21 July 2021 - 0 Comments

After a triumphant sold-out Auckland Town Hall concert in June, Bach Musica NZ returns once more to the iconic Great Hall on 12 September for their third performance of the year. The combined choir and orchestra will transport audiences with another astounding programme. The first half offers two of the most popular guitar concertos of all time, Vivaldi’s captivating Guitar Concerto and Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, his most well-known work and that which established his reputation as one of the world’s most significant 20th century Spanish composers. In the second half you will experience Bach Musica NZ’s largest-ever forces on stage for Rachmaninov’s beautiful choral symphony The Bells, the composer’s own favourite, with lyrics from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem by the same name, translated freely into Russian.

Conductor and Music & Artistic Director Rita Paczian and Bach Musica NZ’s choir and orchestra are joined by a line-up of internationally acclaimed solo performers: virtuoso classical guitarist Barkin Sertkaya, soprano Amanda Atlas, tenor Patrick Power and bass Paul Whelan.

Rita Paczian says on the programme, “Rachmaninov is one of my favourite composers, so I finally plucked up the courage to perform The Bells, of which the composer says ‘it remains, of all my work, the one I like best….All my life I have taken pleasure in the differing moods and music of gladly chiming and mournfully tolling bells.’

Its four movements are like musical tableaux, atmospheric vignettes that express the varying shades of human experience. After moments of apocalyptic prophecy, the orchestra alone offers listeners hope with a warm melody for strings at the very end. A fitting piece in our current troubled times.”

Rita Paczian is an exceptionally gifted conductor with a hugely impressive international CV and has earned her a reputation for bringing an electrifying balance of musicality, intellect, technique and passion to her performances. Since 1994 she has been the Music Director of Bach Musica NZ, one of Aotearoa’s most highly acclaimed musical organisations. Bach Musica NZ’s performances illustrate the cultural vibrancy of New Zealand with a repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the 21st Century. As New Zealand’s only combined choir and orchestra, they are well known for showcasing NZ premieres of beautiful music from all over the world and providing performance opportunities for both emerging and recognised vocal and instrumental soloists.

Bach Musica NZ’s full 2021 concert programme can be seen here.

Bach Musica NZ –

RACHMANINOV AND RODRIGO
plays:
Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Sunday 12 September, 5PM Tickets $15 - $70 – On sale at Ticketmaster

https://www.bachmusica.com/

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