Dunedin Symphony Orchestra | Bach and the Birds

Telemann | Don Quixote Suite
JS Bach | Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Rod Biss | Four New Zealand Bird Songs
Haydn | Symphony No. 83, ‘La Poule’ (‘The Hen’)

Telemann 's skills as a composer of programmatic music are well demonstrated in this highly entertaining suite which depicts Don Quixote’s adventures.

JS Bach’s iconic and joyful Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 is unique in its use of solo oboe, violin, recorder (or flute) and trumpet, and these will be performed by four DSO Principal players.

The bird-themed second half opens with Four NZ Bird Songs. The work was initially inspired by the threat of development of the main nesting site of the Tara-iti (NZ fairy tern). The work also depicts the pukeko and the karearea (NZ falcon). Of a recent performance by NZ soprano Rebecca Ryan, the Otago Daily Times wrote: “Ryan’s performances were stupendous!”

Haydn’s La Poule (The Hen) gained its nickname from the first movement’s humorous hen-like quirky exchange between violin and oboe.

Principal Guest Conductor James Judd is also the NZSO’s Music Director Emeritus, and he conducts extensively in the USA, the UK, Europe and Asia.