Vector Wellington Orchestra announces 2011 Season

World renowned mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter will sing with Vector Wellington Orchestra as the highlight of an outstanding year of music.

Von Otter is one of the biggest names in opera, says VWO music director Marc Taddei. “She is a superstar of classical music.”

“To secure an artist of this calibre is a tremendous coup for any orchestra, and we couldn’t be more pleased,” Taddei says. “She is the greatest mezzo soprano of her generation.”

The Swedish mezzo-soprano will appear with the orchestra on November 18, singing selections from Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne. It is her only symphonic concert in New Zealand. She will appear in Auckland to do a recital with pianist Bengt Forsberg.

Another highlight Taddei looks forward to is the New Zealand premiere of John Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning work, On the Transmigration of Souls.

Written to commemorate the 2001 attack on the World Trade Towers, the work combines the orchestra with a choir and children’s choir singing texts drawn from personal reminiscences of the survivors and brief fragments taken from missing person signs posted in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. A pre-recorded soundscape surrounds the audience with quiet city sounds blended with many voices reading aloud the names of the missing.

The orchestra is also delighted to be returning to Government House for the Dominion Post Summer Concert on March 5.

“It’s been a really popular concert in the past, and we know people have missed it while the Government House renovations have been going on,” he says. “I’m pleased to say we’ll be the first public event on the grounds once Government House reopens.” The outdoor concert will include a picnic lunch by Wishbone, wine, and the traditional finale of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with real cannons.

Mozart’s piano concertos are another theme running through the 2011 programme. Pianist Dierdre Irons will join the orchestra to play Mozart’s three greatest piano concertos, numbers 23, 24 and 25.

Wellington’s great vocal and choral tradition is another theme running through the VWO’s 2011 season. During the year, the Tudor Consort will sing in Debussy’s Nocturnes while the Orpheus Children’s Choirs will appear in Adams’ Transmigration of Souls. Wellington soprano Margaret Medlyn will join forces with Dierdre Irons for a Mozart aria, Ch’io mi scordi di te.

One of the most imaginative concerts of the year, Unfinished Symphonies, sets Schubert’s beloved 8th Symphony alongside a fascinating, highly individual rendering of his 10th symphony. Both the 8th and 10th were unfinished; the 8th is usually played as Schubert left it. Italian composer Berio used the extensive sketches Schubert made for the 10th symphony to create linking passages of music on which Schubert’s finished fragments are strung like jewels. In Schubert Rendering, Schubert’s music appears to coalesce out of a shimmering background rich with possibilities.

On the symphonic side of things, the VWO will explore the older Russian composers with Borodin’s Second Symphony and, choosing among the few works that could stand alongside Adams’ Transmigration of Souls, Beethoven’s powerful Fifth Symphony.

The orchestra continues its popular Baby Pops and educational concerts, which will be toured to Masterton and Palmerston North.

In a revival of its concert tour schedule, the orchestra is also delighted to present its July subscription concert, “Unfinished Symphonies”, in Masterton and Palmerston North.




VECTOR WELLINGTON ORCHESTRA 2011 SEASON SCHEDULE


Special Event
The Dominion Post Summer Concert at Government House
Saturday 5 March (rain day 6 March)
Government House Garden 2.00pm (Gates open at Midday)


Soloists Aivale Cole
Benjamin Makisi

Host Kate Mead
Footnote Dance
Marc Taddei, Conductor


After an extensive restoration project to Government House, Vector Wellington Orchestra’s outdoor concert is back by popular demand. Relax in the beautiful Government House grounds with a Wishbone picnic lunch and a glass of wine. Let the Orchestra entertain you with celebrated arias and symphonic works, hosted by the irrepressible Kate Mead, courtesy of Radio New Zealand Concert. Keeping to our tradition, the concert ends with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture – complete with cannons!

Subs 1
Launching Mozart
Saturday 16 April
Wellington Town Hall 7.30pm

Debussy: Nocturnes
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 23 in A Major, K. 488
Borodin: Symphony No 2 in B minor

With Deirdre Irons, piano
Cantoris choir
Marc Taddei, conductor

The 2011 subscription season will launch a journey through three of Mozart’s greatest piano concerti, performed by one of New Zealand’s great pianists, Dierdre Irons. In this concert we will hear the A Major concerto displaying Mozart at his heights. Two perfectly balanced outer movements, instantly recognisable, flank the piercing beauty of its gently rocking Adagio. Inspired by the paintings of Whistler, Debussy’s Nocturnes are more about the play of light than darkness. Dancing, blooming and shimmering, the Nocturnes glitter with orchestral colour.. Borodin’s Second Symphony is full of Russian vigour. Among its wealth of folkloric melodies, the gorgeous Andante stands out.


