CSO Lamb & Hayward Curator’s Series presents “Buchanan, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven”

CSO Lamb & Hayward Curator’s Series presents “Buchanan, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven” on Friday 12th September 2025, 7.00 p.m. at The Piano, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch

Dorothy Buchanan’s Peace Fanfare was commissioned as part of Auckland Philharmonia’s celebration of the new millennium – a moment many of us will remember – alongside ten other Aotearoa New Zealand composers.

Cellist Heather Lewis features as soloist for Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, a work that showcases Tchaikovsky’s love of the classicism of Mozart and Haydn. Audiences will be taken through a delightful set of variations on an elegant 18th century-inspired theme, which was originally written for Tchaikovsky’s colleague Wilhelm Fitzenhagen.

We round out this programme with a symphonic icon. With Beethoven’s first symphony we meet a composer showing respect for his teachers, Mozart and Haydn, while also daring to innovate. He features the woodwinds in a way that we don’t blink at today but would have been quite audacious in 1800. This masterpiece is one of the first paving stones on a path that reinvented the symphony for future generations.

Benjamin Northey Chief Conductor
Heather Lewis Cello
Dorothy Buchanan Peace Fanfare
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme Op. 33
Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C Major Op. 2