World Symphony Series SPRING Season ~ COncert 1

Daniel Boico opens our season on 6 November with powerful drama from Mozart and Beethoven, bookending interludes of serenity and bravura from Vaughan Williams and Camile Saint-Saëns, respectively. The tragi-comic tension of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, pivoting around a ghostly statue and an unrepentant libertine, is superbly captured in the opera’s powerful overture. As a concert curtain raiser, its impact is riveting – in stark contrast to the sublime piece that follows in its wake. Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, with its glorious solo violin, depicting the lark’s soaring song, while the orchestra portrays the English countryside and its people. Gear change, and the programme conjures up a virtuosic showcase for the violin, written for the great Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate.

Renowned for his dazzling prowess, the British-German violinist Jack Liebeck is sure to wow Durban concertgoers as he essays the formidable challenges of Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso.

And so, to the magnum opus of the evening, Ludwig van Beethoven’s mighty Eroica Symphony.  Originally dedicated to Napoleon before being renamed to honour a “Great Man” after Napoleon’s imperial ambitions emerged, the Symphony revolutionised Western music with its unprecedented length, depth, and heroic character. With those two thunderous E-flat chords that open the symphony, Beethoven becomes a new man—and the creator of a new music. Generations down the ages have been awe-stricken by the rugged grandeur of the work’s panoply of wonders. Those opening two cannon blasts. the cellos intoning what seems to be the main theme. the iconic second movement dirge, evoking ‘the emotions of someone watching the funeral procession from afar, passing by, and then fading in the distance.’ (Paul Bekker). And so to the incomparable finale – the giant work culminating in a stirring, relentless march melody. The symphony ends, fittingly, on a note of fiery triumph. 

Date: Thursday, 6 November 2025
Time: 19:00
Venue: Playhouse Opera Theatre, 231 Anton Lembede Street, Durban
Tickets: Season Tickets available through our office on 031 369 9437/8 or info@kznphil.org.za

Single tickets available online through Quicket or at the door

Book tickets for KZN Philharmonic Orchestra 2025 SPRING Symphony Season Concert 1

We look forward to sharing an evening of beautiful music with you!