Anthony Ferner Conducts MCO

Marlborough Civic Orchestra (MCO) will present the first post-lockdown concert at ASB Theatre Marlborough, featuring guest conductor Anthony Ferner. Ferner is the Principal flute of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, lecturer at the University of Canterbury and Musical Director of the Risingholme Orchestra. Ferner studied conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatory and has conducted concerts and operatic repertoire in Australia and New Zealand.

In the upcoming concert, Ferner will conduct a diverse programme of romantic-period pieces, including Brahms' Tragic Overture and the finale from Dvořák's New World Symphony. MCO Musical Director, Elgee Leung, will appear as the soloist to perform the famous Cello Concerto by Edward Elgar. Written in 1917, the melancholy motives of the concerto were believed to be inspired by the death on the Western Front during WWI of a New Zealander who studied at Nelson College and happened to be the son of the composer’s former fiancée.