The TV33 Concerts

Perry So Conductor
John Chen Piano
Jenny Wollerman Soprano

HARRIS The Floating Bride, The Crimson Village
XIAN XINGH AI The Yellow River Piano Concerto
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 Pastoral

---

The NZSO is delighted to welcome back Perry So and we herald the Chinese New Year with a concert that celebrates the splendid beauty and vibrant colours of nature. The Yellow River Cantata composed by Xian Xinghai in 1939 and recomposed as a piano concerto during the Cultural Revolution, has become one of China’s most beloved compositions. This immense musical landscape, bursting with joyous folk melodies and the vitality and might of China’s great Yellow River, is brought to life by the astonishing virtuosity of soloist John Chen, one of New Zealand’s most exciting talents

This festive concert opens with Ross Harris’ luminescent and colourful The Floating Bride, The Crimson Village. Inspired by the dreamy visions of Marc Chagall and savouring the poetry of Vincent O’Sullivan, this entrancing song cycle is performed with the crystalline soprano voice of Jenny Wollerman.

The Chinese New Year is a festival that celebrates the arrival of spring, and no symphony better captures the wonder of nature and her changeable moods than Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. With music that is blissful, lazy, thunderous and heartfelt, Beethoven’s symphony is a triumphant work to welcome in the Year of the Dragon.

Event image: