Have instruments, will travel

And they're off ...

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra leaves for London next Friday, and on arrival will go into rehearsal at Cadogan Hall for its appearance at the BBC Proms. This will be the first time an orchestra from this part of the world has played at the Proms.

On Monday August 15, the NZSO will hold a sponsor concert at Cadogan Hall, hosted by New Zealand's High Commissioner to London, Jonathan Hunt, who will double as a performer in Haydn's Toy Symphony.

Jonathan Lemalu will perform at the sponsor concert, as will Kerry Jago and Ana James, a member of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, in a selection of arias by Mozart and Strauss.

The orchestra leaves the next day for Snape Maltings in Suffolk, and a concert on August 17 with Dame Kiri in a programme featuring Mahler's 4th and arias by Strauss and Mozart.

Back to London and the Proms on August 19, with Lilburn's Third, Sibelius' Symphony No 2, and Mahler's Das Knaben Wunderhorn with Lemalu. Two encores are planned: Ross Harris' Music for Johnny and Elgar's Wand of Youth- the programme they are taking to Amsterdam's Concertgebouw on August 20.

After that, half of the orchestra will return to New Zealand, and the other half will fly to Japan for a concert in Aichi.

The NZSO will run a blog of tour news, and the Snape Maltings concert will be broadcast on Concert FM at a later date.