The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is touring the country with Anton Oliver. They are performing selections from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. They’re also performing New Zealand composer David Farquhar’s Short Suite from Ring Round the Moon. But the real draw-card is Anton Oliver narrating Peter and the wolf by Prokofiev.
I’m liking
I thought that the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was fantastic; they sounded beautiful and didn’t miss a beat. Tecwyn Evans was conducting and credit has to go to him for how well the orchestra played together. While I’ve been to see Anton Oliver play many times and he’s a fantastic rugby player, the orchestra were the real stars.
They expected children at the event and consequently anticipated the audience being noisier then their usual. So it was a good event to take my four year old to. Lots of parents were taking their children out for a break and then bringing them back in and this was fine.
Things that made me go hmmmm
At times I couldn’t hear what Anton was saying. It’s something that has happened at other events I’ve been to at the Michael Fowler Centre, which is disappointing.
The conclusion
I loved the event and I especially liked how the narration assisted in the interpretation of the music. It was also nice to be entertained by Anton Oliver in a medium other than rugby. My four year old struggled at times but her final verdict was that it was good as well. I think that a slightly older child would enjoy it more, maybe seven or eight years old.
