VINCENT HARDAKER Conductor                               
RACHEL THOMAS Marimba   

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is the most beloved ballet in the world. These excerpts are amongst the most favourite musical moments, and offer a magical commencement to this wonderful concert.

Percussionist, Rachel Thomas, will introduce us to Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra.  Written for the virtuoso She-E Wu, this work is considered to be one of the flagships of the marimba repertoire, as well as one of the most beautiful concertos played by percussionists. Rachel brings her own five octave marimba to Manukau to perform this exhilarating work.

Rimsky-Korsakov is a captivating magician in his mastery of the orchestra’s capabilities and his Scheherazade is a dazzling example of this. Oriental in flavour and dominated by the characters of the Sultan and the beautiful Scheherazade, the work tells their tender love story and paints fairy-tale pictures of an oriental bazaar and a whirling festival. Great power is overcome by beauty and love.