Conductor Pierre Bleuse. Photo: Marine Pierrot Detry
Pierre Bleuse loves contemporary music, but he hasn't turned his back on the great classics.
The French maestro will make his New Zealand debut when he conducts the Auckland Philharmonia in a programme of music linked by the themes of death and witchcraft.
On the set list, Liszt's Totentanz (death dance) for piano and orchestra, with New Zealand's Sylvia Jiang as soloist.
That's followed by Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, which also features a famous dance of death - or at least a witch's sabbath - in its finale.
And at the front, the contemporary work by New Zealander Louise Webster, Proof of Burning, which is a memorial to all the woman accused of, and murdered, for being witches.
Bleuse says playing modern music is vital if classical music is to keep itself alive, not just because it refreshes the repertoire - it also livens up the ears of the listeners.
Back in France, Bleuse has been the Music Director of Ensemble Intercontemporain since September 2023. The ensemble was founded by another Pierre - the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez - in 1976, the year before Bleuse was born.
The ensemble dedicates itself to playing contemporary music, and Bleuse says the demands of that job rub off on the way he approaches something like Symphonie Fantastique.
That work was way ahead of its time when it was first performed 195 years ago, and Bleuse tries to approach it with the same fresh spirit its creator did back in 1830.
