Sensational cellist returns to play with the NZSO

Sensational cellist returns to play with the NZSO and in solo recitals

One of the most exciting cellists in the world will tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in October and also perform special solo recitals.

German-Canadian Johannes Moser, praised by Gramophone magazine as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists”, performs Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s breath-taking Cello Concerto No. 1 in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington.

Moser, whose 2016 performances with the NZSO were hailed as “an act of pure musical alchemy”, has described Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto as full of “cellistical fireworks”, while equally “deep, intimate and very personal”.

For the Johannes Moser Plays Shostakovich tour the NZSO will be led for the first time by acclaimed conductor Peter Oundjian. Oundjian recently finished six seasons as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and a 14-year tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, where he revitalised the Canadian orchestra. Prior to becoming a conductor, Oundjian was a highly-regarded violinist, with 14 years as first violinist with the renowned Tokyo String Quartet. “I had always been interested in becoming a conductor. I saw it as a case of one door closing and another opening,” he told The Scotsman newspaper.

The NZSO concerts will also feature key works by fellow Russians Alexander Borodin and Sergei Prokofiev - Borodin’s exhilarating Overture to Prince Igor and selections from Prokofiev’s timeless ballet Romeo and Juliet.

Borodin’s Overture to Prince Igor is widely admired for its uplifting use of brass and will open the concert. Prokofiev’s ballet score of Romeo and Juliet is a dramatic and well-known interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragic play, and the thrilling “Dance of the Knights”, which is included in our selections from the ballet, continues to convert many people to the joys of orchestral music.

During the NZSO tour, Moser will also present intimate solo recitals at Auckland’s St Mary-in-Holy Trinity Cathedral, Christchurch’s Transitional Cathedral and Wellington’s St Andrew’s on the Terrace, where he will perform three of Bach’s six iconic cello suites.

ENDS

© Scoop Media