singer Kirsten Morrell are among the highlights of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's "Made in New Zealand" concerts next month.

Titled Enchanted Islands, this year's NZSO showcase of Kiwi classical music will tour Auckland for the first time after opening in Wellington during New Zealand Music Month.

The concerts will feature piano virtuoso Stephen de Pledge performing Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by internationally-acclaimed expatriate New Zealand composer Lyell Cresswell. Cresswell is returning to New Zealand from Scotland to attend the world premiere, and the work is hotly anticipated.

Audiences will also hear Ross Harris's Fanfare for the Southern Cross for the first time, as well as Gravitas, an energetic new work by rising 30-year-old composer Chris Gendall.

Meanwhile Anthony Ritchie's A Shakespeare Overture receives its world premiere despite being thirty years old. Written when the composer was a student, the work has never been performed.

The concerts also include ten Shakespearean sonnets set to music by Gareth Farr, sung by guest artists Kirsten Morrell and Tama Waipara.

The Shakespeare theme continues with Four Canzonas by the elder statesman of New Zealand classical music, Douglas Lilburn. Two of the canzonas were originally written for Shakespearean stage plays produced by Ngaio Marsh.

Conductor Hamish McKeich says the concerts are a showcase of several generations of home-grown composing talent - a true celebration of New Zealand music.

"This eclectic Kiwi mix of styles should delight and enthral the audience, and definitely keep them on their toes!"

Pianist Stephen de Pledge says performing a concerto written for him by Lyell Cresswell is like a dream come true.

"The piece requires extreme physical virtuosity, relentless energy and demonic brainpower! It's absolutely exhilarating, and a rollercoaster ride from start to finish."

Enchanted Islands alludes to the original title of Shakespeare's final play, The Tempest.

ENDS

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