Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Conductor - Okko Kamu Violin - Maxim Vengerov Sibelius - En Saga Sibelius - Symphony No.6 Sibelius - Violin Concerto Sibelius - Finlandia Maxim Vengerov sensationally burst onto the international scene in 1984, when he won the prestigious Wieniawski Competition at the age of ten. Hearing such a supreme artist is a real luxury, particularly when he’s playing one of the supreme violin concertos, and particularly when it is conducted by Okko Kamu, who has a special affinity with his countryman’s music. In sketches for the Sixth Symphony, Sibelius wrote about the struggle between ‘the pine-tree spirit and the storm’, but it’s a serene, melancholy work, neatly paired with the atmospheric En Saga. The concert finishes with Sibelius’s beloved and barnstorming hymn to his homeland.