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BY BILLY SUTER
A SOUND and light extravaganza is promised at this year’s Last Night of the Proms concert, to be presented by the British Cultural and Heritage Association at Durban’s Playhouse Opera theatre at 3pm on Sunday, August 5.
Conductor Richard Cock returns to the podium to crank up the wow factor as he leads the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, joined by the Durban Symphonic Choir and Northwood Boys’ Choir, and a line-up of soloists and support acts, says publicist William Charlton-Perkins.
“This year’s solo spots fall on soprano Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi and 10-year-old violinist, Nilashri Naidoo. Sharing the limelight will be Proms stalwarts, the KZN Pipes and Drums, and Celtic Heartbeat, also known as dancers Samantha Wood and Melissa Wood Alberts.
“As ever, Richard Cock has put together a bumper programme of favourites which he will introduce in his own inimitable style. Showstopping items in the first half of the programme include Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, world famous as the soundtrack to the movie, Space Odyssey 2001; the main theme to John Williams’s Star Wars soundtrack; and Explosions Polka by Johann Strauss.
“Also on the bill are the mighty Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore; Khachaturian’s dazzling Sabre Dance; the beautiful Sanctus from Gounod’s Saint Cecilia Mass; Vivaldi’s Concerto in G; Lanchberry’s endearing Clog Dance from the comic ballet, La fille mal gardee; and the iconic River Dance hit, Reel Around the Sun.”
The concert’s second half opens with the 2014 Commonwealth Games Theme. This will be followed by showstoppers including Dimutrescu’s Romanian Dance; Thunder & Lightning Polka by Johann Strauss; Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King; the Jewel Song from Gounod’s Faust; the thunderous finale to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture; and Proms evergreens Jerusalem by Parry, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and the jollySailors Hornpipe in an arrangement by Alan Stephenson.
The high-spirited Durban event, which includes audience participation, is modelled on the popular last night culmination of Britain’s globally-celebrated BBC Promenade Concert series, presented in and around London, principally at the Royal Albert Hall.
Tickets for the Durban event range in price from R150 to R220. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment. Tickets are available at Computicket outlets or the Playhouse box-office – call (031) 369 9540 or (031) 369 9596 during office hours.
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