NZSO Principal Conductor Returns For World Premiere

After captivating audiences at the prestigious BBC Proms, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor Gemma New returns home for a Mozart masterpiece and the world premiere of renowned Kiwi composer Lyell Cresswell’s final work.

In the King’s Birthday Honours in June, New was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music direction.

Jupiter: Mozart and Copland in association with Summerset Retirement Villages will be performed in Wellington, Hastings, Auckland and Christchurch from 19 September.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 Jupiter is one of his most popular symphonic creations, a “fantastic five-movement musical jigsaw” (Classic FM) that continues to surprise and delight audiences at every performance.

American music giant Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring is also one of his most loved and performed works. Originally commissioned for dance legend Martha Graham, the music evokes the pioneering spirit of early American life through the experience of a young courting couple.

Lauded New Zealand pianist Stephen De Pledge joins the Orchestra for the world premiere of Cresswell’s Third Piano Concerto. De Pledge received the score for the concerto from Cresswell just months before the composer died in 2022.

Cresswell heard in his own music a “clarity which is something to do with being in New Zealand, being quiet and nearer to nature.”

An APRA Silver Scroll winner for his contribution to New Zealand Music and a 2016 Arts Foundation Laureate Award recipient, Cresswell’s music has been widely performed around the world. Based in Edinburgh for many years, such was his reputation in the UK that The Scotsman newspaper published a lengthy obituary about the composer when he died aged 77.

Tickets for Wellington and Auckland are available via ticketmaster.co.nz, Hastings via eventfinda.co.nz and Christchurch via ticketek.co.nz.

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