Musical Easter treats with Jersey Symphony Orchestra

Saturday 13 April 2019

With Easter just around the corner, the Jersey Symphony Orchestra has concocted a seasonal programme for its Spring concert.

Conducted by Wolfgang Heinz, who conducted the JSO’s Christmas concert in 2017, this year's Spring concert will include, Dukas' 'Sorcerer’s Apprentice,' Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with soloist Gustavo Surgik, and Mendelssohn’s 4th Symphony.

The concert will being with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice a symphonic poem by French composer Paul Dukas, completed in 1897. It was included in Disney classic 'Fantasia' with Mickey Mouse as the wretched apprentice, who used a spell from his master’s grimoire to enable broomsticks to fetch water from a well and then finds himself unable to stop them.

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is one of the best-known concertos ever written and the first notes of the first movement will make it easily recognisable to many listeners. The same could be said about Mendelssohn’s 4^thSymphony where the first notes are equally well-known.   

Pictured: Gustavo Surjik will be the soloist for the violin concerto.

The soloist for the Violin Concerto, Gustavo Surjik, was born in 1970 in Brazil. By the age of 15, he had already made a recording with famous Brazilian composers, which was soon followed by international awards. Mr Surgik has been deputy Leader of the Stuttgart Opera State Orchestra since 1997. 

The conductor, Wolfgang Heinz, was born in Wiesbaden and grew up in Munich. Since 1999, he has frequently conducted at the Opera Stuttgart and also at the Stuttgart Ballet. In 2018, he conducted an international Opera Gala (Festival Orchestra Ludwigsburg) with famous soloists from the Metropolitan Opera New York.  

Tonight's concert was originally planned to take place at Fort Regent but had to find a new venue after an extensive review by a fire safety engineer found problems with lighting and access to emergency escape routes due to closure of certain areas of the Fort while asbestos removal is carried out.

Alison Stewart, Chair of the Jersey Symphony Orchestra (JSO), who had previously voiced concerns about the risk posed to arts and culture on the island in the event of the Fort’s potential closure, said she was pleased that St. Michael's School came to the rescue.

After the “bombshell” and the “difficult process” that followed, she announced: “We’ve been so kindly taken care of by St Michael’s School, who have welcomed us to use their gym hall, which they will convert into a very nice, carpeted hall with seating for up to 500.”

Tickets for the concert are available online.