Fantastical Journeys

Fantastical Journeys description

Great concertos are often born of deep friendships between composers and virtuosi. As Brahms did with Joachim, Missy Mazzoli (Breaking The Waves) worked collaboratively with fellow New Yorker Jennifer Koh over a number of years before launching, in 2022, Procession, a violin concerto of symphonic dimensions given here in its Australian premiere.

Written partly in response to the pandemic, its theme is healing, and each of the work’s five movements is based on a different medieval spell or charm – from the solemn spiral processions of Black Death penitents to the frenzied attempts of St. Vitus acolytes to dance their way to health.

The soloist guides us through this magical piece like a sorceress, negotiating instrumental writing from the demonic to the rapturous. This is a rare chance to hear Koh’s brilliant and definitive performance before the work takes its place in the violin concerto canon.

Directed by young prize-winning Finnish conductor Emilia Hoving in her Australian debut, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra adds two transporting and mystical orchestral showpieces to the mix: Sibelius’s swirling Baltic Sea in The Oceanides and Rimsky-Korsakov’s much-loved technicolour take on the One Thousand and One Nights, Scheherazade.

Close your eyes and let your imagination take flight. This will be a highlight of the 2023 Australian concert calendar – don’t miss it.

PROGRAM
Sibelius: The Oceanides
Missy Mazzoli: Violin Concerto, Procession
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

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