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John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Philharmonia 2027 Season

John Daly-Peoples

The Auckland Philharmonia has announced its 2027 Season along with the announcement that it will be Giordano Bellincampi’s 12th and final year as its Music Director.

Diana Weir, Auckland Philharmonia’s Chief Executive says of the season “There are so many highlights to look forward to in this upcoming season; from Mahler’s serene Symphony No.4 and Stravinsky’s exhilarating The Rite of Spring to a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle, and two Opera in Concert performances of Puccini’s sublime Tosca. It’s also very exciting to be the exclusive New Zealand orchestra presenting Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert in 2027, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original 1977 movie.”

Major international artists making their New Zealand debuts in 2027 include virtuoso pianist Nikolai Lugansky, cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and conductors Anna Sułkowska-Migoń and Katharina Wincor. They are joined by pianist Paul Lewis and violinist Simone Lamsma, who make their Auckland Philharmonia debuts. Long-time friends of the Auckland Phil — violinist James Ehnes and pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk and Javier Perianes — make welcome returns in 2027, along with conductors Elena Schwarz, Samy Rachid and Pierre Bleuse, and violinist Chloe Chua.

Spectacular special events add extra star-power to this season, headlined by a 50th anniversary New Zealand exclusive screening of the multi-generational cinematic classic Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert, with John Williams’ original score performed live by the Auckland Phil. A blockbuster evening of Joe Hisaishi’s film scores hosted by popular podcasters Art of the Score, and Kāpiti Ice Cream presents Mānawatia a Matariki, an unmissable evening of waiata reo Māori and musical collaboration to celebrate the Māori new year, also join this sparkling line-up.

The 2027 season will culminate with a magnificent two-week BrahmsFest conducted by Bellincampi, one of the world’s leading Brahms interpreters.

Giordano Bellincampi says, “It has been a pleasure to be Auckland Philharmonia’s Music Director and throughout my final season in this role I’m delighted to share with you some marvellous music from many of my favourite composers. Opening with Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony, followed by Nielsen’s mighty Fourth Symphony, through to the BrahmsFest in November, featuring all four Brahms symphonies, both piano concerti and his Violin Concerto, with Alexander Gavrylyuk and James Ehnes joining us as soloists.

“We will share with you many more wonderful masterpieces along our way, including a programme of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony paired with magnificent works by Schubert that feature exciting Kiwi-Danish soprano Louise McClelland Jacobsen, Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and sublime fourth symphonies from both Schumann and Bruckner.

“A pinnacle of the programme will be Nikolai Lugansky playing Rach 2, along with a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle featuring renowned pianist Javier Perianes as soloist and director. It’s also wonderful to have Australian pianist Andrea Lam returning to perform the Auckland premiere of R. Strauss’ spirited Burleske and violinist Inmo Yang playing Bruch.

“A special highlight for me will be a concert in August featuring our brilliant Principal Flute, Melanie Lançon, performing Nielsen’s Flute Concerto, alongside two magnificent works — Mozart’s Symphony No.32 and Schubert’s Ninth Symphony ‘The Great’.”

The 12 concerts in the NZ Herald Premier Series The New Zealand Herald Premier Series will feature composers including Brahms, Nielsen, Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Strauss, Bruckner, Ives, Mendelssohn and Mahler.

New Zealand talent will include the premiere of Salina Fisher’s new violin concerto written for Geneva Lewis, who features as soloist in this performance, this piece is a co-commission by Auckland Philharmonia, the Bortletti-Buitoni Trust and BBC Radio 3. In 2027, the orchestra also performs Auckland premieres of works from fellow New Zealand composers Lilburn and Gao Ping.

The concerts will feature  some of the world’s most important artists such Nikolai Lugansky who has been hailed as ‘the most trailblazing and meteoric performer of all’ he will perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2.

The British pianist Paul Lewis, makes his Auckland Philharmonia debut in 2027 playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23. Two exciting rising conductors will make their debuts -Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, the 2022 winner of La Maestra conducting competition, and Hungarian conductor Gábor Káli who will lead the orchestra with a programme of works by Enescu, Glazunov, Beethoven and Kodály.

Outstanding artists returning in 2027 include conductors Pierre Bleuse, Elena Schwarz and Samy Rachid, pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk, Andrea Lam and Kiwi Sylvia Jiang, violinist Chloe Chua, and Auckland Phil’s own Principal Flute, Melanie Lançon, who steps forward as soloist.

The 2027 Classic Series features six concerts of best-loved masterpieces, including a special all-Beethoven double bill to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death. The superb Spanish pianist Javier Perianes returns to the Auckland Philharmonia to play Beethoven’s five piano concertos as this great composer intended, directing from the keyboard.

Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is a splendid opener for the series in February, one of this great composer’s most popular works, led by master interpreter Giordano Bellincampi. This is paired with some wonderful Lieder by Schubert featuring Kiwi soprano Louise McClelland Jacobsen, who makes her Australasian debut in the dreamy Night and Dreams (Nacht und Träume) and the Auckland premiere of The Trout (Die Forelle).

In 2027, rising violin player Inmo Yang returns to play Bruch’s delightful Violin Concerto No.1, led by Giordano Bellincampi, alongside Schumann’s Fourth Symphony.  Another highlight includes sensational cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras’ New Zealand debut in Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante, conducted by Katharina Wincor, who also makes her Aotearoa debut.

Lovers of Baroque music will appreciate the new Simply Baroque, two concerts held in June and September in the chamber music setting of Grafton’s Kāhui St David’s will feature works by  Bach and Vivaldi, with Auckland Philharmonia.

Auckland Philharmonia’s annual Opera in Concert will be a semi-staged production of Puccini’s opera Tosca, with a two-concert run to meet high demand, will be no exception. With such a captivating story of love, lust, murder and political intrigue, accompanied by some of the most exciting and dramatic music . It will see Serena Farnocchia as the diva Floria Tosca, tenor Antonello Palombi as Cavaradossi, baritone Lucio Gallo in the role of Scarpia, along with New Zealand bass-baritone Edward Smith, singing the role of Angelotti.

Released in 1977, George Lucas’ movie Star Wars: A New Hope first introduced us to Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader. Celebrating the film’s 50th anniversary in 2027, the Auckland Philharmonia  brings this cinematic titan to the big screen performing John Williams’ Oscar-winning score.

Following their sold-out Aotearoa debut with Auckland Phil in 2025, charming Art of the Score podcasters Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding return to present The Music of Joe Hisaishi, a musical love letter to Japan’s great Maestro. From Studio Ghibli classics Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro to over 100 works for the screen and concert hall, Joe Hisaishi is one of the world’s most prolific and beloved contemporary composers.

Auckland Phil’s annual Matariki concert returns with Kāpiti Ice Cream presents Mānawatia a Matariki, inviting whānau and friends to celebrate the Māori new year with this night of uplifting music. This evening of exciting musical collaboration features a very special line up of guest artists joining forces with the Auckland Philharmonia to perform the best of waiata reo Māori.

The orchestra wraps the season with its annual Christmas Cheer featuring special guest vocalists and The Graduate Choir New Zealand.

In April, popular children’s concert series Tunes 4 Tamariki dives into Te Ao Moana, exploring the ocean world through music. In this lively interactive concert, talented singing duo Loopy Tunes Preschool Music, winners of NZ on Air Best Primary Song at the 2026 Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards, join the orchestra to perform music, songs and stories connected to the sea.

Then in December, charismatic entertainer Kevin Keys presents Tunes 4 Tamariki: Kevin’s Kirihimete, a concert for little ones and their whānau that’s filled with singing, dancing and holiday joy.

In 2027, the Community Classics series celebrates some of the best-known love stories. At each of the three performances of this family-friendly concert, the orchestra and special guests will play musical excerpts from beloved classics, including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and traditional Māori love song ‘Pōkarekare Ana’.

In March, the popular In Your Neighbourhood series returns with a concert featuring Interim Concertmaster Max Tan and his fellow string section colleagues playing works by Strauss, Mozart and Martinů. Then in October, Principal Horn Gabrielle Pho leads a programme that showcases the lyrical qualities of the French horn, alongside the richness of strings. The series concludes with a fanfare to the holiday season, Principal Trumpet Huw Dann leading his brass section colleagues in a concert filled with treasured, classic festive favourites.

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Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

Auckland Arts Festival

March 19 & 20

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The highlights of this year’s Auckland Arts Festival were the two concerts presented by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the oldest symphony in Asia which has a formidable history of touring.

The seventy strong orchestra under the direction of conductor Long Yu, opened their first concert with a relatively new work by Elliot Leung – “Chinese Kitchen: A feat of Flavors”. Leung has made a name for himself both as a composer who spans Eastern and Western music but also as a composer for Hollywood films.

His background as compose of film music showed throughout his four movement Chinese Kitchen, the opening movement “Deep Fried River Prawns” displaying an inventive use of a dozen percussion instruments.   The collection of instruments including maracas, cymbals, bells, clappers and xylophone created a syncopated sound which recreated the noise, colour and hectic movement of a Chinese kitchen.

