Musical Great and a Saint at APO

Musical Great and a Saint at APO

Two stars of the classical world team up in June to present a pair of music's most loved works at the sixth of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's APN News & Media Series concerts.

On Thursday 2 June APO Principal Guest Conductor Roy Goodman leads the orchestra through Beethoven's joyous 'Pastoral' Symphony. Before that, Canadian violinist Lara St John takes the stage as soloist in Mendelssohn's popular Violin Concerto in E minor.

One of classical music's most in-demand violinists, Ms St John also judges the Michael Hill International Violin Competition while in New Zealand, and arrives fresh from claiming a Juno Award for her recording of Mozart concertos.

"Lara St John is a dazzling violinist with a flawless technique," says APO Chief Executive Barbara Glaser. "The breadth of her repertoire is similarly impressive, stretching from Bach and Vivaldi to Corigliano and Hindson. Few musicians can bridge that stylistic gap with such aplomb."

The concert closes with Beethoven's Symphony No.6, one of the composer's most evocative works.

Beethoven famously loved nature, and subtitled the work 'Pastoral Symphony or Recollection of the Life in the Countryside'.

Each of the symphony's movements has a programme note, and musical themes recall such things as the rustling of leaves and the trickling of a river.

"Beethoven's Sixth is perfect Roy Goodman territory," says Barbara Glaser. "He's one of the world's leading interpreters of this repertoire, and I've long been a fan of Roy's period instrument recording with the Hanover Band. I'm fascinated to see and hear how he adapts his approach to fit a modern symphony orchestra, and how the APO's musicians respond to Roy's direction."

Who: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra with Roy Goodman and Lara St John

What: Rautavaara - Lintukoto; Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto, op.64, E minor; Beethoven - Symphony No6, op.68, F major

Where: Auckland Town Hall

When: 8pm, Thursday 2 June

Bookings: THE EDGE, www.buytickets.co.nz, ph 0800 BUY TICKETS

QUICK FACTS

- Roy Goodman's appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the APO was announced in 2008. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra and Vasteras Sinfonietta (Sweden), Director Emeritus of the European Union Baroque Orchestra and Honorary President of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus. He has appeared as guest conductor with 120 other orchestras and opera houses.

- In 1987 Roy Goodman recorded the symphony on period instruments with The Hanover Band. The recording was made for Nimbus records.

- Lara St John runs her own record label, Ancalagon.

- Among Lara St John's recordings is a disc of Vivaldi's and Piazzolla's Four Seasons, performed with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, an orchestra comprising graduates of Venezuela's El Sistema. In April, the APO launched Sistema Aotearoa, New Zealand's first music education programme based on the El Sistema model.

- Mendelssohn usually wrote his music very quickly, but the Violin Concerto took six years to complete.

- ENDS

© Scoop Media