A one-of-a-kind virtuoso and global phenomenon makes his Aotearoa debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra tonight. Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto performs one of music’s best-loved works, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and lead the NZSO for its first ever performance of a glorious symphony by pioneering 19th-century composer Louise Farrenc.
Watch here and listen live on RNZ Concert radio from 6:30pm.
Video by Lattitude Creative, sound by RNZ Concert.
Farrenc Symphony No. 3
Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Exciting Finnish violinist, conductor, and composer Pekka Kuusisto, who is renowned for his artistic freedom and fresh approach, performs the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. Its musical depictions of lazy summer afternoons and brisk winter winds continue to delight.
Kuusisto says his interpretation of The Four Seasons will be distinct and exciting. For one, he plays violin throughout the performance while at the same time directing the orchestra—a demanding feat for any musician.
He also knows that The Four Seasons popularity means audiences come with a variety of expectations.
“If it would be possible to measure what people expect stylistically, my guess is something rather ‘round and soft, gentle’ is still what most people think Vivaldi should sound like. Who am I to say that’s wrong? [But The Four Seasons] is not in a museum. This is like super-active, explosive, aggressive music. Sometimes it needs to be exactly that… I can only play it convincingly the way I think and feel it.”
Kuusisto will take the same approach for NZSO premiere of Louise Farrenc’s rediscovered Third Symphony, now regarded as one of the finest French compositions of the Romantic era.
During her lifetime Farrenc, the only woman appointed a professor at the Paris Conservatory in the 19th century, was well known and admired for her music and teaching. Two of her biggest fans were composers Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann. However, after her death she fell into obscurity until the late 20th century.
Music writer Tom Service says her Third Symphony “deserves a place… in the repertoires of every orchestra. Farrenc’s symphony is as impressively energetic and structurally satisfying as any of Mendelssohn’s or Schumann’s symphonies.”
Live from the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington 6:30 - 8pm Thursday 9 October 2025.
Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto Photo: Bard Gundersen
