So much in store

What say you on the issue below?

DEWAN Filharmonik Petronas’s 2011/12 Season, which runs until July next year, will feature more than 100 concerts. Here are some highlights:

> October: The Beethoven Solo Concertos series kicks off on Oct 8 and 9, when Stephen Kovacevich performs the Piano Concerto No.1 with Jacek Kaspszyk and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. My personal highlight for the month takes place the following weekend with a programme dedicated to Jean Sibelius, one of my favourite composers: Otari Elts leads the MPO in the tone poem Finlandia and the Symphony No.2, and they will be joined by Barnabas Kelemen in the Violin Concerto on Oct 15 and 16.

> November: Platypus Theatre, creators extraordinaire of classical music programmes for children, makes a return to the DFP on Nov 12 and 13.

British Baroque ensemble Red Priest offers its trademark mix of theatre and music in Nightmare In Venice – A Baroque Fantasy at DFP on Jan 9.

> December: Broadway fans will be pleased with The World Of Rodgers And Hammerstein on Dec 10 and 11, while the MPO shares the stage with the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in a programme of Mozart, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky.

> January: British Baroque ensemble Red Priest visits on Jan 9 with its trademark mix of theatre and music in Nightmare In Venice – A Baroque Fantasy, and Melvin Tix the “clownductor” promises fun for the whole family when he returns on Jan 14 and 15 with Fairytales In Music.

> February: Romantic Hollywood promises classic tear-jerking music from the silver screen on Feb 4 and 5. The same month will have a treat for opera fans when baritone Philippe Sly performs arias from Bizet, Mozart and Wagner on Feb 26 and 27.

> March: The Fab Four takes the limelight on March 23 to 25 when the MPO and conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald pay Tribute To The Beatles. Fitz-Gerald will also lead the MPO in Academy Award winning music in Oscar Winners on March 31.

> April: Funnyman Harith Iskander shares the stage with conductor Alessandro Crudele and the MPO in Peter And The Wolf & Babar The Elephant on April 14 & 15, while violinist Benjamin Schmid leads the MPO in exploring the Eight Season, a survey of The Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi and Astor Piazzolla on April 21 and 22.

> May: Get Swingin’ with the MPO on May 12 and 13 as the orchestra takes on Bluegrass and Dixieland classics that are given a Gaelic twist with the help of fiddler Eileen Ivers.

> June: Dance is the flavour of this month. In Dances Around The World, MPO music director Claus Peter Flor twirls his way through a programme that includes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, Sugata’s Dancing Girl In The Orient and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances on June 2 and 3, while The Universe Of Ballet, conducted by Zhang Yi on June 16 and 17, features Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, Delibes’ Coppelia, Du Mingxin’s The Incredible Phoenix and Bernstein’s Fancy Free.

> July: The season’s exploration of Beethoven culminates on July 2 when violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander Melnikov perform three of the composer’s violin sonatas, including the Spring and Kreutzer, while Magic Circle Mime Company presents a musical and visual treat on July 7 and 8 in Orchestra From Planet X.