Sailing with the NZSO into 2019

VOYAGER: Te Mapouriki, a new work commissioned as part of the NZSO Landfall Series, reflects how British explorer James Cook was changed by his experiences. The unusual theme is reflected in contemporary sculptor Michael Parekowhai’s stainless steel sculpture of Cook in which the isolated and thoughtful figure reflects colours from constellations of neon lights hung around the walls of the Auckland waterfront installation, The Lighthouse. Picture by Martin D Page

Voyaging by sea and, at a stretch, into space, feature in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s (NZSO) October 2019 concert in Gisborne. Along with works such as Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, and the Mannheim rocket in Mozart’s Paris Symphony, will be New Zealand composer Kenneth Young’s work Te Mapouriki (The Dusk).

Commissioned as part of the NZSO Landfall Series to mark 250 years since the first encounters between Maori and European settlers, the work reflects how British explorer James Cook was changed by his experiences.

Te Mapouriki will be the second work in the Landfall series to be performed in Gisborne. The NZSO debuted Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead’s evocative Turanga-nui at the War Memorial Theatre in August this year.

The recently announced October 17 programme includes Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto with NZSO’s section principal horn soloist Samuel Jacobs, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 1.

Strauss was a prolific composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He composed many chamber, orchestral, solo works and operas. His first horn concerto, written when he was 18, is still a popular work today.

Schumann wrote his First Symphony, Spring, in just four days. According to his wife, the title is inspired by poet Adolf Böttger’s Frühlingsgedicht (Spring poem). The last lines read “O turn, O turn and change your course— In the valley spring blooms forth!”

Mendelssohn’s concert overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage is based on two poems by Goethe. The fanfare at the end of the work suggests that despite the absence of wind at the beginning, the sailing ship reached its destination.

The Mannheim rocket in Mozart’s vigorous Paris Symphony has nothing to do with space travel at all. The term refers to the work’s opening, rising, accelerating scale. Mozart wrote the piece while in Paris looking for work.

Acclaimed German-Japanese conductor Jun Märkl will lead the orchestra when it performs in Gisborne in 2019. Märkl conducts many of the world’s leading orchestras, often works with top opera companies and has released more than 50 recordings.

Tickets can be booked at http://www.nzso.co.nz/concerts-and-tickets/podium-series-2019/te-mapouriki.