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Symphony Concert
2018-09-22

FSSO’s 4th Symphony Concert presented in collaboration with the OSM:

International guest pianist and FSSO virtuosi promise an evening of musical poetics

Conductor: Alexander Fokkens
Soloists: Vitaly Pisarenko (piano),
Odeion String Quartet,
Paul van Zuilenburg (trumpet),
Kobus Malan (oboe),
Danrè Strydom (clarinet),
Brahm Henkins (bassoon) and
Shannon Armer (French horn)
Date: Saturday, 22 September 2018
Time: 19:30
Venue: Odeion, UFS

On Saturday 22 September 2018, the Free State Symphony Orchestra’s (FSSO’s) fourth symphony concert of the year brings to the stage international piano virtuoso, Vitaly Pisarenko, and places a spotlight on the local talent of the Odeion String Quartet as well as a number of the FSSO’s principal players.

Regarded as one of the finest young musicians of his generation, Pisarenko has been dubbed as a ‘poet at the piano’ and is performing as guest piano soloist with the FSSO as part of the South African leg of his current world tour. After performing in a series of recitals and concerts with local orchestras, he moves on to the UK, Belgium, Hong Kong and Argentina. The concert in Bloemfontein will be his second last performance in South Africa.

Described by the New York Times as an “immensely gifted pianist… with prodigious technique, myriad shadings and scrupulous accuracy”, the Russian-born pianist already had his first public recital at the age of six. After winning the 8th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 2008, he took his place in the musical world as a pianist “of unusually soft touch and captivating expressiveness”, rapidly gaining worldwide recognition. His style has prompted more than one critic to compare his playing to that of “a young Franz Liszt”.

This evocative pianist will perform Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Opus 31 with the FSSO’s Paul van Zuilenburg as the trumpet soloist. Shostakovich originally composed the concerto as an experimentation with a neo-baroque combination of instruments. Despite the title, the work might more accurately be classified as a double concerto rather than a piano concerto in which the trumpet and piano command equal prominence. The trumpet parts frequently take the form of sardonic interjections, leavening the humour and wit of the piano passage work.

The Odeion String Quartet with Samson Diamond (violin), Sharon de Kock (violin), Jeanne-Louise Moolman (viola) and Anmari van der Westhuizen (cello) are the soloists in Elgar’s masterpiece, Introduction and Allegro for String Quartet and Strings. Scored for a string quartet and string orchestra, Elgar originally composed it to show off the players’ virtuosity. The score soon came to be recognised as a masterpiece and is likened to a multi-layered symphonic poem for string orchestra.

The programme concludes with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E-flat major which is scored for solo oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. The soloists for the Sinfonia Concertante will be four principal players of the FSSO: Kobus Malan (oboe), Danré Strydom (clarinet), Brahm Henkins (bassoon) and Shannon Armer (French horn).

When asked how he felt about joining the FSSO for this concert, Pisarenko responded by saying that this performance would represent a number of firsts for him: “Although this is my third visit to South Africa, it will be the first time that I perform in Bloemfontein. I’ve also always loved Shostakovich’s piano concerto and have wanted to play it for a long time. It is such a beautiful and expressive concerto, and I’ll be playing this fantastic piece for the very first time with the FSSO.”

Alexander Fokkens, CEO and Creative Director of the FSSO, concludes: “It’s very exciting to be able to showcase our immensely talented local orchestral musicians alongside a musician of Vitaly’s calibre. The programme for the evening will not only show off individual talent, but create an orchestral experience that will feel musically varied and poetically moving.”

Fokkens will also be conducting the concert on the evening. The FSSO’s fourth symphony concert for this year is presented in collaboration with the Odeion School of Music.


Admission:

Ticket prices are as follows:
Adults - R150; Pensioners and block bookings of 10 and more - R100; Children 3 to 18 years - R50.

Tickets are available at any Computicket outlet or online at online.computicket.com. For enquiries, contact Ella Kotze at the FSSO on 051 401 2342, Ninette Pretorius of the OSM on 051 401 2504, or visit the FSSO’s Facebook page (@ Free State Symphony Orchestra) for more information and regular updates.

For media enquiries and visuals, contact Daphney Teffo on 082 506 3551 or e-mail rdteffo@gmail.com


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Die Huis van Maria Malan (A)

Playwright: Nico Luwes
Director: Nico Luwes
Venue: Wynand Mouton Theatre

Dates and times:

21 March 2012 19h30
22 March 2012 19h30
23 March 2012 19h30

R30 for adults
R25 for pensioners
R20 for scholars and students
R15 for Theatre Club Members

Bookings: Computicket (Mimosa Mall and Checkers)
Bookings for block bookings of 10 or more people can be done with Thys Heydenrych (072 235 3191)

Die Huis van Maria Malan is an Afrikaans adaptation of House of Bernarda Alba, Federico Garcia Lorca's and is his last play, written the year he was killed at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The play, along with Blood Wedding and Yerma, forms a trilogy expressing what Lorca saw as the tragic life of Spanish women. These late works Dennis Klein in Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernardo Alba called "the most accomplished and mature efforts of the finest Spanish playwright of the twentieth century." If Blood Wedding is a nuptial tragedy and Yerma the tragedy of barren women, The House of Bemarda Alba might be seen as the tragedy of virginity, of rural Spanish women who will never have the opportunity to choose a husband. It is also a play expressing the costs of repressing the freedom of others.

The House of Bemarda Alba finally had its stage premiere nearly a decade after Lorca's death. The play was produced in Buenos Aries in 1945, and was published the same year, in Argentina. Given the repression of artistic expression in Spain during Franco's regime, it was not until 1964 that Lorca's last play was finally produced in his native country, at Madrid's Goya Theatre. Its setting is specific to the values and customs of a rural Spanish people, but the play's appeal is universal rather than national.

In this adaptation the play is set in a conservative South African context during 1910-1915. The play is perfect for 3rd year students as all the characters roles are played by women in a complicated plot with interesting interpersonal relationships. The contrast in values between the workers and the daughters of the strict matriarch, Maria Malan, creates new impetus to and meaning in the play within the South African context.

All the daughters are in love with Hermanus van Wyk, the smartest and most attractive young man of the region. He will probably marry the oldest and ugliest daughter for the money she inherited from her late father. According to tradition, the young girls are forced to mourn the loss of their father for a long time and may not leave the house. At night we can hear the stud of Hermanus galloping around the house. What is he up to? Does he perhaps visit someone at her window? Soon the suffocating house of Maria Malan become bees nest of suppressed emotions, conspiracies and mistrust. The matriarch soon stands helpless against the laws of nature and the tragedy that looms on the horizon.

Nico Luwes is responsible for the adaptation and direction. 12 third year students play the main roles and the rest of the class take up the roles of women of the town. The play is performed from 21 to 23 March in die Wynand Mouton Theatre at 19:30.

Book at Computicket.
 

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