WSS Summer Season 2025 – Concert 1
20th February 2025, 7pm Playhouse Opera Theatre
CONDUCTOR: Daniel Boico
SOLOIST: Mayumi Kanagawa, violin
PROGRAMME:
Beethoven – Egmont Overture
Daniel Boico, a longstanding podium favourite with Durban audiences, makes a welcome return to open the KZN Philharmonic’s Summer Season, with Tchaikovsky’s iconic Violin Concerto bookended by two Beethoven concert stalwarts. Beethoven’s Egmont Overture needs no introduction. Originally composed as the opening item of his incidental music to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1787 play, Beethoven’s magnificent composition soon took its place as a self-standing concert favourite, a status it proudly espouses in today’s world.
One of the mainstays of the global violin repertoire, Tchaikovsky composed his only Violin Concerto in 1878 at Clarens, a Swiss resort on the shores of Lake Geneva. The troubled composer had sought refuge there to recuperate from the emotional trauma resultant from his disastrous marriage to Antonina Miliukova. Buoyed up by Lalo’s colourful Symphonie espagnole, Tchaikovsky made a steady recovery and wrote the concerto in a burst of inspiration. Completed within a month, its delayed first performance was eventually given in Vienna by Adolph Brodsky in 1881, under the baton of Hans Richter. The violinist Karel Halíř championed the work, which swiftly gained traction with impresarios as one of the world’s most performed violin concertos. Here it showcases the dazzlingly virtuoso accomplishments of the Berlin-based Japanese-American violinist, Mayumi Kanagawa, acclaimed for her rich sound and artistry.
Beethoven composed his Fourth Symphony in 1806. The first public performance was at the Burgtheater in Vienna in April 1808. Although later composers including Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Schumann greatly admired the work it has not become as widely known among the music-loving public as the Eroica, the Fifth and other Beethoven symphonies. However, as the great English poet, John Keats wrote, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever. The lovely work never fails to ravish the senses of music lovers when encountering its charms in performance.
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.
THERE ARE NO OPEN REHEARSALS FOR THIS SEASON.
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!
