The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) presents its World Symphony Series this May and June at the Linder Auditorium, one of Joburg's most acoustically impressive concert venues.

The 2018 series sees a host of guest international and local conductors and musicians taking to the Joburg stage including Dutch-South African maestro Conrad van Alphen, Norwegian conductor Catherine Winnes, and 2010 Len van Zyl Conductor of the Year Brandon Phillips.

The World Symphony Series winter programme runs as follows:

May 30 & 31: Daniel Boico conducts the orchestra through works by Shostakovich, Gershwin and Tchaikovsky. The evening opens with Shostakovich's sprightly overture, Festival Overture Op. 96, followed by American composer George Gershwin’s F major Piano Concerto and concludes with Tchaikovsky’s ‘Winter Daydreams’ Symphony No. 1 in G-minor.  

June 6 & 7: Brandon Phillips conducts an all-European programme, opening with the Overture to Beethoven’s 1787 Egmont, a set of incidental music pieces composed for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s eponymous play. The evening's programme then continues with French composer Édouard Lalo’s iconic Cello Concerto in D minor and German composer Robert Schumann’s final symphony “Rhenish” Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major Op. 97 and a star solo performance by Russian cellist Alexander Buzlov. 

June 13 & 14: Dutch-South African maestro Conrad van Alphen leads a programme of three contrasting works, Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas Overture Op. 95, Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D-minor Op. 47 and Dvořák’s F Major Symphony No. 5 Op. 76.

June 20 & 21: The JPO's winter season comes to a close with a programme of classical masterpieces directed by Norwegian conductor Catherine Winnes; Russian composer Mikhail Glinka’s Summer Night in Madrid Overture, Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16 and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s classic Scheherazade featuring the evening’s soloist Spencer Myer.