Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Tickets

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series – Reimagined 

8pm, Thursday 8 August

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Tung Chieh Chuang

Pipa Wu Man 

Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite

Harrison Pipa Concerto

Shostakovich Symphony No.1 

To hear an unfamiliar instrument is a revelation, but doubly so when its unexpected depths are revealed by a virtuoso. Wu Man is the preeminent player of the pipa, a Chinese lute, with five Grammy nominations to her name. The American composer Lou Harrison, a lifelong devotee of Asian music, wrote this fabulously eclectic concerto for her. 

Shostakovich’s First Symphony is a madcap piece that instantly propelled its 19-year-old composer onto the world stage. 

Stravinsky reached back to the past with Pulcinella, reinventing 18th-century music in what can only be called an exceedingly Stravinskyian way. 

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series – Reveries 

8pm, Thursday 22 August

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Bertrand de Billy

Organ Benjamin Sheen 

Debussy Prélude à L’Apres-midi d’une faune

Poulenc Organ Concerto

Franck Symphony in D minor 

The distinguished French conductor Bertrand de Billy makes his d.but with the APO, opening with Debussy’slanguid masterpiece of high summer. Then the mighty Auckland Town Hall organ lets rip, as the organist Benjamin Sheen plays Poulenc’s darkly Gothic but very French concerto. 

The composer C.sar Franck, who was an organist in his day job, would have approved. His only symphony, written in the twilight of his career, is an ingenious blend of French sensibility and German form set in a three-movement format. This open, approachable work is laced with one splendid melody after another.

Sponsors/Partners: The New Zealand Herald 

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series – Ashkenazy & Mullova 

8pm, Thursday 12 September

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy

Violin Viktoria Mullova 

Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture

Sibelius Violin Concerto

Dvořák Symphony No.7 

Vladimir Ashkenazy is, quite simply, one of the greatest musicians alive. It is wonderful to welcome him back to the APO. Joining him is the breath-taking violinist Viktoria Mullova. Together, they’ll give us a night to remember for a long time. 

Sibelius’s mighty concerto is a mountain for the soloist to scale, requiring not only technical wizardry but also profound

artistry. Tchaikovsky’s homage to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet provides us with one of his loveliest melodies. And to close the evening Dvořák’s turbulent symphony starts with dark foreboding, but ends in hard-won triumph. 

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series – Boléro 

8pm, Thursday 17 October

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Kazuki Yamada

Piano Louis Schwizgebel 

Arvo Pärt Fratres

Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste

Ravel Piano Concerto in G

Ravel Boléro 

Meditative, timeless, unutterably beautiful, Pärt’s Fratres is something that seems to exist outside of this world. 

Bartók inhaled the essence of Hungarian folk music and from it made his own language. In the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste, we have the mysterious sounds of a moonlit night and the rustic energy of a village dance. 

Ravel’s featherweight concerto is infused with the essence of jazz, but it is jazz through a very Ravellian filter. Then, an endlessly repeated rhythm, a sinuously feline melody, an imperceptible but implacable crescendo: it is the most hypnotic piece in the business, Ravel’s always-exhilarating Boléro. 

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series – Zarathustra 

8pm, Thursday 31 October

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Giordano Bellincampi

Cello Harriet Krijgh 

Mozart Symphony No.29

Haydn Cello Concerto No.1

R. Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra 

Although born a generation apart, Mozart and Haydn were dear friends and these two pieces are well paired. One of Mozart’s sunniest symphonies bounces off Haydn’s cheerful concerto, played by the outstanding Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh. 

Then Strauss’s huge tone-poem. It is best known for that music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but there’s much more to it than that, including some seriously glorious music for the strings and a sparkling solo for the concertmaster. It is a piece that offers Maestro Bellincampi and the APO a chance to really shine. 

The New Zealand Herald Premier Series – Conflict & Triumph 

8pm, Thursday 14 November

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Giordano Bellincampi

Violin Ning Feng 

Salina Fisher New work

Beethoven Violin Concerto

Nielsen Symphony No.5 

The extraordinarily talented young New Zealand violinist and composer, Salina Fisher, was the youngest ever winner of The SOUNZ Contemporary Award, and she’s won it again since. We are eagerly waiting to hear what she’s got in store for us in her new piece. 

APO favourite Ning Feng returns with Beethoven’s titanic concerto, one of the summits of the violinist’s repertoire. 

Giordano Bellincampi continues his survey of his compatriot Carl Nielsen’s music with this remarkable symphony. The then-recent First World War is echoed in staggeringly violent music, with a rogue snare drum doing its best to upend the orchestra. 

Templar Great Classics – Pastoral 

7.30pm, Thursday 3 October

Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Douglas Boyd

Violin Amalia Hall 

Elgar Introduction and Allegro

Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No.3

Beethoven Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’ 

The dynamic Scottish conductor Douglas Boyd returns with a programme of pure pleasure. Elgar’s carefree Introduction and Allegro gives the APO strings a moment in the sun. 

The prodigiously talented New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall made her début with the APO at the age of nine. She joins us for Saint-Saëns’ delightful champagne concerto. 

Getting out of Vienna and into the country was vital for Beethoven, and in this piece he pours his love of nature into ever more magnificent music: singing of birds, streams, a storm with thunderbolts and lightning, and the rainbow after the downpour.