Festival celebrates artistic achievements of NZSO Music Director

11 May 2015 - NZSO Media Release for immediate release

Inkinen Festival celebrates artistic achievements of NZSO Music Director

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is delighted to present the Inkinen Festival - two exhilarating concerts of orchestral masterpieces performed over two consecutive nights.

The Inkinen Festival is an exciting opportunity to watch NZSO Music Director Pietari Inkinen conduct an inspiring round up of his signature repertoire and memorable moments conducting the NZSO. The Festival features two exciting programmes in Auckland and Wellington - Karen Gomyo plays Beethoven featuring Beethoven’s famous Violin Concerto in D major and Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite, and the Wagner Gala including well-known scenes from the last two operas of Wagner’s Ring Cycle - Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, featuring New Zealand’s star tenor Simon O’Neill and powerful Grammy Award-winning soprano Christine Goerke.

The NZSO also visits Dunedin on Tuesday 16 June to present Karen Gomyo plays Beethoven before heading to Christchurch on Wednesday 17 June to present the Wagner Gala.

“The Festival brings together some of my most significant projects with the NZSO,” says Maestro Pietari Inkinen. “Our 2012 performance of The Valkyrie with Simon O’Neill and Christine Goerke, the complete Naxos recordings of the Sibeliussymphonies, and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto - an extension of last year’s successful Beethoven symphonic cycle. Those moments I wouldn’t trade for anything.

“There’s the unique power of Wagner in the Gala, Beethoven’s famous violin concerto performed by acclaimed violinist Karen Gomyo, plus the highly original and wonderful Lemminkäinen Suite by Sibelius who is our most important composer inFinland.”

Inspired by the epic tales of his homeland Finland, Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite is Inkinen’s personal 2015 Season highlight.
“There is no question that performing these big works shows some of the real strengths of the NZSO. I want to create more unforgettable moments for the audience and performers in these concerts. I want to bring people to the edge of their seat,” says Inkinen.

This is the final opportunity for NZSO concertgoers to watch Pietari Inkinen conduct the Orchestra as Music Director. Maestro Inkinen will become NZSO Honorary Conductor from 2016 following eight seasons as NZSO Music Director.

Since joining the NZSO in 2008, Inkinen’s work with the NZSO has been internationally acclaimed with critics lauding his “bold, sure-footed intelligence” (Guardian) and describing him as having “confidence and talent to spare… he brings abundant recreative flair and cogent grip to the task in hand.” (Gramophone).

Highlights include leading the NZSO on its 2010 international tour to Vienna, Lucerne, Geneva, Frankfurt and Hamburg, when the Orchestra received a standing ovation at the hallowed Musikverein, conducting Wagner’s epic music drama The Valkyrie in full, recording the complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies (Naxos), and conducting all nine Beethoven symphonies consecutively over four days in both Wellington and Auckland.
Experience the excitement of Beethoven and the drama of Wagner this June when our treasured Music Director Pietari Inkinentakes the Orchestra to new heights in the Inkinen Festival. The Wagner Gala is proudly supported by the Wagner New Zealand Foundation.

Note: Soloist Hilary Hahn was unable to travel to New Zealand due to pregnancy and unfortunately had to withdraw from these concerts. Acclaimed violinist Karen Gomyo will now perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

ENDS

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