The year 2011 marks 100 years since the death of Gustav Mahler

The year 2011 marks 100 years since the death of Gustav Mahler, and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra will commemorate the great Austrian composer’s life by performing two of his symphonies this year.

These works will be played during the JPO’s first and second seasons of symphony concerts for the year. Season one kicks off on 9 February, with all concerts taking place on Wednesday and Thursday nights at the Linder Auditorium in Parktown. Selected programmes will be repeated at Unisa’s ZK Matthews Hall in Pretoria on Sunday afternoons.

Due to audience demand, from this season the JPO will perform three major works during each concert, instead of four shorter works.

The first three weeks of the season will see Emil Tabakov, the eminent Bulgarian conductor, composer and double-bass player, leading the JPO as well as a number of top international soloists. Maestro Tabakov is well-known around the world as a guest conductor and has an enormous repertoire featuring a variety of styles from classical and romantic to contemporary genres.

On Wednesday, 9 February 2011 and Thursday, 10 February 2011, the JPO will kick off its first season of concerts for 2011 with Rossini’s Semiramide: Overture and Mozart’s Symphony No.36, K.425, C major (Linz), and will be joined by pianist Michael Roll for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto, No.4, Op.58, G major.

Roll is one of Britain’s most distinguished pianists, who came to prominence at an early age and has since enjoyed a career that has taken him around the world, giving recitals and appearing with prominent orchestras. The programme will be repeated at Unisa’s ZK Matthews Hall at 3pm on Sunday, 13 February.

On 16 and 17 February, the orchestra will perform another Mozart composition, The Impresario Overture, K486, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No.4, Op.60, B-flat major. Also on the menu is Haydn’s Cello Concerto, Hob.V11b:2, D major, featuring talented 25-year-old Belorussian cellist Georgi Anichenko, now based in Paris, who has won several international music competitions – including first prize in the Unisa International String Competition.

The following week, on 23 and 24 February (as well as on 27 February at Unisa), it’s the turn of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture, Saint-Saëns’s Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op.28, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34. Accomplished and highly decorated Bulgarian violinist Svetlin Roussev will make a special appearance, performing Ravel’s Tzigane, Rapsodie de concert for Violin & Orchestra.

The JPO’s principal guest conductor, Bernhard Gueller, will take over the reins for the remainder of the first symphony season. On 2 and 3 March, the JPO will be joined by young Russian pianist Natalia Lavrova, a highly-regarded and multi-faceted performer whose sincerity of interpretation and charm on the stage has won the hearts of audiences across the United States and Europe.

Lavrova will be playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto, No.9, K.271, E-flat major (Jeunehomme). The concerts will also feature Respighi’s Antiche danze ed arie (Ancient Airs and Dances):

Suite 1

, and Bizet’s Symphony No.1, C major.

Described by the Jerusalem Post as “musical, energetic and full of flair”, trailblazing Taiwanese pianist Ching-Yun Hu, winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, will perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto, No.1, Op.23, B-flat minor with the JPO on 9 and 10 March in Joburg, and on 13 March in Pretoria. The remainder of the programme includes Liadov’s Eight Russian Folk Songs, Op.58, and Dvoøák’s Symphony No.6, Op.60, D major.

The season wraps up on 16 and 17 March with an operatic flourish, when exceptional young soprano Kelebogile Boikanyo, who recently appeared in Opera Africa’s La Bohème and La Traviata and will be performing in the upcoming production of Carmen, will join the JPO to sing Das himmlische Leben from Mahler’s Symphony No.4, G major. This work is considered Mahler’s most accessible symphony.

During the final concerts for the season, the JPO will also perform the Nachtgesang, Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde.

Join the JPO for some choice musical encounters of the classical kind in 2011! The Wednesday and Thursday night concerts at the Linder Auditorium start at 8pm, and the Unisa Sunday concerts start at 3pm. Tickets are available at Computicket or at the door. For more information, call 011 789 2733, e-mail info@jpo.co.za or visit www.jpo.co.za.