WSS Spring Season 2023 – Concert 3

2 NOVEMBER 2023


Conductor: Daniel Boico

Soloist: Nikita Mndoyants – piano

PROGRAMME:

Schubert: Rosamunde overture
Beethoven: Piano Concert No. 3 in c minor, Op.37
Bruch: Symphony No. 3 in E major, Op.51

We look forward to welcoming you to our WSS Spring Season 2023 which runs every Thursday from 19 October to 9 November. Concerts take place in the Playhouse Opera Theatre at 7pm.

Daniel Boico opens the third concert of the season with Franz Schubert’s joyous Rosamunde Overture. The work was originally part of the incidental music to Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern (Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus), a play by Helmina von Chézy, which premiered in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on 20 December 1823. A superb showcase for American virtuoso, Nikita Mndoyants, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in C minor was first performed in April 1803, with the composer as soloist. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the gorgeous oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also premiered. An historic night. Musical commentators have noted that Beethoven’s statuesque concerto evokes much of the ethos of another work in the same key, Mozart’s Piano Concerto no 24. Indeed the first primary theme of Beethoven’s piece recalls the turbulence underlying the Mozart masterpiece. Beethoven dedicated his composition to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia as a token of the esteem he had for his royal admirer’s own pianism.

The German Romantic composer Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) composed more than 200 works. However he is best known today for a handful of works, among them his three violin concertos, the first of which is a prominent staple of the standard violin repertoire. The two other works of Bruch that still are widely played, were written for solo instrument with orchestra: the Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra; and the Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra (subtitled ‘Adagio on Hebrew Melodies for Violoncello and Orchestra’), which begins and ends with the solo cello’s setting of the Kol Nidre (‘All Vows … ) incantation that opens the Jewish Yom Kippur service. Another showpiece is the bravura concerto for two pianos and orchestra. Of his three symphonies, the third contains the most distinctive German Romantic melodic writing, though each is sumptuously orchestrated.

Please note that this performance may be filmed. By entering the event, you are entering an area where photography, audio and video recording may occur.

Season tickets are only available through our offices on marketing@kznphil.org.za or 031 369 9438. Single tickets may be purchased through Quicket.

We look forward to sharing a wealth of superb music-making with you all!

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