CSO’s 2015 season opening concert a “concert of firsts”

CSO’s 2015 season opening concert a “concert of firsts”

It will be a concert of firsts for the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra when the 2015 season opens on March 21.

Benjamin Northey will take to the stage for the first time as the new Chief Conductor in the orchestra’s Lamb & Hayward Masterworks concert, Sea to Sky.

“The opening concert promises to be a wonderful chance for the CSO to shine in a programme all about landscape and a sense of place,” said Northey. “I am particularly excited to begin my new role with the orchestra with such a rewarding programme and am looking forward to a big success for the CSO.”

Joining Northey will be fellow Australian and classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan, who will perform Nigel Westlake’s Antarctica; suite for guitar and orchestra. This is the first time he has shared the stage with the CSO.

Grigoryan was appointed the artistic director of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He started performing professionally at a young age and, at 21, made his New York debut in 1997 with a selection of Spanish-style pieces. New York Times reviewer Allan Kozinn wrote, “… he has a technique and sense of style of capture the music’s Mediterranean spirit, as well as the imagination to make it his own.”

“As one of the most versatile and gifted guitarists of his generation, we’re thrilled that Slava will perform with us,” said CSO chief executive Gretchen La Roche.

La Roche also said the opening concert will set out an important theme of identity. The pieces for this particular concert were all selected because they had been inspired by the composers’ respective reflections about specific surroundings.

“Throughout our whole season, we’re posing a question about what it is that makes us who we are. Is it the Port Hills? Is it looking out over the Canterbury Plains? Is it our history or what we are looking to in the future?”

For the first time in more than 30 years, Radio New Zealand Concert will be broadcasting the CSO live to air on their flagship live performance programme Music Alive, with presenter Clarissa Dunn hosting from the New Zealand Airforce Museum in Wigram.

Tickets for Sea to Sky are on sale now via www.cso.co.nz .

ENDS

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