This movement and the others showed the composers ability to create musical equivalents of the taste, texture and colours of Chinese dishes. In the second movement “Buddha Jumps on the Wall” the woodwinds created a luxurious sequence with the melodies taken up by the piano and harp. The music flowed effortlessly between moments of savage attack and sequences of little more than whispers. While this was a Western style music it was flecked through with clever traditional Chinese elements. The Western style music could be detected in some Copland style passage as well as a nod to the music of “The Wizard of Oz”.

With “Vegetable in Soup” there was a sense of vegetables bubbling away in a pot, the tempo of the music becoming more animated as the piece evolved and in “Deep Fried Sesame Balls” there was again adventurous percussion playing which could have come from an Indiana Jones film  provided an electrifying display.

Conductor Long Yu used his hands and body to great effect with his generous movements and careful directions which adding to the sense of a watery, misty environment with surprises erupting from the music, seemingly at his command.

Playing Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme” cellist Jian Wang glided effortlessly through the work, revelling in the interplay with the orchestra in a tantalising display which emphasised aspects of the sophisticated composition. He made use of the various solo sections to show an understanding of the work as well displaying his extraordinary technical skills.

He was able to combine, as did Tchaikovsky, an understanding of the romanticism of the Rococo theme as well as debt to Mozart which gives the work its spectacle in the way that cello and orchestra intertwine. The theme was dissected and re-formed in different guises with Wang seemingly finding new opportunities in the melodies as well as exploring its tones, and textures.

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 is one of the top ten piano concertos and is the last great Romantic piano concerto of the nineteenth century, full of lyricism as well as many dramatic moments. The pianist has to be capable of producing the most poignant of sounds as well as the most intense.

Pianist Serena Wang was able to deliver both these qualities of the work as she ranged from the pensive to the flamboyant.

From the opening moments where she responded to the brash horns and sharp flourishes of the orchestra Wang dominated the stage with some dazzling displays.

Her expression when playing changed continuously and she took on various poses from rapture to steely focus. At times there was a tenderness to her playing while at others a brutal rawness and then at other times she seemed to be cajoling herself into discovering new depths to the music

Her rapport with the orchestra was constantly changing as well. Battling with the orchestra, chasing the dramatic themes conjured up by the orchestra and then the dynamics would change, and the orchestra would attempt to match her feverish playing. There were also several moments of musical poetry when Wang had interchanges with the flutes, and clarinets.

After the frenetic finale the audience responded with a huge ovation, but this was matched by even great applause when she and the orchestra played a stunning version of Pokarekare Ana. 

The second concert was bookended by two pieces which had featured ih their first concert  Elliot Leung’s – “Chinese Kitchen: A feast of Flavors” and the orchestra playing of Pokarekare Ana with Serena Wang.

The major work on the programme was Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No 2 which was written ten years after his first symphony’s disastrous reception 1897. It is a masterpiece of late-Romanticism, combining a deep Russian melodic yearning with an intense symphonic structure, combining lush harmonies, with an emotional depth.  

There were passages of great delicacy in the first movement which reflected his love of the Russian landscape and Russian history. However, he was unhappy with the political climate in Russia at the time and moved to Dresden, Germany, where he wrote the symphony in 1906. This aspect shows in the work as he seems to be looking forward to a new dawn both politically and musically, the music full of positive aspirations.

The soaring strings and blaring passages owe much to his early friendship with Thaikovsky and the earlier composer’s sounds recur throughout this symphony, notably the 1812 Overture.

In the second movement there were wistful, dreamy sequences as well as urgent, action filled sections while the romantic third movement was carried along by some delightful flutes, filled with intense yearning, giving voice to a modern Russia, a feeling which was being expressed by many Russian writers and dramatists at the time.

Also on the programme was Gigang Chen’s “Er Huang, for Piano and Orchestra” which had been commissioned by Carnegie Hall in 2009 and is based on the composer’s interest in Peking Opera.

Serena Wang’s playing developed with slow tentative sounds, providing a sense of a hazy, limpid environment. The pianist’s crisp sounds trembling above the subdued sounds of the orchestra were like an Impressionist work with each individual note and section clearly articulated.

They were like the images of raindrops on water, or the descriptions of flowers and landscapes. The moods expressed seemed simultaneously to be like Impressionist paintings of the late nineteenth century as well as a depictions of classical Chinese paintings where the aim was to capture not only the outer appearance of a subject but its inner energy and life force.

Wang seemed captivated by the music, being drawn deeper and deeper into its complexity. At times she expressed a celebratory approach to her discoveries, raising her arms in triumph.

Wang’s expression of triumph could be applied to the success of the orchestra’s success in providing Auckland with two outstanding concerts along with two exceptional soloists in Serena Wang and Jian Wang.