Work: Hansel and Gretel: Song of the Sandman

Prokofiev's Cinderella shall go to the ball: under Vasily Petrenko's scrupulously magic wand this ballet masterpiece dazzled in a fairy-tale programme of original stage works.

For this Christmas concert we were transported from the Auckland Philharmonia’s usual venue at the Auckland Town Hall to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell. It was interesting to compare the sound of the orchestra; the cathedral has a slight echo that seemed to boost the richness of the orchestra’s sound, at times (like at the climax of Bizet’s Farandole) becoming almost shockingly loud.