Lamb & Hayward Masterworks Organic

Saint Saëns completed his third and final symphony in 1886 and declared “I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have accomplished here, I will never achieve again”. Hugely popular from its premiere to current day, this glorious work revels in the endless possibilities of sound that a large orchestra, augmented by piano and organ, is capable of creating.

Described by critics as possessing “an incendiary technique and warm stage presence”, Chinese pianist Moye Chen has got the music world talking. With a growing reputation for his interpretations of Rachmaninov, Chen makes his New Zealand debut with the CSO performing Rachmaninov’s lyrical and vivacious fourth piano concerto.

Christchurch born composer Salina Fisher became the youngest ever winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, New Zealand’s premiere composition prize, for Rainphase (2016). Described as “marvellously atmospheric” by Dominion Post critic John Button, the work was inspired by the beauty and chaos of Wellington rain.