Kāpiti Concert Orchestra – Triple Treat

The Kāpiti Concert Orchestra is delighted to announce their return to Te Raukura ki Kāpiti on Saturday 6 August with a concert under the direction of Donald Armstrong, Associate Concert Master of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and recently appointed Resident Conductor of the Kāpiti Concert Orchestra. The programme will include works by Mozart, Beethoven and Robert Schumann.

The Concert opens with a popular overture by Mozart. In the 1780's an artistic trend in Vienna focused on the Ottoman Empire. Mozart's contribution to this fad was his opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio", a comic opera about two men who try to rescue their lovers from a Turkish harem. The Overture sets the scene with its use of percussion instruments to evoke the exotic Ottoman Empire.

Beethoven's Triple Concerto is quite unique in that it has three soloists. At times it can be a solo concerto in which the soloists change from passage to passage, then it is a trio piece in which three musicians perform chamber music on stage and then it is a piece for trio and Orchestra. It is the Orchestra's pleasure to introduce three highly talented and already very experienced young Wellington musicians as soloists in this performance of Beethoven's Concerto. Otis Prescott-Mason (piano), Peter Gjelsten (violin) and Jack Moyer (cello) have had many successes in their careers to date winning local and national prizes as soloists and as members of various chamber groups. Otis will be remembered for his performance of Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto with KCO last year. Peter and Jack are members of local youth orchestras and also the NZSO National Youth Orchestra. Peter plays in the New Zealand School of Music Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington and is a casual member of the NZSO. In 2021 Jack toured New Zealand with the Amici Ensemble (led by Donald Armstrong) which helped to further his love for Chamber Music.

The final work features Schumann's Symphony No 3, Op 97 ,"Rhenish" It is a work in 5 movements and reflects his impressions of living beside the Rhine where he settled briefly following a period of ill health. It begins in an exuberant mood with a joyful theme for full Orchestra. The second movement is derived from a German song , the third is a romance while the fourth is stately and ecclesiastical in tone. The final movement evokes a lively Rhenish festival.