A Grammy-nominated conductor, a star cellist and an award-winning young Kiwi composer are set to wow audiences in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's four-city concert tour this month, with a concert in the Napier Municipal Theatre at 7pm on Thursday, 25 May.
The Pathétique - Tchaikovsky and Dvorák concert tour will be led by 37-year-old Singaporean Darrell Ang who conducted the NZSO's recording of works by Chinese composer Zhou Long that was nominated for a Grammy Award last year.
Maestro Ang was the youngest person to be made Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and has worked with many of the world's well-known orchestras and Asia's top ensembles. "A star is born", judged by Singapore's The Strait Times.
Ang will conduct the NZSO in performances of Tchaikovsky's heart-breaking Symphony No 6 in B minor - Pathétique, Dvorák's richly melodic Cello Concerto in B minor and the stunning Embiosis by New Zealander David Grahame Taylor.
An air of mystery surrounds Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony. This dark and indulgently morose symphony, shrouded in tragedy, is linked to the deaths of both Josefina, Tchaikovsky's great love, and Tchaikovsky himself. Audiences are sure to be carried away by the haunting and beautiful melodies of this famous work.