Tchaikovsky 5

NZSO Principal Cellist Andrew Joyce, Principal Violist Julia Joyce and conductor Han-Na Chang lead a concert of great romantics. 

Korean conductor Han-Na Chang is “one of her generation’s most exciting conductors” (Lars Flydal, Vårtland), capable of making an orchestra “play in a way I did not know they were capable of” (Magnus Andersson, Klassekampe). A cello prodigy who won First Prize at the Rostropovich International Cello Competition at just 11 years old, she switched to conducting at 24 and has electrified audiences ever since. Who better to conduct a performance of Richard Strauss’s tone poem for cello and orchestra, Don Quixote? Principal Cellist Andrew Joyce steps into the spotlight to give voice to the love-mad protagonist of Cervantes’s novel.

We are delighted to premiere a new work by Kiwi composer Leonie Holmes, whose evocative style echoes the Impressionism of last century. We then conclude with a milestone work, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. The first movement’s implacable main theme, balanced by the horn’s irresistibly moving second movement melody, embodies the big bold emotions of the Romantic era.