Harp in Harmony

Music, and the instruments used to make it, tells the most evocative stories.

NSO is delighted to present Harp in Harmony, a collaboration with guest conductor Anthony Ferner and renowned Kiwi harpist, Helen Webby, where remembrance, romance, reflection and heroism intertwine.

The concert begins with New Zealand composer Anthony Ritchie’s poignant Remember Parihaka, before Helen takes to the stage for Ernst von Dohnányi’s unique Concertino for Harp and Chamber Orchestra – one of the composer’s later works, written when he was 75, and widely believed to portray his search for a peaceful end to his troubled life.

We end with Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, a masterpiece of rhythm and energy that introduced the musical dynamic ‘fff’ – fortississimo, ‘louder than as loud as possible’ – for the first time ever in an orchestral work. Unifying these three compositions is a feeling of finding hope and peace amid adversity and hardship – a concept that is as relevant today as ever.