APO premieres final piece in NZ composer's string cycle

New Zealand composer Christopher Blake’s Northland Panels string cycle will be complete with the world premiere of the fourth and final work Christ at Whangape performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in October.

Blake’s piece opens the APO’s concert, The Glory of Strings on Thursday 2 October at 8pm at the Auckland Town Hall, THE EDGE®, featuring former Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster Kolja Blacher as soloist and conductor. The Glory of Strings is the ninth concert in the APN News & Media Premier Series.

APO Chief Executive Barbara Glaser says the orchestra has premiered two of the three previous works in Blake’s Northland Panels string cycle “and it is a privilege to premiere the final piece to bring the work to completion.

“Christopher’s string cycle has been a great contribution to the New Zealand repertoire and this particular piece is an evocative reflection on the history and landscape of New Zealand.”

Blake’s Northland Panels string cycle was inspired by photographs by renowned New Zealand photographer Robin Morrison. The four images which inspired Blake’s string cycle have been loaned to the APO by the Auckland Museum and will be displayed in the BNZ Foyer, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE® from Monday 29 September to Thursday 2 October and in the Supper Room, Auckland Town Hall, THE EDGE® on the night of the performance.

Continuing the focus on strings, the APO concert programme also includes Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Shostakovich’s chamber symphony for strings (Chamber Symphony Op 110a arr. Barshai).

“We are very excited to have Kolja Blacher join us for the first time as guest conductor and soloist for this concert celebrating the glory of string instruments,” Ms Glaser says.

Blacher, who is the son of influential German composer Boris Blacher, was accepted for the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York as a 15-year-old and completed his studies in Salzburg, Austria before embarking on a remarkable career as an orchestra leader and solo violinist.

Currently the professor for violin and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany, he also performs as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the NDR Sinfonieorchester and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

“He is an outstanding violinist and also works brilliantly with orchestral strings in particular,” Ms Glaser says.

She adds that the performance of the Shostakovich chamber symphony is a much-anticipated treat. It is the first time the APO has performed the piece which was arranged by Rudolf Barshai from Shostakovich’s Quartet No 8, composed in three days in 1960.

The APO performs The Glory of Strings on Thursday 2 October at 8pm at the Auckland Town Hall, THE EDGE®. Single tickets from $20-$110 are available from Ticketek, Ph 0800 TICKETEK (842 538) or www.ticketek.co.nz