Telemann’s skills as a composer of programmatic music are evident in this highly witty and entertaining suite. In it, Don Quixote’s adventures are depicted, and these adventures include: his bleary-eyed awakening, his attack on windmills, his yearning for a princess, and it ends with his dreaming of further adventures.
Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 features four solo instruments (violin, flute, oboe and trumpet), each with its own distinctive tone colour. Their interaction is described as ‘having a really fascinating conversation between themselves and with the orchestra, while also sharing it with the audience’.
The bird-themed second half opens with Four NZ Bird Songs and each paints a picture of some of New Zealand’s native birds, including the tara-iti (fairy tern), pukeko, and the karearea (falcon). The songs will be sung by local soprano Rebecca Ryan. Of her, the Otago Daily Times wrote: “Ryan’s performances were stupendous!”
Haydn’s symphony, La Poule, gained its nickname from the first movement’s humorous hen-like quirky exchange between violin and oboe.
The concert will be conducted by distinguished conductor James Judd who has been appointed as the DSO’s 2024 Principal Guest Conductor. He conducts extensively in the USA, the UK, Europe and Asia, and he is also the NZSO’s Music Director Emeritus.
James Judd: Principal Guest Conductor
Tessa Petersen: Violin
Hye-Won Suh: Flute
Nick Cornish: Oboe
Ralph Miller: Trumpet
Rebecca Ryan: Soprano
Telemann: Don Quixote Suite
JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.2
Rod Biss: Four New Zealand Bird Songs
Haydn: Symphony No. 83, "La Poule' ('The Hen')
For more information please visit DSO performs 'Bach and the Birds' | DSO
