NZSO launches new music festival in Tauranga and Napier

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra launches an innovative three-day music festival in Tauranga and Napier next month.

Audiences will be spoilt for choice with the NZSO’s new Immerse 2021 festival with performances of some of the world’s greatest baroque and symphonic works, a leading New Zealand soloist, and a special collaboration with young singers.

The festival includes Vivaldi’s beloved The Four Seasons, acclaimed pianist Diedre Irons playing one of Mozart’s best-known works, and exclusive to Tauranga and Napier, a collaboration with young Hawke’s Bay choir Project Prima Volta to perform favourite Broadway songs.

The festival runs in Tauranga 9-11 April and Napier 16-18 April. Wellington, Palmerston North, Auckland, Hamilton, and Christchurch will also host Immerse 2021 concerts this year.

Four Seasons features Antonio Vivaldi’s baroque masterpiece, one of the best-known classical works of the past 300 years, and a performance of tango legend Astor Piazzolla’s Vivaldi-inspired tour de force The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

Four exceptional NZSO violinists – Anna van der Zee, Malavika Gopal, Simeon Broom, and Alan Molina – are soloists for a season each in performances of The Four Seasons and The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, directed by NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen.

Firebird in association with Ryman Healthcare, led by NZSO Principal Conductor in Residence Hamish McKeich, features Igor Stravinsky’s stunning fairy tale-inspired The Firebird and Irons performing Mozart’s famous Piano Concerto No. 23, considered one of his finest concertos.

The concert also includes New Zealand-born Canadian composer Juliet Palmer’s spirited Buzzard, inspired by Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

Broadway Matinee with Project Prima Volta celebrates hit Broadway songs from the musicals Annie Get Your Gun, Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, A Little Night Music, West Side Story, My Fair Lady and Gypsy.

Broadway Matinee marks the first collaboration between the NZSO and Hawke’s Bay-based initiative Project Prima Volta (PPV) – a weekly singing programme that uses opera as a tool to engage, educate and empower teenagers.

“We feel excited and privileged to embark on our first multi-city tour with the country’s premiere music ensemble,” says Anna Pierard, Prima Volta Charitable Trust Programme Director.

“This high calibre of musicianship will inspire our young singers, further demonstrating what can be achieved when they strive for excellence. Taking part in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s Immerse Festival will be a defining moment in their performance journey.”

Broadway Matinee includes from Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun, the hits There’s No Business Like Show Business, I Got Lost in His Arms and Anything You Can Do. The title song, Belle, and Be Our Guest are performed from Alan Menken’s Beauty and the Beast. The songs of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim feature with Night Waltz and Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music.

Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story is celebrated with performances of the hit musical’s Overture and the hits America, Maria, and Tonight Quintet. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Oscar-winning film version of Bernstein’s 1957 Broadway classic.

In addition, the concert features one of the most popular songs from My Fair Lady: I Could Have Danced All Night.

Immerse 2021 also includes Open Doors, a series of free community events for all ages in Tauranga on 10 April and Napier on 17 April. More details will be announced soon.

Tickets for Immerse 2021 in Tauranga and Napier are available from ticketek.co.nz

In April Firebird is also performed in Wellington and Auckland and Four Seasons in Palmerston North.

Firebird in association with Ryman Healthcare

HAMISH MCKEICH Conductor
DIEDRE IRONS Piano

JULIET PALMER Buzzard
WA MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major
STRAVINSKY ORCH. JONATHAN MCPHEE The Firebird

WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre | Thursday 8 April | 7.30pm
TAURANGA | Baycourt Theatre | Saturday 10 April | 7.30pm
NAPIER | Municipal Theatre|  Saturday 17 April | 7.30pm
AUCKLAND | Town Hall | Saturday 24 April | 7.30pm

Four Seasons
VESA-MATTI LEPPÄNEN Director
ANNA VAN DER ZEE Violin
MALAVIKA GOPAL Violin
SIMEON BROOM Violin
ALAN MOLINA Violin

VIVALDI The Four Seasons
PIAZZOLLA ORCH. LEONID DESYATNIKOV Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas

TAURANGA | Baycourt Theatre | Friday 9 April| 7.30pm
PALMERSTON NORTH | Regent on Broadway | Thursday 15 April | 7.30pm
NAPIER | Municipal Theatre | Friday 16 April | 7.30pm

Broadway Matinee with Project Prima Volta
HAMISH MCKEICH Conductor
PROJECT PRIMA VOLTA Chorus

STYNE Overture to Gypsy
BERLIN Annie Get Your Gun: There's No Business Like Show Business
BERLIN Annie Get Your Gun: I Got Lost in His Arms
BERLIN Annie Get Your Gun: Anything You Can Do

RODGERS/HAMMERSTEIN The Sound of Music Overture
ALAN MENKEN Beauty and the Beast: Belle
ALAN MENKEN Beauty and the Beast: Be Our Guest
ALAN MENKEN Beauty and the Beast: Beauty and the Beast
STEPHEN SONDHEIM/JONATHAN TUNICK A Little Night Music: Night Waltz
STEPHEN SONDHEIM/DON SEBESKY A Little Night Music: Send in the Clowns
L.BERNSTEIN/PERESS West Side Story Overture
L.BERNSTEIN West Side Story: America
L.BERNSTEIN West Side Story: Maria
L.BERNSTEIN West Side Story: Tonight Quintet
LOEWE/JOHNNY GREEN My Fair Lady: I Could Have Danced All Night

TAURANGA | Baycourt Theatre | Sunday 11 April | 2.00pm
NAPIER | Municipal Theatre | Sunday 18 April | 2.00pm