The NZSO Heads For Christchurch
Northern Lights and the NZSO The NZSO’s Pacific Blue Tour brings celebrated Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam and magnificent Norwegian soprano Solveig Kringelborn to New Zealand to perform some of the most beautiful music ever written with the NZSO.
Leif Segerstam is a legend. Conducting professor of the NZSO’s own Music Director Pietari Inkinen at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, Leif Segerstam is one of the most versatile and interesting musical talents from the Nordic countries. His exceptional creativity as a composer has seen him write 230 symphonies, 29 string quartets, 11 violin and 4 piano concerti as well as chamber and vocal music. On the Pacific Blue Tour, Leif Segerstam conducts the world premiere of his 191st Symphony, a work written in celebration of his children and grandchildren.
Leif Segerstam made his debut in the early 1960s in no fewer than four different capacities: violinist, pianist, conductor and composer. The two latter have since developed into full time careers. His early compositions were described as “Post-Expressionist” and were often intensely emotionally charged. Although the intensity of his earlier works has not diminished, his current style, which he describes as “free-pulsative” includes compositions filled with wit and humour – for example his 151st Symphony, written at the time when bird flu paranoia was at its height, is full of literary jokes and puns. Leif Segerstam is Chief Conductor Emeritus of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and holds honorary titles with the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany.
His numerous recordings on the NMA and Ondine labels are recognised by critics and public alike as outstanding. Solveig Kringelborn is a Northern Light in her own right. One of the most celebrated sopranos to emerge from Scandinavia in recent times, Solveig Kringelborn is famed for her interpretation of Scandinavian music and has become one of the most sought after opera and concert performers.
Described by Opera Today as “sexy and fearless with a silvery tone”, she regularly works with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Herbert Blomstedt, Neeme Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Claudio Abbado, Sir Neville Marriner and Sir Colin Davis. Loved by musicians and audiences the world over for its divine melodies, Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs is performed on this tour by Solveig Kringelborn, with violin solos by NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen. Brahms’ 4th Symphony – his last – is Brahms at his most dramatic and passionate and on this tour the NZSO perform Wagner’s Meistersinger Prelude, a hint of what’s to come in the 2010 International Festival of the Arts Wagner Gala, as well as New Zealand composer Chris Cree Brown’s Icescape, a magical work reminiscent of his journey to Antarctica. On this, the NZSO’s final nationwide tour for 2009 with a Finnish conductor and Norwegian soloist, the NZSO also performs Sibelius’ beautiful Luonnotar Song Cycle and Karelia Suite.
Concert 1
CHRIS CREE BROWN Icescape SIBELIUS Luonnotar Song Cycle GRIEG Songs BRAHMS Symphony No 4 LEIF SEGERSTAM Conductor SOLVEIG KRINGELBORN Soprano
Dates and Venues:
NAPIER Thursday 5 November 8pm, Municipal Theatre, Preconcert talk 7.15pm
AUCKLAND Friday 6 Town Hall
WELLINGTON Friday 13 November , Michael Fowler Centre Concert 2 SIBELIUS Karelia Suite SEGERSTAM Symphony No 191 WAGNER Meistersinger Prelude STRAUSS Four Last Songs
LEIF SEGERSTAM Conductor SOLVEIG KRINGELBORN Soprano
WELLINGTON Saturday 31 October 8pm, Michael Fowler Centre, Preconcert talk 7.15pm
AUCKLAND Saturday 7 November 3pm, Town Hall, Preconcert talk 2.15pm
CHRISTCHURCH Wednesday 11 November 6.30pm, Town Hall, Preconcert talk 5.45pm
