Radical symphony to tour North Island in May

28 April 2011 - NZSO Media Release for immediate release

Radical symphony to tour North Island in May

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will perform one of the most radical symphonies ever written when it tours Beethoven’s mighty Eroica around the North Island next month.

The Eroica is an orchestral giant which shocked the concert hall on debut two centuries ago, changing forever the way symphonies were composed.

The masterwork marks the triumphant turning point in Beethoven’s career at a time when his encroaching deafness had threatened to overwhelm him.

Six-time Grammy-nominated Polish conductor Antoni Wit will lead the orchestra for the tour of Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Palmerston North and Wellington. His international career spans more than four decades and he has recorded over 90 albums.

Antoni Wit has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin and London Philharmonic Orchestras and the Dresden Staatskapelle. He is presently the General and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

The conductor is a specialist in Polish classical music and will open the concert with a work by twentieth century composer Krzysztof Penderecki, his former teacher.

The Eroica tour also includes exceptional young French cellist Sébastien Hurtaud who joins the orchestra to play Hadyn’s Cello Concerto No 2. Hurtaud returns to New Zealand after winning the prestigious Adam International Cello Competition in 2009.

ENDS

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