The Bard meets The Band

The Bard meets The Band

“If music be the food of love, play on.” … Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

The Auckland Philharmonia’s new three-concert Vero Series kicks off on Thursday 4 May with “Bard to the Bone”, a concert featuring music inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, Henry V, and many other great works by Shakespeare.

Conductor WYN DAVIES, soprano JESSICA PRATT, baritone GRANT DOYLE and the Auckland Philharmonia take the audience through some of the world’s greatest and most dramatic music, while theatre veteran STUART DEVENIE recites some of the world’s most moving and stirring words.

Since they were first written, Shakespeare’s works have inspired great composers the world over. His genius has inspired operas, ballets, symphonies, overtures, songs, and film music. “Bard to the Bone” is a rich assemblage of popular orchestral works, which, combined with a narration of clever, engaging verse and some of Shakespeare’s finest lines, will ensure a memorable night out.

Wyn Davies, currently Music Director of NBR NZ Opera, has worked on a regular basis with major orchestras and opera companies in the UK. He has also conducted the Metropolitan Opera, New York, done two seasons for the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts in Canada, and is the Music Director of an Italian singing and language course held annually in Tuscany which is designed specifically for young NZ singers.

Grant Doyle was a member of the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 he returned to the Royal Opera as a guest artist to sing Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, among other roles. Last season he made his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Der Einäugige in Die Frau ohne Schatten. He has also performed in France, Ireland and Australia, and alongside his busy operatic career he is in demand in the UK as a concert soloist in oratorio and recitals.

Twenty-six year old British-born soprano Jessica Pratt is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships including being placed in the top three for the New York Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Study Award in 2001 and 2003, and reaching the quarter finals of Placido Domingo’s Operalia in Paris in 2002. Recently she spent six months studying with Renata Scotto at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, and appeared as soloist with the Sydney and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.

Stuart Devenie’s theatrical and television career has spanned three decades, having played leads in numerous well-loved plays and television dramas. He performed the lead in Tom Scott’s hugely successful The Daylight Atheist, and recently starred in Caligula, Disgrace and The Talented Mr Ripley for Auckland Theatre Company, a company for which he has also directed.

Auckland Philharmonia VERO SERIES – “Bard to the Bone”

Thursday 4 May – 8pm, Aotea Centre

BOOKINGS: Ticketek Orchestra Hotline ph. (09) 307 5139 or visit http://www.ticketek.co.nz/

The Vero Series is proudly sponsored by Vero. The Auckland Philharmonia receives major funding from Creative New Zealand and major grants from Auckland City and the ASB Charitable Trust.

ENDS