Cyprus Symphony Orchestra welcomes its new maestro with free concert

To celebrate a new era and welcome its new artistic director and conductor, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra is holding a special performance this coming May. In their first concert together, Gϋnter Neuhold and the orchestra will present two masterful symphonies at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre on May 5. Mozart’s Symphony no 35, known as the Haffner Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s 5th will be the two works to welcome Neuhold as the orchestra’s new maestro in a free concert.

The Haffner Symphony, composed in 1782, typifies the late symphonies of Mozart in their ambitious dimensions, greater demands on performers, harmonic and contrapuntal complexity, and final movements that are climactic rather than light. One is struck by the wide range of emotions and styles permeating the score.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony was written in 1888, at a time when his international reputation had already grown considerably. A central motif representing fate runs through the entire symphony, and appears in the major key in the long coda of the finale, thus evoking a triumphant mood.

The Austrian-born maestro has held similar positions in the past from being the music director and chief orchestra conductor in Italy to the musical director of the Flanders Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Antwerp. His new journey with the island’s most acclaimed classical music orchestra begins this spring, with May 5’s concert launching the collaboration.

Welcome Maestro Neuhold

Concert by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. May 5. Nicosia Municipal Theatre, Nicosia. 8.30pm. Free. Information: 22-463144, www.cyso.org.cy