Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra / Reviews

The Trusts Community Foundation Opera in Concert, a guaranteed highlight of the musical year, excelled itself on Saturday night with the New Zealand premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s 1920 Die tote Stadt. Set in a dark world of psychological obsession and dreams, The Dead City is a remarkable achievement for a composer in his early 20s. Its music, heavily indebted to Wagner and Strauss, and occasionally hinting at Korngold’s later Hollywood career, was brilliantly unfurled by Giordano Bellincampi and his 94-strong Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, along with a handpicked cast of singers, and a full-voiced New Zealand Opera Chorus.