NZSO plays Sibelius in November

Compelling and uncanny, Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, which reflects the composer's love of traditional folk melodies and is a Nordic soundscape of dark brilliance, features as the main work in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s next concerts in Wellington on November 10 and Auckland on November 11.

Playing the work will be musical tour-de-force, violin virtuoso Janine Jansen, who approaches even the most challenging repertoire with a blazing confidence and genuine passion that makes each performance an unparalleled triumph.

Conductor Edo de Waart opens the concert with Johannes Brahms’ warm and exquisitely subtle Symphony No 3 in F major, along with Richard Wagner’s birthday present for his beloved wife Cosima, the irrepressibly sentimental symphonic poem, Siegfried Idyll.

Janine Jansen is the artist in residence at the London Symphony Orchestra as well as artist in residence at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, where she will give both concerto and chamber performances.

This season she performs with the Wiener Philharmoniker Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Antonio Pappano) the Orchestre National de Belgique, which includes a memorial concert for her former teacher, Philippe Hirschhorn. She will tour extensively in Europe with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and will undertake a tour to Asia with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

A devoted chamber musician, Janine will perform a number of recitals throughout Europe with Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with Lucas Debargue, Torleif Thedéen and Martin Fröst.

Ms Jansen records exclusively for Decca Classics. Her most recent release, conducted by Antonio Pappano, features Bartok’s Violin Concerto No 1 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

She has won numerous prizes, including four Edison Klassiek Awards, three ECHO Klassik awards, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, NDR Mudskippers for outstanding artistic achievement and the Concertgebouw Prize.