The big Brahms and Beethoven concert

NZSO
Brahms & Beethoven
Sponsored by ANZ Private Bank
Hamilton, April 8, Auckland, April 9, Christchurch, April 13 and Wellington, April 16.

The popular Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti has returned to New Zealand to perform Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and the NZSO’s new Music Director Edo de Waart.  

The talented violinist previously performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Minor in the NZSO’s 2012 Forbidden Love tour, having won best female artist at the Classic BRIT Awards. She will be performing Brahms’ deeply personal Double Concerto in eight centres around New Zealand. Although she has performed this work a number of times alongside Elschenbroich, it will be her debut performance with de Waart.

She says “I am delighted to return to New Zealand to perform Brahms’ intimate Double Concerto with Leonard Elschenbroich as part of maestro Edo de Waart’s debut season as NZSO music director. I am hugely looking forward to working with him and performing this great work in eight different centres around New Zealand. It’s a beautiful country and I’m excited to see more of it this time around.”

Benedetti made history as an eight-year-old by becoming the youngest person to lead the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. At only 16 years old, she won the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year Award, leading to a lucrative six-album deal from Universal Music that same year. Since then, she’s been in the spotlight as a passionate advocate for music education and she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to music and charity in the New Year Honours 2013.

For this national tour, she performs alongside cellist Leonard Elschenbroich whose intuitive, physical style has also earned an international following. He is artist-in-residence at both the Philharmonic Society Bremen (2013-16) and 2015 Bremen Festival. From 2012 to 2014 he was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. He and Benedetti perform together regularly, and, having known each other since they were students, this performance will bring a heart-warming intimacy to Brahms’ yearning melodies.

Brahms & Beethoven is the second concert in NZSO Music Director Edo de Waart’s ‘Masterworks’ series, which explores some of the most important orchestral works by many of the great composers. Following his performances of Mahler 3 in Auckland and Wellington on 1 and 2 April, the NZSO will look to the giants of the Romantic repertoire with the music of Brahms and Beethoven.

Beethoven’s tour de force, Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major Eroica is a revolutionary work that set forth a new credo for instrumental music. Originally conceived as a memorial to the heroic achievements of Napoleon Bonaparte, but hastily changed after Beethoven learned Napoleon had declared himself emperor, the third symphony stands testament against tyranny with music that is powerful and heroic.

Completing the programme is the "grandfather of New Zealand music,” Douglas Lilburn’s Festival Overture. Lilburn was a homesick student in London when he composed this piece and its light and joyful themes reflect both his longing and his deep love for his homeland.

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