An Evening With Simon O'Neill

Wagner Wesendonck Lieder.
Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E flat major.

New Zealander Simon O’Neill has been hailed as one of the finest tenors on the international stage, frequently performing with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House and with orchestras all over the world.

Hailed by critics as “The Wagnerian tenor of his generation,” O’Neill joins the NZSO to perform Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, which the composer wrote to poems by Mathilde Wesendonck while working on his opera Tristan und Isolde.

Anton Bruckner approved of his Symphony No. 4 earning the byname ‘Romantic Symphony’. It was his first symphony to achieve significant public acclaim and remains one of his most popular works. It is ambitious, full of grand emotional gestures and dramatic orchestration. It is also a feast of sound, from brass themes and folk-like melodies to mournful strings and fanfares.

Lawrence Renes has a long association with both Simon O’Neill and NZSO Music Director Edo de Waart, and his return to conduct the NZSO is highly anticipated.