KZN Philharmonic Winter Season starts
CONDUCTOR Daniel Raiskin will be on the podium for this evening’s KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Winter Season concert, which starts at 7.30pm at the Playhouse Opera theatre.
Weber’s superbly atmospheric Euryanthe Overture serves as the evening’s curtain-raiser.
Lukas Vondracek, winner of last year’s Queen Elisabeth Piano International Competition in Brussels, takes the solo spotlight for a performance of Rachmaninoff ’s Piano Concerto No 4 in G minor. Maestro Raiskin brings the evening to a close with Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No 7. Written at the height of his creative powers, the four-movement work embodies the full spectrum of the great Czech composer’s flair for evoking a powerfully visceral concert experience.
On Sunday, June 25 at 11.30am there will be a concert at the Tatham Art Gallery – Chief Albert Luthuli (Commercial) Road, Pietermaritzburg, featuring The Kayser String Quartet and David Smith (piano). The event will include a world premiere performance of Durban Essence by David Kosviner.
This new work for piano quintet commissioned by the South African Music Rights Organisation is dedicated to the performers of this concert. Also on the programme are Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor Op 95 and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor Op 57. Tickets (at the door) cost R80 (R50 for students and pensioners). For further information Bryony Clark at 033 392 2825.
A subsequent performance of this programme in Durban as part of this year’s series of chamber music concerts presented by the Friends of Music at the Jewish Centre – 44 KE Masinga (Old Fort ) Road – will take place on Tuesday, August 22, at 7.30pm. For further information call Vera Dubin at 031 201 0711.
Virtuoso saxophonist, David Salleras will perform several concerts in KwaZulu-Natal with Pietermaritzburg concert pianist, Christopher Duigan, as part of a nationwide tour in June and July.
Fans can catch them at Casa Mexicana, 35 Montgomery Drive, Athlone, Pietermaritzburg at 7.30pm on Saturday, June 24; at St Agnes Church in Kloof on Thursday, June 29 at 7.30pm; and at the Friends of Music concert at the Durban Jewish Centre, 44 KE Masinga (Old Fort) Road, Durban, on Tuesday, July 4, at 7.30pm.
Since his first visit in October 2012, Salleras has been collaborating on a project of concerts and has recorded two mesmerising albums with Duigan – Indigo and Midnight Blue – both of which are available on iTunes.
The Barcelona-based musician has attracted international attention through his fluency in a variety of musical styles. His innovative compositions, which incorporate traditional flamenco idioms with contemporary and avant-garde performing techniques, are performed by saxophonists worldwide.
Duigan, always a formidable entrepreneurial force on our cultural landscape, is South Africa’s leading concert pianist. For this series, the two distinguished musicians will perform works from the traditional saxophone repertoire by Jules Demersseman, JS Bach, Darius Milahaud’s Scaramouche and music from Spanish composer/ saxophonist by Pedro Iturralde.
Iturralde’s Suite Hellenique traditionally offers pianist and saxophonist plenty of opportunity to explore a wide range of dynamic interplay through a variety of musical styles.
Also on the programme will be Salleras and Duigan’s creative arrangements of music by Astor Piazzolla, Salleras’s solo work, Caprices, and Duigan’s compositions from Indigo and Midnight Blue. Copies of Indigo and Midnight Blue will be available to purchase at all concerts.
Tickets for the concert at Casa Mexicana are R160 including refreshments. Booking is essential. E-mail booking@musicrevival. co.za or send an SMS or WhatsApp to 083 417 4473. Safe parking is available.
Tickets for the concert at St Agnes Church in Kloof are R130, which includes refreshments. Book your tickets by calling the St Agnes Church office on 031 764 2037. Secure parking is available.
Tickets for the Friends of Music concert are R100 at the door. See www.friendsofmusic.co.za . To find out more about Music Revival’s concerts go to www.musicrevival. co.za
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, June 20, Friends of Music presents the Charl Du Plessis Trio at the Jewish Centre in a programme titled Baroque Swing, featuring music by Bach, Vivaldi and others, with a touch of jazz applied by way of a contemporary makeover. The event starts at 7.30pm. Secure parking is available and booking is through Computicket. Tickets are also available at the door.
Finally, note that a new work by South African composer, Stephen Carletti, will be premiered at the Songs of the Rose concert at the Epworth Chapel on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 20 and 21) at 6.45pm. Based in Cape Town, Carletti was commissioned by the Pietermaritzburg school to write the sacred cantata, Mother of God, a 25-minute, eight movement work for choir and orchestra, which tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from the perspective of his mother, Mary. It will feature the full Epworth School Choir, which is made up of more than 100 girls.
Tickets for Songs of the Rose are R100 (adults) and R60 (pupils). Pre-booking is essential with Amanda Lamprecht via e-mail at functions@epworth.co.za or call 033 846 25 76.