Welcome to the 2011 Concert Series

2011 will be an incredible year for Nelson, not just in sporting terms, but musical ones also. The Orchestra has some wonderful music to share with you all, from the Baroque to nearly yesterday! The programmes selected really do have something for everyone, from chamber works of the Baroque, through to 20th Century Classics and beyond - whatever your preferred style, we’re sure you’ll find something for your taste throughout the year. Welcome to our 2011 Concert Series.

The featured NZ Composer for 2011 is Anthony Ritchie with his wonderful French Overture starting the season off and his extremely colourful and imaginative Southern Journeys completing the musical year.

Our first concert is a celebration of all things Baroque – with Handel and Vivaldi being the composers of choice, and Ritchie’s French Overture and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella celebrating the style and form of the Age. Craig Bradfield is our guest soloist.

The second concert Beethoven! revels in the music of Beethoven and includes the overture The Creatures of Prometheus, the 5th Symphony, and Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring Nelson-born pianist Buz Bryant-Greene.

Our Winter Festival programme welcomes back soloist Jenny Banks to perform the famous Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with conductor Kenneth Young who will also conduct works by Farquhar and Dvořák.

September's Solo Spotlight promises once again to astonish with a programme of virtuoso concerto movements performed by aspiring soloists from our region and beyond.

All too soon we arrive at our end-of-series concert. This will be an evocation of the season - Spring - with two pieces from Vaughan Williams, the overture to The Wasps and the wonderfully redolent The Lark Ascending which will, of course, feature John Thomson our astounding Concertmaster. Anthony Ritchie's Southern Journeys and Schumann’s Spring Symphony complete the final programme.

A season of sights and sounds which takes us on a musical journey from the Enlightenment to today with plenty of wonderful stops on the way - we do hope you can come and join us on our musical excursion!

Mick Dowrick – Musical Director