Orchestra Wellington Tickets

With a rich history as New Zealand’s oldest regional orchestra founded over sixty years ago, Orchestra Wellington’s audience numbers have grown rapidly to become one of the most consistently well attended in the country. With progressive programmes, accessible pricing, and a focus on community outreach, Orchestra Wellington is now recognised as one of the most exciting and progressive orchestras in the world.

Virtuoso Voices 

Cantata Profana - Béla BARTÓK (with Wade Kernot & Orpheus Choir of Wellington)

Carmina Burana – Carl ORFF (with Wade Kernot & Orpheus Choir of Wellington) 

Bartók drew on Romanian ballads to create his own libretto for this tale of a father who raises his nine sons to care for very little besides his obsession, which is hunting deer.

While out hunting, the sons are transformed into stags. The father pleads with them to return home, but their animal forms prevent them from exchanging the wilderness for the human world. In this mysterious folkloric tale, Bartók’s darkly lush music is filled with the magic of the night forest and the pagan energy of the hunt.

 

Virtuoso Violin 

Polonaise “Militaire” – Frederic CHOPIN

Violin Concerto No. 2 “La Campanella”- Niccolo PAGANINI (with Amalia Hall, Violin)

Mazeppa – Franz LISZT

Les Preludes – Franz LISZT 

One of Chopin’s most famous works takes on new life in this arrangement by Glazunov, which was commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev for the 1909 season of the Ballets Russes. Better known as the “Military” polonaise, its bounding self-assurance is even more glorious with trumpets, horns and trombones sounding the fanfare motifs.

 

Virtuoso Composer 

Symphony No. 25 – Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART

Call of the Wild – John PSATHAS Premiere (with Adam Page, Saxophone)

Symphony No. 4 – Ludwig van BEETHOVEN 

The so-called “little G minor” symphony is Mozart’s first symphony to win a constant place in the repertoire, thanks to its operatic sense of drama. In Mozart’s day, minor key symphonies were rare; this symphony breaks with tradition both in the choice of key and in its sense of intensely personal expression.

 

Virtuoso Diva 

Shéhérazade Overture – Maurice RAVEL

Shéhérazade – Maurice RAVEL (with Anna Leese, Soprano)

Scheherazade – Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV 

This gem is all that remains of an opera inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade that Ravel never completed. The overture gives the woodwinds free rein in sinuous, mysterious lines until the full orchestra enters to paint a glorious vision hinting at such marvels that it is no wonder the cruel Sultan Shahriyar could never bring himself to put an end to Scheherazade and her stories.

 

Virtuoso Piano 

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini - Sergei RACHMANINOFF (with Jian Liu, Piano)

Paganini Variations – Witold LUTOSLAWSKI (with Jian Liu, Piano)

Symphony No. 2 – Johannes BRAHMS 

Rachmaninoff was inspired by the same theme as Lutoslawski, turning it into a large, ebullient work using his usual luxuriant orchestration. After a playful bustling introduction sketching the theme’s outlines, his 24 variations cover a tremendous range of moods from introspective to triumphantly romantic. The piano and the orchestra chase each other, reflect each other and support each other with inexhaustible invention. There’s plenty of room for piano fireworks, and Rachmaninoff even finds a way to weave in his favourite Dies Irae theme.

 

Virtuoso Orchestra 

Concerto for Orchestra – Paul HINDEMITH

Leviathan (Premiere) – John PSATHAS (with Alexej Gerassimez, Percussion)

Concerto for Orchestra – Béla BARTÓK

Resisting the atonal world of his contemporaries, Hindemith explored a neobaroque flavour with this work, which takes the form of a concerto grosso. The surging, muscular lines of the orchestra are set in counterpoint against florid solos from a trio of oboe, violin and bassoon.

More information can be found here:  www.orchestrawellington.co.nz