Conductor Giordano Bellincampi
Soprano Kirstin Sharpin
Mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell
Tenor Manase Latu
Bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Combined choir from:

Voices New Zealand
New Zealand Youth Choir
New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir

The Graduate Choir New Zealand
Director Karen Grylls

Programme:

Beethoven Symphony No.8
Beethoven Symphony No.9

Beethoven’s genial Eighth Symphony is the work of an unrivalled artist revealing himself as a fellow human, laughing and joking like the rest of us. And our universal humanity is the explicit concern of his next symphony, but it’s on an entirely different scale.

For the heaven-storming Ninth, the orchestra alone wasn’t enough: voices were necessary for Beethoven’s ecstatic vision. ‘All men shall become brothers,’ they sing. ‘I embrace you, O you millions – this kiss is for all the world!’

With this concert, the APO finally completes its much-anticipated symphony cycle. Through the music, with its vast, elemental force, Beethoven speaks to us across the centuries and into infinity.

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra is New Zealand’s full-time professional Metropolitan orchestra, serving the country’s largest and most vibrant city with a comprehensive programme of concerts and education and outreach activities.

Presented in association with ICBC