Subs 2
UNFINISHED SYMPHONIES

Wellington Masterton

Saturday 23 July Friday 22 July

Wellington Town Hall 7.30pm Masterton Town Hall 7.30pm

Palmerston North

(to be confirmed)
Friday 29 July
Regent Theatre 7.30pm

Schubert: Unfinished Symphony
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K. 491
Mozart: Aria, Ch’io mi scordi di te? K 505
Berio Schubert Rendering

Deirdre Irons, piano
Margaret Medlyn, Soprano
Marc Taddei, conductor

Schubert’s 8th symphony, the 'Unfinished' is a gem of Romantic music, balancing its stormy episodes with moments of joy and affection. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 24 also ventures towards Romanticism with its dramatic minor-key themes. Pianist Dierdre Irons is joined by the great Margaret Medlyn for Mozart’s dramatic concert aria Ch’io mi scordi di te? Luciano Berio used Schubert’s extensive sketches for a tenth symphony to create an orchestral rendering. Schubert’s music is set among imaginative passages of Berio’s own dreamy, gossamer textures. A fresh approach to reconstruction, Schubert Rendering is a colourful blend of the authentic and the original.


Subs 3
ON THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS

Sunday 11 September
Michael Fowler Centre 2pm

Beethoven: Symphony 5 in C minor Op 67
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 25 in C Major, K. 503
Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls

Diedre Irons, Piano
Orpheus Choir
The chorister of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul (Children’s Choir)
Marc Taddei, conductor

Everyone knows the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. But what a world unfolds from that tightly-packed fragment of music, full of drama, power, passion and intelligence! Mozart’s great C Major piano concerto is likewise the work of a composer at his absolute peak; grand in scope, the concerto’s majestic and heroic music foreshadows Beethoven. On the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Centre attack, we mark the occasion with John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate those who lost their lives in the tragedy.


Subs 4
ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER

Friday 18 November
Wellington Town Hall, 7.30pm

Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Anne Sofie von Otter, Soprano

Swedish soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is considered one of the finest singers of her generation. A regular at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, her equally busy concert career makes her a frequent soloist in the major halls of Europe and North America, partnered with some of the world's pre-eminent conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner and Georg Solti. She will sing excerpts from Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne in an all-French concert that includes Debussy’s Impressionist masterpiece Afternoon of a Faun and Berlioz’ emotionally-charged Symphonie Fantastique.

BABY POPS – ‘Once Upon a Time’

Palmerston North, Friday 24 June
Regent Theatre 10.15am

Wellington Sunday 26 June
Michael Fowler Centre, 3pm

Masterton Tuesday 28 June
Masterton Town Hall, 10.15am

A special concert for ages 2 – 6

This year’s Baby Pops is all about storytelling. Featuring Murray the Musical Bear and the Sugar Plum Fairy, it’s great entertainment for even the most restless toddler! Conduct the orchestra, rock out to the loud bits, and sing along to children’s favourites like Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and A-Hunting We Will go. In a programme created by music education pioneer Thomas Goss, classics such as Beethoven’s Eroica and Grieg’s Hall of the Mountain King get a new twist. Also including Goss’ new interactive story in music, Maui’s Fishing Trip. To finish, everyone walks the Magic Trail through the orchestra.

Kevin Keys, presenter
Marc Taddei, conductor
Featuring Murray the Musical Bear and the Sugar Plum Fairy

SCHOOLS CONCERTS
Host – Kevin Keys
Marc Taddei, conductor

“Myths and Legends”
Myths and legends have always inspired musicians. Because music is uniquely able to conjure up images in one’s mind, the theme of ‘Myths and Legends’ will be informative and entertaining for school children. Through music, we bring these stories vividly to life and demonstrate many musical styles and instruments of the orchestra. Wagner’s Valkyries, Beethoven’s Creatures of Prometheus and the dancing skeletons of Saint Saëns’ Dance Macabre are classics; closer to home, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ soundtrack evokes our own magical landscapes, while a fiery eruption of musical power in Gareth Farr’s ‘Ruaumoko’ describes the restless Maori god of earthquakes.