The New Zealand Herald Premier Series: Scheherazade

Conductor Alan Buribayev
Piano Sylvia Jiang

Melody Eötvös The Saqqara Bird
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.2
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Audience favourite Alan Buribayev takes the podium as Sylvia Jiang returns to join her home-town orchestra with Prokofiev's steely, ferociously difficult concerto. Written when its composer was only 22 years old, it's a suitable foil for this prodigiously gifted pianist.

Australian composer Melody Eötvös found her imagination sparked by a model of a bird, carved of sycamore 2000 years ago and discovered in an Egyptian tomb. Its purpose is totally unknown.

Rimsky-Korsakov, sparked by the Tales of the 1001 Nights, wrote a piece that was 'a kaleidoscope of fairy-tale images'. His much-loved suite is a fabulous orchestral showpiece.