The Opera Orchestra: Mozart / Mendelssohn / Schubert at Den Norske Opera & Ballett

Without the music there would be no opera and no dancing. It's a simple as that. So it's important for the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, that musical foundation on which our artistic forms are so dependent, to be lifted out of the pit and onto the stage, the centre of everyone's attention for the evening. The orchestra musicians say that they enjoy playing their own concerts; they are able to play with colour and sound in a way that they can't in the ballet and operatic productions.

During the concerts, the musicians perform pieces from a rich symphonic repertoire, giving audiences a fresh appreciation of the Main House's wonderful acoustics.

In recent years the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra has expanded considerably, including as a concert orchestra, under the lively and inspiring leadership of John Helmer Fiore. This year, we are particularly delighted to present a selection of our own musicians as soloists performing with the orchestra.
THE NORWEGIAN NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA: MOZART­ / MENDELSSOHN / SCHUBERT

Star conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini returns to the Oslo Opera House ­– bringing with him works by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schubert.

We're not letting Rinaldo Alessandrini go that easily. Having been our first guest conductor for a period, he is popular with audiences, singers and musicians.

Alessandrini is ranked among Europe's foremost interpreters of early music and Baroque opera – but Mozart is also dear to his heart, and this time he presents a programme spanning the classical and early romantic periods. Mendelssohn's "Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt" overture opens the performance, followed by Mozart's brilliant Sinfonia Concertante featuring orchestra leader Øyvind Bjorå and solo violist Juliet Joplin as soloists.

Schubert wrote his great symphonic masterpiece, the Symphony in C major, the year before he died in 1828. The slow movements are often the high points of Schubert's symphonies, and this applies in full to the Ninth Symphony – which rounds off the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra's series of concerts in the Main House.
Program

Felix Mendelssohn
Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt, Op. 27

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K.364

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 9 in C major, D.944