From Philippa Harris, General Manager

The wait is finally over – our 2023 concert series is about to begin – and what a spectacular start is in store for us. Our first concert, Song of the Earth, has everything: a large Mahler work which deals with love, life, death and nature; two internationally acclaimed singers; one of NZ’s most promising young pianists who will be performing a very popular Mozart piano concerto; and NZSO Conductor Emeritus Maestro James Judd at the helm. As our singers point out, it’s important to know what the meaning of Mahler’s text is, and (with our ‘technological’ fingers crossed) we’re hoping to have the English translations projected onto an overhead screen during the concert.

In July, we’re Celebrating Matariki – Whakanuia Matariki. We are thrilled to be premièring a work by Dunedin- based composer Gillian Whitehead who is one of NZ’s most celebrated composers. Of her new work, she says it ‘celebrates the two harbingers of the Maori New Year – the star Puaka and Matariki’ and that her inspiration was ‘the varying patterns of movement of stars and planets, of the appearance of Puaka and Matariki in the morning sky as the seasons change, of human ritual’. Combined with three other NZ works, a sublime Mozart symphony, a leading NZ exponent of taonga pūoro Ariana Tikao, and one of NZ’s most versatile conductors Maestro Brent Stewart on the podium, it promises to be a concert not to be missed.