During this year’s George Town Festival the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) will be playing with two incredibly talented young musicians, including the celebrated ‘Pianist With The Golden Hands’, Israeli Yaron Kohlberg.
Kohlberg, who now lives in China, has a long list of accolades attached to his name, having played in major halls over five continents and having won more than 10 prestigious international prizes. The PPO will be conducted by Ciaran McCauley, who was recently the resident conductor at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and has held fellowships both at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and at Tanglewood. He is known for working across a variety of genres, and is a former recipient of the Ricordi Conducting Prize.
These highly respected figures in the global classical music scene will be playing with the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra, which was itself established to develop the standard of classical music locally by bringing together gifted musicians. These performances, then, promise to be an impressive combination of both international and local talent.
The performance will include pieces by Mozart, Schumann, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, with introductions by Kohlberg before each of them. The introductions themselves should be very interesting to hear but the music is the clear highlight, showcasing the skills of all the musicians involved.
There will be two concerts, one on the 10th and one on the 11th of August, both at 8:30pm at the Dewan Sri Pinang Auditorium. Tickets cost RM 65 and RM 85 (RM 25 for students) and can be purchased here: https://airasiaredtix.com/yaronkohlberg.
By Ella Benson Easton