Celebrating Beethoven, Mozart

THE MALAYSIAN Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) celebrates two classical composers this Friday and Saturday in its Mozart in Prague concerts at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP), KLCC, starting at 8.30pm.
Australian conductor Benjamin Northey returns to the podium to conduct the MPO after their debut collaboration in 2014, this time to present a scintillating programme.
Northey is chief conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, an associate conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and a regular conductor with major Australian orchestras.
He has also collaborated with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, New Zealand Symphony, and the London, Tokyo and Hong Kong Philharmonics.
This concert will also feature Ipoh-born Malaysian pianist Loo Bang Hean, who has appeared in recitals, concert performances, and chamber concerts in Malaysia and Asian countries.
Loo is a founding member of the Sutera Ensemble, and is currently lecturing at UCSI University.
The concerts will open with Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolan, followed by another work by Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.2.
After the interval, the MPO returns to the stage with Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, presenting a unique blend of seriousness and humour, tragedy and comedy.
The programme will close with Mozart’s Symphony No.38 in D major, one of the great symphonies of the 18th century. It was written and premiered in Prague in 1787.
For more, visit the MPO website.