European pianist Danae Dorkin graces stages of Linder Auditorium- opening Johannesburg Music Society’s 2023 season
This marks the first programme of the society’s programme after Covid-19 disruption three years ago.
BY Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS editor
Classical music lovers in Johannesburg and those who might be visiting the City of Gold, must consider themselves lucky this time around. This is because one of the most revered young pianists from Europe is here, having touched down at OR Tambo International Airport with one reason only.
And that is to connect audiences to some of the most interesting musical compositions in the enduring classical music genre. In Johannesburg and the country right now, with people enduring a lot of challenges, such as recurring load shedding (one hopes though that it will not happen on Sunday during this concert), we probably right now need this kind of music. To soothe us, calm us and remind us of the resilient and triumphant human spirit. Classical music has all these qualities inherent in it.
Danae Doerken, one of Europe’s new crop of young and elite performers, gets the Johannesburg Musical Society’s current season off to a sparkling start. The Society – having weathered two World Wars and the three year interruption caused by Covid – 19, launches its 2023 season with a performance by this Greek-German pianist in the Linder Auditorium (Wits Education Campus, St Andrews Road, Parktown). The concert will start at 15.00 on Sunday 26 February, 2023.
Classical music lovers can look forward to this performance as Danae’s musical pedigree is of high quality. As an example of the kind of top musician she is, she has performed with some of the most renowned orchestras in Europe and in some of the most famous concert halls. She presents a programme that she calls Odyssey. The oncert promises to take the audience to far places and into the distant past. The concert will take the audience from Turkey, Syria and Greece into 19th century Europe, showcasing a fascinating variety of music.
Those who are followers of European classical music composers will be happy to know that Danae will be sampling during this concert from some of the most remembered and revred composers in the classical music genre in Europe.
To mention just one unusual feature, she opens her programme with music by the extraordinary Turkish composer Fazil Say, who does revelatory things with the keys and strings of the piano. And there is also a good dose of romanticism, with Felix Mendelssohn’s wonderfully tuneful Fantasy in F# Minor, as well as music by Franz Liszt and Robert Schuman.
For more details about Danae, her programme or the JMS, visit www.jms.org.za or phone Avril on 082 9205 216 or Herman on 083 228 2917 For bookings: https://www.jms.org.za/tickets/ or at the box office from 14.00 onwards.