Classical & Opera
6 shows found
Elena Schwarz conductor
Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello
BACEWICZ Overture for Symphony Orchestra
HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
The Philharmonia returns to De Montfort Hall with superstar cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who performs in Leicester for the first time. From winning BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016 to performing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, his career has gone from strength to strength. Kanneh-Mason is the soloist in Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2, an effervescent piece full of sparkling passages across the instrument’s upper and lower registers.
Conductor Elena Schwarz takes to the podium for Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture for Symphony Orchestra – a charming whistlestop tour of a symphony orchestra that’s just a few minutes long – and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Despite his oncoming deafness, Beethoven was still able to channel positivity and optimism into this ebullient symphony.
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Philharmonia: The Music of Harry Potter
Philharmonia: Clarinet Spotlight
Anthony Weeden conductor
A selection from the Harry Potter movies
The Philharmonia presents a magical programme featuring the music of Harry Potter, with conductor Anthony Weeden. With an award-winning soundtrack by composers John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat, the music is what brings these movies to life. Experience the most enchanting moments from one of the most successful movie franchises.
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Philharmonia with Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Philharmonia: Clarinet Spotlight
Uplifting classics crowned with a Great British Proms finale including Suppé Light Cavalry Overture, Handel Hallelujah Chorus, Bizet March of the Toreadors from Carmen, and Verdi Anvil Chorus.
Plus all your Proms favourites Jerusalem, Nessun Dorma, Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory.
Anthony Inglis conductor
London Concert Orchestra
Leicester Philharmonic Choir
Marta Gardolińska conductor
Michael Collins clarinet
WEBER Overture Der Freischütz
WEBER Clarinet Concerto No. 1
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1
Marta Gardolińska takes us back to the early Romantic era in this all-German programme. Der Freischütz is widely considered one of the first German operatic masterpieces, and the 10-minute overture offers a tantalising taste of the whole work.
The spotlight is then on the brilliant Michael Collins, as he demonstrates all that the clarinet has to offer in Weber’s radiant first clarinet concerto. The work was embellished by Weber’s clarinettist friend Heinrich Baermann, for whom it was written, and the result is abundant in memorable melodies.
Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 is full of in melting lyricism and dynamic expansion. Brahms looked to Beethoven for inspiration, and his own version of the Ode to Joy (taken from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony) can be heard in the final movement.
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Philharmonia with Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Philharmonia: The Music of Harry Potter
Santtu-Matias Rouvali conductor
Randall Goosby violin
SIBELIUS Karelia Suite
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9
The Philharmonia’s Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali is at the helm for Sibelius’s Karelia Suite – full of folk-inspired melodies – and Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony. Completed in 1945, the symphony is a bittersweet reflection on the state of Russia at the time. Russia may have won the war, but with Stalin still in charge, it was not the victory and peace most Russians had ultimately hoped for. Written at a time when open defiance was unthinkable, Shostakovich channelled his thoughts into his music, which is characteristically sardonic and rife with irony. Neo-Classical in its construction, with five movements (rather than four) and only 25 minutes in length, it veers away from the usual symphonic format, this symphony is completely devoid of grandeur, with a much more complex emotional landscape in its place.
Inimitable violinist Randall Goosby joins the Orchestra again after making his debut last season, this time playing Tchaikovsky’s brilliant Violin Concerto. Inspiration for the piece came from the breathtaking scenery of the mountains above Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where he was seeking refuge after the breakdown of his marriage. Impassioned and full of sweeping melodies, this is a work into which the composer poured a world of emotions.
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Philharmonia with Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Philharmonia: The Music of Harry Potter
Stanislav Kochanovsky conductor
Alexei Volodin piano
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
Conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky takes to the stage for this concert, with Alexei Volodin as the soloist in Rachmaninov’s captivating Piano Concerto No. 2. Full of rich, Romantic intensity, and with a fiendish cadenza, it’s one of the most difficult – and rewarding – pieces in the piano repertoire.
Inspired by ancient folktales of The 1001 Arabian Nights, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade takes us on an exhilarating adventure with all the colours of the orchestra depicting princes, princesses, sailors, ships and storms. Scheherazade herself is represented by an exquisite solo violin melody. Night after night she tells scintillating tales to the Sultan in an effort to keep herself alive.
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Philharmonia with Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Philharmonia: The Music of Harry Potter