blog.

A sneak peak at an upcoming video!

Orchestra Wellington’s 2023 season was entitled “Inner Visions” , and focused on Expressionism in music, tracing its origins from the Empfindamer Stil of CPE Bach. Throughout the season we looked at an exquisite example of his personal style,  Sturm und Drang works by Haydn and Mozart, through pivotal works of Mahler, Strauss, Bartok and Prokofiev.

The Second Viennese School featured heavily (of course), and the entire season concluded with the New Zealand premiere of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, in an inventive semi-staged production, featuring AI – generated imagery. The entire production was filmed, and this wonderful event will be shared as soon as it has been completed, but I thought I would give a sense of the production, and its exquisite musicianship.

Here we feature Wozzeck’s aria “Wir arme Leut” from the opening scene, as sung by the extraordinary Julien van Mellaerts, with the wonderful Corey Bix, as the Captain.

Expressionism has always been an impulse in the arts that has resonated with me, but it can be a tough sell to an audience! But such is the power of trust that our audiences have with us, that again this season demonstrated Orchestra Wellington’s unmatched support in New Zealand.

Truly extraordinary, personally humbling, and never, ever, taken for granted.

Enjoy.