La Donna Ideale at Opera House

The misleadingly-named Leonore No 1 was found among Beethoven’s papers after his death. Written in 1807 for a planned Prague performance, the yearning lines of its opening alternate with passages of bold activity and joy.

Beethoven’s 8th symphony serves as a breather in his symphonic output, a “cup of tea and a lie down” if you like, between his startling and monumental 7th and 9th symphonies. Canny, light-footed and charming, its concise classical form still conceals a few surprises.

Fresh from a residency at the Royal Opera, Madeleine Pierard hails from one of New Zealand’s leading musical families. With The Royal Opera, Madeleine has sung Contessa di Folleville (Il Viaggio a Reims), Lisa (La Sonnambula), Sandman (Hänsel und Gretel), High Priestess (Aida), Noémie (Cendrillon), Nymph (Rusalka), Slave (Salome) and Musetta in Copley’s acclaimed production of La Boheme. Pierard is noted for her mastery of a range of styles.

For Orchestra Wellington, she will premiere a new work by our 2012 Composer-in-Residence, Juliet Palmer. Palmer’s Solid Gold mines the space between memory and fact, creating an “acoustic remix” of unshakeable pop songs for soprano and orchestra. As Palmer puts it, “Pop songs worm their way into your ear, lurking until an innocent karaoke night or a moment in the supermarket aisle.” Pierard also performs Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs, written in 1964 to celebrate the “artistry and vocal intelligence” of his longtime collaborator Cathy Berberian. Their imaginative sounds recall and reinvent folk music from places as diverse as Azerbaijan, Kentucky, Sicily, Genoa, Auvergne and Armenia.