Christchurch concerts by ‘Brazilian bombshell’

Press, 29 August 1978, Page 18

Christchurch concerts by ‘Brazilian bombshell’

The Brazilian pianist, Cristina Ortiz, will make two appearances with the New Zealand Symphony in Christchurch next week, during her second tour of New Zealand.

On Thursday, September 7, Miss Ortiz will be the soloist in Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini,” and on Saturday, Setpember 9, she will play Brahms Concerto No. I.

The orchestra will be under an Italian conductor, Gaetano Delogu.

Cristina Ortiz toured New Zealand two years ago, and was described by one reviewer as the “Brazilian pianistic bombshell.”

She began to play the piano when she was four, entered the Brazilian Conservatory of Music at the age of eight, and played with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra when she was 11.

She began to gain international attention at the age of 15, when, she won the National Piano Contest in Rio de Janeiro, and with it a fellowship for study in Paris with Magda Tagliaferro. In 1966 she won an award in the Fourth Georges Enesco Contest in Bucharest, and in 1967 first prize in the International Piano Contest in Paris. This resulted in two successful recitals in Paris, one for French Radio and the other at the Salle Gaveau. In 1969 Cristina Ortiz, then 18, became the youngest first-prize winner in the Van Cliburn Competition in Texas. Afterwards she gave recitals in Can gie Hall, New York, and in Washington, D.C., and also played with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She decided to continue with her studies, however, for two more years, and

to work regularly with Rudolf Serkin. Cristina Ortiz made her London debut in two highly praised appearances in August, 1973, at the South Bank Summer Music Festival. Her concerto debut was at the Royal Festival Hall, with the London Symphony Orchestra under Andre Previn.

She has appeared on television with Previn and the L. 5.0., and also on the Oscar Peterson Show, and has made concert appearances in America, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Yugoslavia, Norway, Sweden, and Japan. Recently, Miss Ortiz has been playing with the Medici String Quartet in Lon-

don and accompanying the noted English singer, John Shirley-Quirk. She has made several recordings for EMI.

During her tour of New Zealand, Cristina Ortiz will give solo recitals in four centres, but Christchurch is not one of them. Her only, solo recital in the South Island will be in Invercargill on September 5. Christchurch, though, will be the only’ centre at which she plays with the orchestra in the South Island.

Gaetano Delogu, guest conductor for the concert series, was born in Messina in 1934, and started playing the violin at a very early age. He continued his musical studies

throughout his university career, obtaining musical honours in addition to his law degree, and afterwards studied conducting with Franco Ferrara in Rome and Venice. His professional career was launched when he won first prize at the Young Conductors Competition in Florence.

After four years conducting experience with major Italian orchestras, Delogu won first prize at the 1968 Dimitri Mitropoulos International Competition in New York. During the next season he divided his time between the New York Philharmonic and Washington National Symphony Orchestras, and worked with George Szell and Leonard Bernstein. Since then his career has been based in Italy, though he has worked with many orchestras elsewhere in Europe, including the Vienna Symphony, Prague Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, and Suisse Romande.

Since his English debut in a “Fanfare for Europe” concert with the Royal Philharmonic in 1972, Delogu has conducted the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Royal Philharmonic, in addition to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish National, and BBC regional orchestras. Gaetano Delogu has also conducted two Puccini operas in successive seasons at Covent Garden: “Turandot” in 1973 and “Madam Butterfly” in 1974-5. This will be his first visit to New Zealand, and he will lead the orchestra in Whangarei, Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.